Int’l community ‘concerned’ over human rights situation in Afghanistan: UN rapporteur

GENEVA (AA) – The UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan has urged the international community to demand “progress” on the rights situation in the war-torn country still reeling from years of US-NATO occupation that ended with the Taliban taking power in August 2021.

Responding to the question on public executions and floggings as part of the Taliban’s orthodox implementation of public law, Richard Bennett said: “We are also observing an uptick in public executions, and we condemn this.

“It really must stop, it’s contrary to international standards,” Bennett said in a press conference in Geneva. “We consider that this is a very important indicator for the international community about demanding progress and improvements on human rights benchmarks before there can be any normalization of the current administration in Afghanistan.”

Regarding what kind of measures can be taken in this regard, he said: “International Criminal Court is fully underway in Afghanistan, and there may be opportunities in other international courts, including the International Court of Justice, when it comes to the violations of the CEDAW convention, that Afghanistan is a party to.”

The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women is an international treaty adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly.

The UN human rights office on Wednesday said it was appalled by last week’s public executions of three people at sports stadiums in Afghanistan in the presence of de facto officials, noting that five people have been publicly executed since the Taliban took control.

However, many international observers have noted the return of order in an unruly, chaotic society devastated by war and civil strife exacerbated by foreign occupation.

The Taliban believe in a strict implementation of the Islamic legal penal codes, which has drawn international concern. However, the efficacy of strict punishments in deterring and diffusing crime and lawlessness is hotly contested.