UNAMA Urges the Taliban to Accept Global Human Rights Commitments

On Tuesday (December 10), UNAMA issued a statement marking Human Rights Day.

Roza Otunbayeva, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Afghanistan and Head of UNAMA, emphasized in the statement that despite improvements in security and a reduction in violent armed conflicts, actions related to the protection and promotion of human rights are consistently and dangerously eroding. She noted that Afghan women and girls bear the heaviest burden of this situation.

Otunbayeva highlighted the systemic discrimination against women and girls, including their exclusion from education and employment, noting that the Taliban's record on human rights has been marked.

She added, "Power also brings responsibility. Claims by the authorities to represent the people of Afghanistan in the United Nations must be accompanied by real efforts to protect and advance our shared standards and values."

In UNAMA's statement, Fiona Frazer, the Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, also emphasized that if the deprivation of the rights of Afghan citizens, especially women and girls, continues, it will be a clear and deliberate failure to support them and an abdication of responsibility for the welfare of the Afghan people.

It is worth noting that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948, with Afghanistan being one of its supporters. However, in over three years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, the country has faced a human rights crisis, and the Taliban have not only failed to uphold Afghanistan's global commitments on human rights but continue to violate the basic rights and freedoms of its citizens, particularly women and girls.