(Kabul) The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, has been banned from entering the country, a diplomatic source told AFP on Tuesday.
“Richard Bennett was informed several months ago that he was not allowed to travel to Afghanistan,” the source said after an Afghan media outlet reported the ban, citing an Afghan government spokesman.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have consistently rejected criticism from the United Nations and the international community of their policies, which are based on a strict interpretation of Sharia law.
Women, excluded from education and public life, are subject to what the UN has called “gender apartheid.”
Earlier on Tuesday, local television station Tolo News quoted Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid as saying that Mr Bennett had been banned from entering the country “because he was appointed to Afghanistan to spread propaganda. He is not someone we can trust”.
In late June, Mr Bennett condemned the Taliban’s demand to exclude Afghan women and civil society representatives from a meeting organised by the United Nations in Qatar.
In New York, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, would neither confirm nor deny the ban on Mr Bennett on Tuesday, saying only: “Special rapporteurs play a vital role in the global human rights architecture. We encourage full cooperation with them.”
Special rapporteurs like Mr. Bennett are independent experts appointed for special missions by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council.