(United Nations) UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on the Security Council on Tuesday “to ensure that the perpetrators of violations and abuses” in Afghanistan, particularly against women and children, “return accounts “.
Posted at 12:05 p.m.
“Faced with a humanitarian disaster on an unprecedented scale, the country needs all its inhabitants to come together. Instead, the denial of the human rights of women and girls massively harms the economy and the country as a whole,” the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a video link to the Council security, brought together at the initiative of Norway for a ministerial debate on violence against women.
I call on all states to use their influence with the Taliban to encourage respect for fundamental human rights. I further call on states to create safe pathways and resettlement programs for Afghan women human rights defenders, and to immediately end the deportation of Afghan women seeking protection.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet
Since August and the rise to power of the Taliban, “many Afghan women human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers and judges have been forced to flee or go into hiding, often after repeated threats. Many have lost all their sources of income,” the UN official recalled.
With the approach of the renewal of the political mission of the UN present in Afghanistan (Manua), scheduled for mid-March, Michelle Bachelet demanded that her future mandate include an important component devoted to the protection of human rights.
Speaking after her, Zarqa Yaftali, director of the NGO Woman and Children Legal Research Foundation, said it was time for the Security Council to break its silence on the millions of Afghans deprived of rights.