Afghan Journalists Forced To Work In Climate of Fear Under Taliban, Says UNAMA

The European Parliament member criticised that the Taliban continues to harass female media workers and has imposed severe restrictions on female journalists in the country.

Neumann added that the Taliban continues to press women to wear masks during TV appearances and said that female journalists are only allowed to interview women for TV and radio programmes.

However, according to Neumann, male Taliban intelligence operatives occasionally call female reporters, question them, and intimidate and harass them.

With the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August 2021, the group has imposed many restrictions on media operations and has pressurised female journalists to stop working in Afghan media sector.

He added that they will continue their higher education studies after receiving a bachelor's degree.

Most Taliban members are trained in the religious seminaries of Pakistan and lack professional higher education.

However, the Taliban has appointed most of its members to senior government offices across Afghanistan without any formal professional educational background.

May 3 is celebrated every year as World Press Freedom Day.

The Taliban has imposed severe restrictions on media organisations and journalists in Afghanistan for more than 20 months.

The group has imposed more restrictions on female journalists in the Afghan media sector. Among other restrictions, the Taliban have ordered female TV presenters to wear masks.

In addition to this, Afghanistan Journalists Center published a report on Tuesday saying that the organisation has documented 213 cases of violence against journalists in Afghanistan over the past year.

Meanwhile, Shaharzad Akbar, the former head of Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission, said on Wednesday that in the last two years, thousands of journalists and media activists, especially female journalists, have lost their jobs.

Akbar added that journalists have been detained, imprisoned, and tortured under the Taliban reign.

At the same time, Nai, supporting open media in Afghanistan, announced that after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, over 50 percent of the Afghan media sector stopped operation due to economic problems and other challenges in the country.

According to Nai, more than 65 percent of journalists and media workers have also lost their jobs.

According to the media watchdog, Taliban and ISIS attacks on journalists in Balkh province have been the main reasons for the increase in violence against journalists and media in Afghanistan.

AFJC has recorded cases of killing of one journalist, 21 injuries, six physical violence incidents, 115 cases of threats, and 70 cases of detentions of journalists in Afghanistan over the past year.

The report stated that Afghan-French journalist Mortaza Behboudi, and Afghan journalist Khairullah Parhar continue to remain in detention under the Taliban.

Afghanistan Journalists Center stressed that except for one attack on the lives of journalists that took place in Mazar-e-Sharif and ISIS claimed responsibility for it, the Taliban have been behind other cases of violence, detention, and threats against journalists.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, the UN Secretary-General announced a 50 percent increase in the killing of journalists in 2022.

He said that in 2022, at least 67 media workers have been killed around the world. According to him, one out of every four female journalists has been subjected to online harassment.

The Indonesian foreign minister stressed that other matters of discussion revolved around assessing the situation of the human rights situation in Afghanistan.

The UN Secretary-General and more than 20 representatives of various countries and international organisations participated in the two-day Doha meeting.

The United Nations had previously announced in a statement that human rights, the rights of women and girls, the formation of an inclusive government, and combating terrorism and drug trafficking are the key issues on the agenda of the Doha meeting.

Diplomats present in Doha told Afghanistan International that countries including Russia, Pakistan, and China have been working to find a way to support the recognition of the Taliban.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Deputy Foreign Minister, Hina Rabbani, told reporters on Monday on the sidelines of the Doha meeting that 40 million Afghans should not be victims of politics.