The global rights body insisted that tales of survivors of human rights violations should be heard and the special coordinator should offer recommendations to prevent and provide accountability for rights abuses.
A United Nations Security Council (UNSC)-mandated independent assessment of the international approach to the crisis in Afghanistan is due and HRW made this submission to the special coordinator leading the assessment.
“The situation in Afghanistan right now is the most serious women’s rights crisis in the world,” said Heather Barr, associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “The independent assessment could guide a more effective international response to this dire situation, but to do so, it needs to give priority to women and girls and other survivors of rights violations.”
HRW stressed that the assessment team should include experts on human rights, including on the rights of women and girls, and that the assessment process should be transparent and provide an opportunity for all stakeholders to provide submissions.
The HRW noted that ever since seizing power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban has continued to strip women of their basic human rights and even banned them from all spheres of life including political, social, and economic. The ban on education for girls and women is hampering Afghanistan’s future while the ban on working of women at even aid organisations is halting the much-needed humanitarian operations across the country, HRW noted.
It also added that the Taliban’s crackdown on the rights of women and girls continues to deepen, as evidenced by recent orders. It stated that the women’s rights crisis in Afghanistan is happening in the context of a broader human rights and humanitarian crisis, with many other abuses as well as severe hardship for much of the population.
The organization also spoke about the rights of media personnel and how the Taliban has decimated the media in the country.
It emphasised that the armed group Islamic State of Khorasan Province continues to carry out deadly attacks targeting civilians and their widespread attacks on the Shia and Hazara communities constitute crimes against humanity.
“The crisis in Afghanistan is overwhelming, and Taliban abuses are deepening what was already a devastating humanitarian crisis,” Barr said. “The independent assessment should aim to urgently redirect the international community’s response to the situation in Afghanistan, which so far has been inconsistent, ineffective, and insufficiently focused on human rights.”
HRW said that the assessment team should ensure that they hear from people who have personally experienced human rights violations, and the family members and associates of those arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared, or extrajudicially killed.
A UNSC resolution called for the assessment to include consultations with relevant stakeholders, including Afghan women and Feridun Sinirlioğlu had been appointed as the special coordinator in April.
