FORUM-ASIA Calls For Lifting of Restrictions on Rights of Shias, Hazaras Under Taliban

Considering the recent restrictions by the Taliban on Shia religious practices in Afghanistan, FORUM-ASIA has called for urgent and concerted international action to protect Afghanistan’s Shia and Hazara community.

In a statement, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) said that it stands in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan.

The statement stressed that the Shia community of Afghanistan—whose members are predominantly Hazaras—are facing systematic discrimination, targeted attacks, marginalisation, persecution, and harsh restrictions by the Taliban.

The Taliban has imposed bans on the Shias’ and Hazaras’ freedom of religion or belief. In addition, the Taliban is responsible for the forced displacements and disappearances of Shia Hazaras, their exclusion from humanitarian aid, as well as arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings of civilians across Afghanistan, it stated.

The statement stressed that the Taliban had banned the Shia Hazaras from organising, participating in, and practising Muharram ceremonies (Shia religious mourning events) across the country and even, raided the Muharram processions and opened fire on Shia mourners, killing and injuring Shia civilians.

“The situation of massive and systematic human rights violations against the Shia community is extremely alarming. Such callous and organised persecution of the Shia community is fundamentally linked to the complete denial of their freedom of religion or belief–a bleak situation that necessitates global condemnation. International solidarity with the Shia Hazaras and other ethnic and religious minorities in Afghanistan has never been more important and necessary,” said Mary Aileen Bacalso, FORUM-ASIA Executive Director.

It called for an immediate end to the systematic attacks against the Shia Hazaras, which bears the hallmarks of a genocide.

It urged the Taliban to immediately lift the imposed restrictions on the fundamental rights of the people of Afghanistan, in particular women and girls and marginalised communities such as Shia Hazaras, including their freedom of religion or belief; freedom of expression; and rights to access education, information, work, travel, and peaceful assembly and association.

The rights group also called for the group to preserve religious diversity and protect marginalised groups at risk, particularly women and girls; the Shia Hazaras; Sikhs; Hindus; and Sufis.

The rights body also urged international stakeholders to support the establishment by the UN Human Rights Council of an international investigative and accountability mechanism to collect, preserve, and document evidence on all human rights violations in Afghanistan.

The statement stressed that the Taliban has also abolished all legal mechanisms for upholding human rights and the rule of law in Afghanistan. They removed legal provisions and national events dedicated to Shia Hazaras, hence putting the community at further risks of persecution.

It also added that vulnerable ethnic and religious communities can be protected by providing them with feasible protection measures such as humanitarian visas and resettlement opportunities for the most persecuted groups such as the Shia Hazaras.