The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan has expressed concerns over the country’s human rights violations, including in Panjshir province. “Gravely concerned by latest allegations of serious human rights violations in Panjshir and elsewhere. Parties have clear international obligations, including respect for detainees’ rights. UNAMA is monitoring the situation and calls for perpetrators of any crimes to be brought to justice,” UNAMA tweeted on Wednesday.
Since the Taliban seized power in Kabul last year, the human rights situation has been exacerbated by unprecedented nationwide economic, financial and humanitarian crises. Reports say over 700 families have been displaced from Panjshir to Parwan due to security reasons.
Faraidoon Noori, an official at the refugee and repatriations department of Parwan said, “748 families were displaced from Panjshir to Parwan province. They left their houses due to conflict,” reported Tolo News. Earlier, in June, a London-based rights group raised concerns about the reports of unlawful killings and arbitrary arrests in Afghanistan’s Panjshir province.
“Constantly, reports are coming of arbitrary arrests and unlawful killings of civilians by the Taliban in Panjshir. Events in the last couple of weeks leave little room for doubt that there is a growing pattern of extrajudicial executions and arbitrary arrests committed by the Taliban,” said Zaman Sultani, Amnesty International’s South Asia Researcher. The amnesty researcher in a statement said these serious human rights violations create a climate of fear and distrust in the region and violate international humanitarian law and may constitute war crimes.
While the Taliban have rejected any reports of civilian deaths, these incidents are accompanied by a lack of accountability within the Taliban rank and file. As the de facto authorities in the country, the rights groups have asked the Taliban to take immediate steps to conduct thorough, impartial and independent investigations of these incidents and prosecute those responsible for the torture, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial execution, according to rights groups.
The Taliban dismantled the system to respond to gender-based violence, created new barriers to women accessing health care, blocked women’s aid workers from doing their jobs, and attacked women’s rights protesters. With the US troops’ withdrawal from the country, large-scale violence has been unleashed creating political uncertainty in different parts of the country.
At least 59 per cent of the population is now in need of humanitarian assistance – an increase of 6 million people compared with the beginning of 2021, according to UNAMA.
