San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
U.N. envoy urges Taliban to repeal curbs on women
ISLAMABAD — The United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan expressed concern over the deterioration of rights in the country and called on the ruling Taliban to reverse new restrictions on women.
Richard Bennet spoke to journalists last week at the end of an 11-day visit to Afghanistan, his first since being named last month to his post.
His visit came as the Taliban, who seized power when they overran the capital of Kabul in mid-August as the United States and NATO were in the final weeks of their withdrawal from Afghanistan, have started enforcing a sharply tougher line.
In recent weeks, they issued edicts requiring women to cover their faces except for their eyes, including women presenters on TV, and banned girls from attending school past the sixth grade.
At the same time, Afghanistan has seen persistent bombings and other attacks on civilians, often targeting the mainly Shiite Muslim ethnic Hazara minority. Most of the attacks have been claimed by the Islamic State group’s affiliate in the country, which is a bitter rival of the Taliban.
Bennett said Afghanistan’s de facto authorities — referring to the Taliban — have failed to acknowledge the magnitude and gravity of abuses being committed, many of them in their name, and their responsibility to address them and protect the entire population.
“I expressed serious concern about the deterioration of human rights across the country, and the erasure of women
Sonia Niazi covers her face in a Kabul studio of TOLOnews on May 22 after the Taliban ordered all female television news anchors in the country to shroud their faces while broadcasting.
from public life is especially concerning,” Bennett said. He called on the Taliban to “immediately reverse policies and directives that negatively impact women.”
His comments followed a statement Tuesday from the U.N. Security Council that called on the Taliban to “swiftly reverse” restrictions limiting girls’ access to education and women’s employment, freedom
of movement and “full, equal and meaningful participation in public life.”
The new edicts have brought the country closer to the harsh measures imposed by the Taliban when they first ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. At that time, they subjected women to overwhelming restrictions, banning them from education and participation in public life and requiring them
to wear the all-encompassing burqa.
Bennet said the Taliban stand at a crossroads, where society either becomes more stable and a place where “every Afghan enjoys freedom and human rights — or it will become increasingly restricted.”