Afghanistan Peace Campaign
The U.S. State Department has published its annual human rights report for 2023, which highlighted a notable decline in women’s rights. It pointed to new regulations limiting women’s access to education and jobs, leading to a situation where women became increasingly limited to domestic responsibilities.
The report highlighted a range of human rights issues, including killings, abuse, harsh prison conditions, unjust detentions, media and internet restrictions, and limits on political participation, corruption, and child recruitment.
The department emphasized that they do not recognize the Taliban as legitimate.
“This year’s report also captures human rights abuses against members of vulnerable communities. In Afghanistan, the Taliban have limited work opportunities for women, shuttered institutions found educating girls, and increasing floggings for women and men accused of, quote, ‘immoral behavior,’ end quote,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated.
In the report, the State Department criticized the Taliban’s authoritarianism, stating that they have declared a “so-called interim government consisting largely of Taliban fighters, mullahs, and close associates of the group, predominantly belonging to the Pashtun ethnicity.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in a statement on Tuesday regarding this report that the Taliban has “effectively removed Afghan women from the public sphere” with its directives.
According to the report, the ban on education and employment for women has worsened their situation, and they are now confined to the four walls of their homes.
The U.S. State Department said that the Taliban has shown no flexibility in its policies and that the group’s orders are in contradiction with Afghanistan’s commitments and international conventions.
The State Department’s report mentions political imprisonments, poor prison conditions, killings, torture, arbitrary detentions, and the lack of judicial independence.
The report states that the Taliban has used children in armed conflicts.
The U.S. State Department has given a negative assessment of the media situation in Afghanistan. The report states that the Taliban imposes increasing restrictions on freedom of speech every day. Additionally, journalists face Taliban violence and arbitrary detentions.
Meanwhile, the Taliban has obstructed peaceful gatherings and imposed restrictions on internet usage.
The U.S. State Department has stated that religious freedoms in Afghanistan are limited, and violence against ethnic and religious minorities has occurred.
The annual report also highlights the Taliban’s widespread disregard for the rule of law and the impunity of human rights violators, as the group has failed to reduce domestic violence, sexual violence, early and forced marriages.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s spokesperson, responded to the report by emphasizing that Afghan people’s rights are defined by Islamic laws.
He stated that cultural and human rights norms in the West differ from those in Afghanistan, cautioning against imposing Western values on other nations.