Afghanistan Peace CampaignBy VOA Afghan
A United Nations official told VOA the human rights situation in Afghanistan is getting worse, as a prestigious international affairs institute recognized Afghan women for their resistance to Taliban restrictions.
The Chatham House formally recognized the women of Afghanistan on Monday, awarding them its annual prize, in recognition of their “courage, resilience and determination in the face of systematic gender persecution.”
At the same time, speaking to VOA on Tuesday, Richard Bennett, U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan warned the human rights situation in the country “is gradually and step by step getting worse, not only for girls and women, … but also for the whole community.”
According to a Human Rights Watch report released in August, in the last five years that the Taliban have been in power in Afghanistan, the group has imposed ‘draconian’ policies that have made Afghanistan one of the world’s “gravest human rights crises, particularly for women and girls.”
Under the Taliban in Afghanistan, women are barred from working with government and non-government organizations, attending secondary schools and universities, and traveling long distances without a close male relative.
Bennett said the Taliban imposed more than 200 decrees and edicts primarily restricting human rights, including more than 100 targeting women and girls.
The U.N. special rapporteur on Afghanistan told VOA there are pressures “on freedom of expression, including for the media and public and civic space and special pressure on religious and ethnic and linguistic marginalized communities who are discriminated against, not allowed to practice their traditional religions and cultural practices.”
Bennett was appointed in 2022 to monitor the human rights situation in Afghanistan. However, he has been denied entry to Afghanistan since 2024, as a Taliban spokesperson accused him of a lack of professionalism, saying “his reports are based on prejudices and anecdotes detrimental to [the] interests of Afghanistan and the Afghan people.”
Bennett told VOA that the Taliban cannot deny their human rights violations.
“The way in which we analyze the very edicts and decrees that they have passed. They cannot deny that,” he said. “Of course, we also collect evidence in other ways, visually and by talking to Afghans inside Afghanistan. There is no doubt. It is uncontestable.”
He added that international pressure on the group to change its positions on human rights, particularly women’s rights, has so far failed to yield results.
“So far, the pressure is not making very much difference publicly on the surface. I think privately, underneath the surface, it is making a difference,” Bennett told VOA. “And there are quite a number of Taliban who do want girls to get an education, who are even sending their own daughters to get an education. So, I think in time, this will change.”
The U.N. Special Rapporteur, however, said that he remains willing to work with the Taliban to reverse restrictions on women’s rights.
“I stand ready to continue dialogue and technical assistance with the Taliban to reverse their policies, including on women’s and girls’ education and women’s employment,” he added. “It’s never too late. There is always time to change, and that change should take place.”