UN to discuss Taliban human rights violations, particularly against women

• The UN Human Rights Council questioned the Afghan ambassador over human rights violations, particularly against women.
• The Taliban currently control Afghanistan but are not recognized by the United Nations, so an ambassador appointed by the previous U.S.-backed government was questioned on their behalf.
• Since the Taliban took power, women and girls have been banned from attending high schools and universities.

The Afghan Taliban faced criticism over their human rights record at a United Nations meeting on Monday, with the US government accusing them of systematically depriving women and girls of their human rights.

But in an awkward first for the UN Human Rights Council, the country’s current rulers will not be present because they are not recognized by the world body.

Afghanistan will be represented by an ambassador appointed by the previous US-backed government that the Taliban ousted in 2021.

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In a series of questions laid out in a UN document ahead of the review, the US asked how authorities could hold perpetrators of abuses against civilians, particularly “women and girls who are systematically deprived of their human rights,” accountable. I asked him if he would pursue the matter.

He also called for the promotion of the rights of LGBTQ people, noting the “intensification of intimidation and abuse” since the Taliban took over.

Britain and Belgium also questioned the Taliban’s treatment of women. A total of 76 countries requested participation in the conference.

The Taliban say they respect rights according to their interpretation of Islamic law.

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Since their return to power, most girls have been banned from attending high school and women from university. The Taliban also stopped most Afghan women from working in aid agencies, closed hair salons, banned women from parks, and curtailed women’s travel without a male guardian.

Under the United Nations system, countries’ human rights records are subject to peer review in public sessions of the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, which makes a series of recommendations.

Although these are not binding, they can draw scrutiny to policies and increase pressure for reform. The United Nations Human Rights Council, the only intergovernmental international organization designed to protect human rights around the world, can also mandate investigations, the evidence of which is sometimes used in domestic and international courts.