No Afghan ‘reintegration’ without progress on rights: UN

Restrictions on women’s rights continue to prevent Afghanistan’s “reintegration” into the international community, a senior UN official said Friday, noting the Taliban’s participation in upcoming talks in Doha is not legitimization of the isolated government.

Since their 2021 return to power, Taliban authorities have not been formally recognized by any nation and apply a rigorous interpretation of Islam, leading to suppression of women’s freedoms that the United Nations has described as “gender apartheid.”

Restrictions on women and girls, particularly in education, “deprive the country of vital human capital” and lead to a brain drain that undermines the impoverished country’s future, Roza Otunbayeva, head of the UN mission in the country, UNAMA, told the Security Council.

“By being deeply unpopular (the restrictions) undermine the de facto authorities’ claims to legitimacy,” she said.

“And they continue to block diplomatic solutions that would lead to Afghanistan’s reintegration into the international community.”

Last year marked the start of a process to consider strengthening the world community’s commitment to Afghanistan. A third round of talks, to include foreign special envoys to Afghanistan and representatives from its civil society, including women, is set for June 30 and July 1 in Doha.

Discussions continued through this week on the gathering in Qatar’s capital.

“For this process to truly begin, it is essential that the de facto authorities participate at Doha,” Otunbayeva said, warning however that high expectations “cannot realistically be met in a single meeting.” “It cannot be repeated enough that this sort of engagement is not legitimization or normalization,” she stressed.

Meanwhile, in a damning new report, a UN special Rapporteur has accused the Afghan Taliban government for committing possible “crimes against humanity,” urging the international community not to recognize the de facto rulers in Kabul in haste.

Richard Bennett, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, presented the findings of his report before the Geneva based UN Human Rights Council earlier this week.

Bennet said his new report found that the Taliban’s institutionalised system of gender oppression, established and enforced through its violations of women’s and girls’ fundamental rights, was widespread and systematic, and appeared to constitute an attack on the entire civilian population, amounting to crimes against humanity.