Amnesty International: Taliban are committing crimes against humanity.
Amnesty International has issued a statement calling on the UN Human Rights Council to urgently establish an independent and international accountability mechanism to investigate past and ongoing crimes in Afghanistan.
The organization stressed that such a mechanism should be tasked with collecting, documenting and analyzing evidence of human rights violations and preparing cases for fair and independent hearings.
The organization has warned that the Taliban, by continuing to impose severe restrictions on people, especially women and girls, are committing actions that could be considered “crimes against humanity and gender-based violence.”
According to reports, critics of Taliban policies face arbitrary arrests, detention and enforced disappearances.
Amnesty International also pointed to widespread violations of minority rights, noting that the Taliban forced at least 50 Ismaili men in Badakhshan province to convert earlier this year; Those who resisted have faced beatings, death threats and pressure on their families.
Amnesty International called for urgent action by the international community, saying the dire human rights situation in Afghanistan was the result of a “culture of impunity” over the past four decades.
The organization also pointed to the humanitarian crisis caused by recent earthquakes and the forced expulsion of Afghan refugees by Iran and Pakistan, warning that former government officials, journalists, Taliban opponents and ethnic and religious minorities were most at risk of widespread human rights violations.
