Uphold human rights, HRW urges Afghan negotiators

KABUL’s rights.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) also urged the United States, European Union and other countries supporting the peace process to use their political and economic leverage to ensure explicit human rights commitments and enforcement mechanisms in any final agreement.

“Afghans who have endured decades of violence and abuses deserve more than vague promises to uphold human rights,” said Patricia Gossman, HRW’s associate Asia director.

“All participants in any future Afghan government should commit to institutions and processes to uphold women’s rights and a free press, end torture in custody, and ensure justice for abuses.”

In Taliban-controlled areas, HRW said, residents abided by a parallel set of rebel-imposed regulations governing education, courts and other services.

The militants afford women little or no opportunity to participate in public life, restricting freedom of expression and media.

“While the Taliban have rolled back some of the harsher measures they imposed in the past, it remains difficult and dangerous for people to speak openly or voice objections in the areas under their control,” Gossman said.

 “The intra-Afghan negotiations offer hope for peace after more than 40 years of war,” Gossman said. “But for a settlement to be sustainable, a future Afghan government will need to provide security, tolerate dissent, respect women’s rights and prosecute serious rights violations.”

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