IEA, UN at odds on rights situation in Afghanistan

KABUL (Pajhwok): The United Nations has warned human rights in Afghanistan are in a state of collapse, but the caretaker government in Kabul says the rights are secure.

UN Rights Human Council chief Volker Turk’s remarks came during an interactive dialogue in Geneva on Tuesday.

The collapsing human rights situation was “acutely affecting” the lives of millions of women, men, girls and boys, Turk said.

He commented Afghanistan had set a devastating precedent, being the sole country globally where women and girls were not permitted to attend secondary or tertiary education.

“Over the past two years, there had been a systematic erosion of the laws and institutions that once provided protection for human rights,” the UN human rights commissioner noted.

“Laws were now made by edicts rather than through consultative processes. The laws that had protected women from violence and created an enabling environment for the media have been suspended,” he said.

“The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission is no more. Corporal punishment and public executions have resumed, and there are ongoing reports of extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary arrests. Compounding all of this is a deeply troubling lack of accountability for perpetrators of human rights violations.”

Turk urged the international community to not turn its back on the people of Afghanistan, underlining that it has a human rights crisis of the first order.

He encouraged states to proactively help address the challenges facing the Afghan economy.

He also called on the de facto authorities to fundamentally bring Afghanistan back to the international order with full respect for its international human rights obligations

But Zabihullah Mujahid, Islamic Emirate spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News that no one’s legal human rights had been violated in Afghanistan.

He said the people or groups, influenced by the western culture, believed Afghanistan should have laws like the West or look at rights from their perspective, something which is not appropriate.

Mujahid said: “Each culture has its own interpretation and each country has its own values. Our values are Islamic and Sharia-based.

“Within the framework of Islam, we ensure people’s rights and we are committed to this. It’s our duty and obligation to reach people’s rights and we have taken steps on this issue.”

Mujahid acknowledged: “There are problems that exist in some cases, like delays in introducing reforms. Work is going on to resolve them.”

All Afghans reserved the right to live in their country safely and honorably within the framework of its laws and to be provided with physical and mental security, he remarked.

Mujahid reiterated the Islamic Emirate’s commitment to rights of all people.

sa/mud

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