UN experts predict an "immensely bleak" future in Afghanistan after a year of the new Taliban regime

They declare themselves "deceived" by the false promises of fundamentalists, responsible for a "plethora of violations" of human rights

MADRID, 13 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Several United Nations experts have warned that Afghanistan faces an "immensely bleak" future in their assessment of the first year of the new Taliban government in the country; one that has committed over the last twelve months a "plethora of human rights violations", being "particularly egregious the virtual elimination and systematic oppression of women and girls from society".

The statement, signed among others by the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, or the special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Morris Tidball-Binz, conveys the absolute mistrust of the experts in the promises of the Taliban to improve the human rights situation in the country.

"There is little or no indication that the Taliban are doing anything about it," lament the experts, who come across "information on extrajudicial executions, disappearances, arbitrary arrests or torture" every day.

Child and forced marriages remain a custom in the country where the Taliban have abolished all independent monitoring mechanisms and institutions that protect human rights, especially the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.

The last twelve months have also been marked by persecution of ethnic and religious minorities, also threatened by the jihadist terrorism of the Islamic State, which the Taliban have been unable to contain. No political force opposed to the Taliban has any weight in public institutions. "In the absence of an inclusive and representative government," they point out, "the prospects for lasting peace, reconciliation and stability will remain minimal."

The experts do not walk with hot cloth and declare themselves "deceived" by the false promises of the Taliban, for which they ask the international community for a new approach: bring those responsible to justice. "It is time to intensify efforts to ensure accountability for violations of International Law, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law," they point out.

However, the UN experts also point out that any measure of pressure on the Taliban must take into account that it does not affect the population, given the tremendous economic crisis that the country is going through.

"No sanctions should interfere with humanitarian action, protected by international law," experts have asked about a crisis that "has already caused immeasurable damage to millions, continues unabated and is expected to worsen in part due to the interruption of international development assistance and the freezing of Afghan assets abroad," for international sanctions against the fundamentalist regime.