Taliban human rights abuse: Draft resolution by Pak led OIC more of an insult than response

By Sanjeev Sharma

New Delhi, Aug 24 (SocialNews.XYZ) A text drafted by Pakistan as the leader of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) recommends the weakest possible response for the grave human rights abuses by the Taliban in Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

As reports mount of grave human rights abuses by the Taliban in Afghanistan, the United Nations Human Rights Council will hold an emergency session on Tuesday. It should immediately mandate the strongest possible monitoring mechanism, HRW said.

HRW also said that unfortunately, there are ominous signs that UN member countries may fail to show the leadership needed.

"A text drafted by Pakistan as the leader of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) recommends the weakest possible response, no investigation or monitoring body, just a future discussion on a report by the High Commissioner for Human Rights that was already mandated. For Afghan human rights defenders and women's rights activists who are watching in horror as the rule of law crumbles around them, the draft resolution is more of an insult than a response," HRW said.

Patricia Gossman, Associate Asia Director, HRW, said that before their takeover of Kabul on August 15, Taliban forces were already committing atrocities, including summary executions of government officials and security force members in their custody.

"In Kabul since then, they have raided homes of journalists and activists, apparently searching for those who criticized them in the past. In places around the country they have restricted girls' education and women's ability to work. This follow years of abuses by all parties to the conflict," Gossman said.

The situation is so grave that it merited a special session of the council, to be held on Tuesda. It's critical that the council adopts a resolution creating an international monitoring and accountability mechanism to address the ongoing human rights abuses.

So far, no country has stepped forward to lead an initiative to create a strong monitoring mechanism.

Gossman said with serious abuses already unfolding, any delay will send a message of indifference to the Taliban, with potentially dire consequences. A failure to act now while atrocities mount could indelibly tarnish the council's credibility not just in Afghanistan, but in other human rights crises.

The council should put in place a credible mechanism immediately.

The Afghan people are looking to the UN to stand up for human rights. The Human Rights Council, the UN's preeminent human rights body, should not abandon them, HRW said.

(Sanjeev Sharma can be reached at Sanjeev.s@ians.in)

Source: IANS