RASC News Agency: Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a stark warning during the 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council, painting a grim picture of the worsening human rights crisis under Taliban rule in Afghanistan. He emphasized that women and girls have been effectively erased from public life, and that the Taliban’s policies amount to a deliberate campaign of gender apartheid. Speaking before the Council, Turk declared:
“The voices of Afghanistan’s women have been silenced. They are no longer seen, heard, or acknowledged outside the confines of their homes. They are being denied even the most basic human rights chief among them, access to education.” The High Commissioner underscored that the Taliban’s draconian edicts have deprived women not only of education but also of employment, healthcare, freedom of movement, and representation in public institutions. The regime’s systematic exclusion of women, he noted, is not merely oppressive but a clear violation of international law and the core principles of the United Nations Charter.
Turk further expressed grave concern over the deteriorating situation of other vulnerable populations, including people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ+ community. These groups, he said, are living under constant threat of harassment, humiliation, and violence. “Disturbingly,” he added, “some influential figures inside the country mock these communities publicly, emboldened by the impunity that defines Taliban rule.” In addition to condemning the Taliban’s internal repression, Turk criticized the international community’s faltering commitment to Afghanistani human rights. He noted with alarm that reductions in foreign aid and humanitarian funding are severely limiting the ability of civil society organizations and support groups to operate.
“Funding cuts are silencing the last remaining voices of resistance,” Turk warned. “Human rights defenders, women’s groups, and disability advocates are being left without the resources to survive, much less to resist. Abandoning them now is an act of moral failure.” He called on the international community not to normalize or legitimize the Taliban’s regime through silence or passive diplomacy, emphasizing that global actors must honor their obligations to uphold human rights, regardless of political expediency. “The world must not look away. Silence in the face of repression is complicity. We must stand in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan, especially its women and marginalized groups, who are enduring unspeakable suffering under one of the most extreme authoritarian regimes of our time.”
Since retaking power in August 2021, the Taliban have transformed Afghanistan into the only country in the world where girls are banned from education beyond the sixth grade. Women have been systematically excluded from employment, civil service, the media, and even recreational spaces such as parks and gyms. The Taliban’s restrictions have been denounced by multiple international rights organizations as tantamount to gender apartheid a crime under international law. Despite this widespread condemnation, the Taliban have remained defiant, continuing to implement a rigid interpretation of Sharia that disproportionately targets women, ethnic minorities, and dissenters. Experts warn that unless urgent and coordinated international action is taken, the consequences for Afghanistani society particularly for its women and youth could be irreversible and catastrophic.
