RASC News Agency: Civil and human rights activists have said in a letter to Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations, that the rights of people with disabilities should be respected based on the United Nations conventions.
Persons with disabilities, civil and human rights activists of Afghanistan have said in a letter published on Monday, September 18, that discrimination and violation of the rights of citizens with disabilities, especially women and girls, have increased in Afghanistan.
The letter states that the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of Respect for the Inherent Dignity of Persons with Disabilities, which prohibits any discrimination based on disability and guarantees the rights of persons with disabilities against discrimination for any reason, has been ignored in Afghanistan.
The signatories of this letter addressed the Secretary General of the United Nations and said that the current human rights situation in Afghanistan is dire, because the Taliban group has pushed the country towards a humanitarian crisis with its extremist actions.
In this letter, quoting the spokesperson of the “Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled” of the Taliban group, it is said that this department has so far registered less than 200,000 people with disabilities across the country, which is very small considering the statistics of the Asia Foundation.
This letter, based on the data of the Asia Foundation (AF), said that only in 2019, 2.5 million adults with disabilities were registered.
The letter states that the statistical difference between the data of the Asia Foundation and the “Ministry of Martyrs and the Disabled” of the Taliban group shows that millions of citizens with disabilities are deprived of planning and providing services.
The letter added that the “Ministry of Martyrs and the Disabled” of the Taliban group has determined a system of different scales of financial benefits, in which the highest amount of financial assistance is paid to the disabled fighters of this group and the least amount is paid to citizens born with disabilities, and they are also deprived of humanitarian aid.
The signatories of this letter have said that people with disabilities are considered as direct or indirect victims of half a century of war and conflict in Afghanistan, and they ask the United Nations to adopt practical mechanisms for this vulnerable group of society.
