Genocide Watch has said in a new report that independent journalists, critics of the Taliban, civilians and former government employees face arbitrary arrests, corporal punishment, torture and execution, and are denied access to fair trials.
In its latest report, released on Monday, October 12, the organization classified Afghanistan’s situation as being at the stage of “discrimination” due to the continued violation of women’s rights. It placed the situation of religious and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people and former government employees at the stage of “persecution.”
According to the report, the Taliban subjected at least 449 people to corporal punishment in the first half of this year, arbitrarily detained 777 people and carried out 12 public executions since 2021.
The report cited several actions against ethnic and religious minorities under Taliban rule, including the detention of 45 Shia Muslims for raising Ashura flags, the closure of their mosques, the forced enrollment of Shia children in Sunni religious schools and the coercion of 203 Shia Muslims into changing their religious affiliation.
The report also said that, in addition to pressure from the Taliban, the terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS) continues to carry out attacks against Hazaras and other minorities.
Citing restrictions imposed on women by the Taliban, the report said the group had intensified pressure on women by permitting child marriage, imposing serious barriers on women seeking divorce, banning girls from studying beyond the sixth grade and detaining women over their clothing.
Genocide Watch also described the role of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries in what it called the “commission of crimes” as significant. Referring to the forced deportation of around three million migrants, the organization said the deportations had led to the enforced disappearance of some former government employees.
The organization called for the renewal of the mandates of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). It also urged the United Nations to recognize “gender apartheid” as a crime.
