The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has released its quarterly report on human rights in the country. According to the report, over the past three months, the Taliban have publicly subjected 111 people, including 16 women, to corporal punishment across Afghanistan. UNAMA documented ongoing extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, torture, and mistreatment of former military personnel by the Taliban, with at least 10 instances of abuse reported and five former military personnel killed during this period.
The report also states that ISIS carried out four attacks in the past three months, which killed 28 civilians and injured 50 others, mostly targeting Shia and Hazara communities. Covering the period from July 1 to September 30, the report assesses a range of issues, including the rights of women and girls, civilian casualties, border conflicts, media freedom, corporal punishment, and conditions for former military personnel.
UNAMA prepared this report through its human rights section in line with its mandate from the United Nations Security Council. Released on Thursday, October 31, 2024, it addresses the human rights situation in Afghanistan across multiple areas, such as women’s and girls’ rights, civilian casualties, border conflicts, media freedom, corporal punishment, and the status of former military members.
The report highlights that several previously issued Taliban decrees, orders, and guidelines have now been incorporated into the “Taliban Law for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.” This law mandates that women wear the hijab and cover their faces in public, requires men to keep beards and attend congregational prayers, bans celebrations like Nowruz and Yalda Night, prohibits music in vehicles, and forbids depictions of living beings, all of which have now been formalized under Taliban law.
The report also underscores that restrictions imposed by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice have disproportionately impacted women’s human rights and freedoms in Afghanistan. UNAMA notes that the Taliban continue to limit women’s roles, even in permitted professions, and have intensified their discriminatory actions against women.
Continued Extrajudicial Killings and Arbitrary Arrests of Former Military Personnel
UNAMA reports that the Taliban have continued arbitrary killings, detentions, and torture of former military personnel over the past three months. At least five former military personnel were killed, while approximately 10 cases of torture and mistreatment were documented. The findings show that from July 1 to September 30, there were 24 instances of arbitrary detention involving former military personnel.
ISIS Attacks
The report states that during these three months, four attacks attributed to ISIS resulted in the deaths of 28 civilians and injuries to 50 others. According to the report, an explosion on August 12, 2023, in Dasht-e Barchi, Kabul, killed one civilian and injured 13 others, all of whom were identified as Hazara and Shia.
UNAMA’s report further indicates that another explosion by ISIS on September 22, 2024, in the Dara Noor district of Nangarhar, left six civilians dead and four injured. The report also describes a suicide attack on September 2, 2024, outside the Taliban’s Directorate for Monitoring and Pursuing Orders in Kabul, killing seven civilians and injuring over 29. Additionally, it references an ISIS-led armed assault on the Ghor-Daykundi road, where 14 Hazara individuals were killed, and four others wounded.
UNAMA cites ISIS statements asserting that these attacks specifically targeted the Hazara community and Taliban officials. This report is published amid Taliban denials of any physical presence of ISIS in Afghanistan, which they describe as propaganda by their adversaries.
Border Clashes
The report describes border skirmishes between the Taliban and Pakistani forces in provinces like Kunar, Nangarhar, and Khost, which have resulted in civilian casualties. On July 1 in Kunar’s Gangnam district, Pakistani forces reportedly fired several mortar shells, killing one woman, injuring a boy and a man, and damaging a home. Another clash on August 12 in Nangarhar’s Mohmand Dara district, at the Torkham border, left one man, one woman, and one boy dead, injured three others, and forced hundreds of residents to flee. In Khost’s Zazai Maidan district, a gunfight on September 7 between Taliban and Pakistani forces killed two civilians—a woman and a man—and injured five others, while also causing damage to some residential homes.
Freedom of Expression
UNAMA reports that during the recent period, the Taliban imposed two new restrictions on freedom of expression and media. According to the report, on September 20, 2024, the Taliban’s Prime Minister issued a directive limiting religious scholars’ participation in public discussions, advising them to avoid contentious religious topics that could cause confusion. The statement added that scholars who incite disputes, promote superstitions, or use inappropriate language in public should not be invited to gatherings.
The report further notes that on September 21, 2024, the Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture directed media outlets to stop broadcasting political discussions live. The Taliban specified that these discussions must be pre-recorded and edited to remove content they deem sensitive or inconsistent with officials’ views. Additionally, the report lists 64 analysts, including two women, who are required to participate in political discussions.
On September 12, 2024, the Taliban’s Ministry of Justice declared that criticizing their regime’s legal documents is unacceptable and equates to criticizing Sharia. The Taliban stated that a committee of scholars reviews these documents to ensure compliance with Sharia, and the report warns that individuals who publicly criticize these documents will face the group’s courts.
The UNAMA report also highlights that the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice continues enforcing broad restrictions on both women and men. Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, acting head of this ministry, recently announced that women are prohibited from reciting “Alhamdulillah” and “Subhanallah” aloud.
In response to international criticism of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the group’s directives against women as a “horrific attack” on the rights of women and girls. He described the Taliban’s new prohibition on women’s voices in public spaces as terrifying and an intentional effort to erase women from society.
Additionally, the United Nations recently published a report by Richard Bennett, the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan, which details cases of sexual assault by Taliban forces against women in detention facilities.
You can read the Persian version of this daily report here:
گزارش جدید یوناما؛ طالبان به رفتار تبعیضآمیز و قتلهای خودسرانه ادامه دادهاند | روزنامه ۸صبح
