Source: www.persecution.org
Date: August 23, 2024
Afghanistan (International Christian Concern) — The Taliban announced this week that it would not allow U.N. special rapporteur for human rights, Richard Bennett, back into the country. Bennett was appointed to the position in 2022, the year after Afghanistan retook power in the country. He has visited several times since as part of his efforts to document human rights conditions, including those related to religious freedom.
As human rights conditions have deteriorated in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, Bennet has been outspoken in his criticism, calling the regime’s actions against women and girls a crime against humanity.
Taliban officials described Bennett as spreading false propaganda about the country. U.N. reports on Afghanistan, including those led by Bennett, adhere to the highest standards of integrity and are rigorously sourced, according to a response issued by Bennett and quoted by Reuters.
According to a Foreign Policy publication, the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice claims to have detained more than 13,000 people for “immoral” acts since taking power in 2021. The Taliban enforces an extremist interpretation of Islamic Sharia law and does not tolerate dissent, politically or religiously, within the country.
The Taliban’s return to power has disproportionately impacted women and girls. After two decades of relative freedom and autonomy under a secular, U.S.-backed government, they have suffered greatly under Taliban rule.
According to a 2023 report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, more than half of the 80 religious edicts promulgated by the Taliban since coming to power in 2021 are specifically written to restrict the rights of women and girls. From education to employment to their ability to move about in public, the Taliban has worked to limit the rights of women in every area of life.
In a report published earlier this month, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) called religious freedom conditions in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan dire, documenting how the regime has continually worked to “repress and significantly stifle any action or behavior that does not conform with their strict interpretation of Islam.”
USCIRF has recommended that the U.S. Department of State designate Afghanistan as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) every year since 2022, but this recommendation has yet to be followed. The Department of State has never recognized the religious freedom concerns in Afghanistan by designating it as a CPC or Special Watchlist country. However, it did designate the Taliban as an Entity of Particular Concern (EPC) three times from 1999-2001. The Taliban is not currently designated as an EPC.
Despite promises that it would rule with ideological moderation and restraint, the Taliban has implemented an extreme version of Sharia law in the country since seizing power in 2021. Enforcement of Sharia law includes, according to the recent USCIRF report, “public executions, lashings and floggings, stoning, beatings, and acts of public humiliation, such as forced head shaving.”