SW News: A UN report presented on Monday at the Human Rights Council in Geneva claims crimes against humanity have been committed in Afghanistan. As the Taliban took over in August 2021, they severely restricted the freedoms and rights of women, especially their access to higher education.

Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on the status of human rights in Afghanistan, found that the Taliban's treatment of women and children may amount to gender persecution. The report covered the period of July to December 2022.

Bennet said that in mid-November 2022, the authorities banned access of women and girls to parks and gyms. Then on December 21, they announced the immediate suspension of women from universities. Three days later, on December 24, women were barred from working for domestic and international NGOs, with a consequent severe negative impact on the life-saving humanitarian services they provide, which are critical for humanitarian protection and other human rights and development activities. Measures have been taken to erase women from all public spaces. The cumulative effect of the Taliban’s systematic discrimination against women raises concerns about the commission of international crimes.

The Special Rapporteur said the cumulative effect of the restrictions on women and girls has a devastating, long-term impact on the whole population, and it is equal to gender apartheid.

Since the presentation of the initial report of the Special Rapporteur, the human rights crisis in Afghanistan has worsened.

The systematic violation of the human rights of women and girls has deepened even further, and fundamental freedoms, including the rights of peaceful assembly and association, expression, and the rights to life and protection against ill-treatment have increasingly been flouted.

The authorities have instituted Hudud and Qisas punishments, measures indicative of a revival of the policies of the 1990s.

The Special Rapporteur has said in the report that he is deeply concerned that, increasingly, the Taliban is ruling Afghanistan through fear and repressive policies aimed at suppressing communities, and women in particular. Inclusiveness is negligible; there is very little tolerance for difference and none for dissent.

Afghanistan continues to grapple with a serious economic and humanitarian crisis affecting almost the entire population. This crisis has been exacerbated by the unintended consequences of political cautiousness and over-compliance with sanctions, despite the humanitarian exemptions afforded by the Security Council.