Reports

Introduction:Let’s us break the silence and expose the grave human rights violations within Afghanistan’s detention system. Discover the finding of a study conducted with former prisoners in Afghanistan, accompanied by testimonies by interviewees. We call on the UN Human rights Council to uphold justice, accountability, and to ensure the protection of detainees from torture and ill-treatmentFrom February 24 to April 4, 2025, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) convened its 58th regular session in Geneva, Switzerland. This session brought together representatives from Member States, international organizations, and civil society to address pressing human rights issues worldwide. Afghan human rights defenders, civil society organizations, and international allies gathered to shed light on the escalating repression, particularly the ongoing crackdown on women’s rights, freedom of expression, and the targeting of activists.Throughout the week, Civil Society and Human Rights Network (CSHRN), Human Rights Defenders Plus (HRD+), World Organization against Torture (OMCT), and Afghanistan Democracy and Development Organization (ADDO) brought together a dedicated group of Afghan human rights defenders to participate in the session, amplifying Afghan voices and advocating for justice. Alongside fellow Afghan activists and international allies, we engaged in crucial advocacy efforts, ensuring that Afghanistan remained a key focus of the HRC 58th session. This newsletter captures the key discussions, interventions, and outcomes related to Afghanistan, showcasing the unwavering commitment of Afghan civil society on the global stage. Complete Report (PDF)

Speaker: Mohammad Asghar SurushI Thank you Mr President and Delegates,ADDO, CSHRN, HRD+, and OMCT stand before this Council with deep concern over the escalating human rights crisis in Afghanistan. Civic space is disappearing—journalists, human rights defenders, and peaceful protesters face arbitrary arrests, threats, and violence for simply speaking out.Women and girls bear the brunt of this repression. The systematic erasure of their rights—bans on education, work, and public life—amounts to gender apartheid. Their voices are silenced, their futures stolen.The reports of torture, inhumane treatment, and forced confessions from OMCT and HRD+ are deeply alarming. Political prisoners endure harsh conditions and unfair trials, with no hope for justice.Afghan refugees in neighbouring countries face detention, insults and forced deportation.This Council must act. We urge:Our neighbouring countries, specifically Iran and Pakistan to respect the rights of Afghan citizens according to accepted international norms. Mass deportation is a serios concern about the lives of HRDs and other vulnerable groups.Immediate release of detained activists and journalists unjustly imprisoned for their work.An end to gender-based discrimination, ensuring women and girls can access education and employmentWe repeat our call on the council to create an independent accountability mechanism to monitor, document, preserve and follow-up on human rights violations and hold perpetrators accountable.Afghanistan must not be forgotten!Thank you. Watch The Meeting

Date: 28 – February – 25Pakistan’s Prime Minister has announced a March 31 deadline to deport individuals awaiting relocation to third countries unless their cases are swiftly processed by the governments that have committed to resettling them. Many Afghan men and women, particularly human rights defenders and activists, have fled due to violence, persecution, political repression, honor-related killings, and other severe human rights violations. While the international community has made promises for their relocation—including immigration interviews and visa appointments for countries such as the USA, Germany, Australia, France, and the United Kingdom—Pakistan has increased pressure on Afghan asylum seekers. This includes forced migration, detentions, exorbitant visa fees, and now, the imminent risk of mass deportations.Ongoing Human Rights Violations in Pakistan:The Pakistan police have detained human rights defenders, activists, children (both unaccompanied and with families), pregnant women, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities—including many who hold active visas and legal rights to remain in the country. Women and girls are at heightened risk of sexual and gender-based violence, particularly in Pakistani jails and upon return to Afghanistan. Many lack access to justice, legal representation, and fair refugee status determination procedures. Deporting them under these conditions violates their basic human rights and contradicts international human rights law, which explicitly states that asylum seekers cannot be penalized and forced deported.Pakistan’s obligations under international human rights law regarding Afghan asylum seekers and Refugees:Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC): Pakistan ratified the CRC in 1990. The CRC protects child refugees and prohibits their detention and deportation, as such actions harm their well-being. However, as mentioned in the letter, Pakistan has detained children, both unaccompanied and with their families, which is a violation of its obligations under the CRC.International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR): Pakistan ratified the ICCPR in 2010. Article…

19/02/2025The de facto Taliban administration, despite repeated calls from civil society, intellectuals, academics, political and economic sectors of the country, continues to impose ever-increasing restrictions on media freedom and other civil liberties. Recently, the de facto Taliban administration issued a decree limiting political programs, including the complete prohibition of all political discussions on media platforms. The Taliban’s extremist rule is gradually imposing intellectual repression on the country’s citizens through various means, plunging society into an information crisis and restricting access to it. These actions by the Taliban violate all fundamental principles and basic civil rights and undermine Afghanistan’s global commitments. It is the fundamental right of the people to be informed about the direction of the country’s political, social, cultural, and economic affairs, the role of the government in social security, and the evolving stance of the international community on Afghanistan. Political and social programs in the media serve the critical function of engaging analysts to address these vital issues and provide a space for political discourse for Afghan citizens. Unfortunately, the oppressive Taliban administration is depriving the people of this crucial opportunity. Human Rights Defenders Plus (HRD+) urges media-supporting institutions worldwide, in the region, and in Afghanistan to take a firm stance on this matter and to persist in their efforts to influence the Taliban’s approach. HRD+ also calls on the human rights treaty monitoring committees, particularly the Human Rights Committee, which oversees the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to take serious action in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 20 of the ICCPR, to which Afghanistan is a signatory. HRD+ urges all media outlets operating outside Afghanistan to fill this gap in national media by focusing more on political programming and making every effort to compensate for the…

‘The Taliban’s new decision will increase the mortality rate among Afghan women.’The Taliban de facto administration has once again demonstrated its disregard for the fundamental needs of Afghan society. In yet another irresponsible act, the Taliban leadership has issued a decree banning medical education institutions from admitting women and girls to professional medical training programs. This decision has caused widespread shock and deep concern both nationally and internationally.A pressing question arises: how can the vast number of women suffering from physical and psychological issues in Afghanistan be saved from their current plight if they are denied the opportunity to acquire medical skills for treatment and care? Meanwhile, many Taliban leaders’ families reside abroad, unaffected by these severe social, economic, and cultural hardships. The primary victims of such inhumane decisions are Afghanistan’s impoverished and destitute population. Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal and newborn mortality rates in the world. Furthermore, the feminization of poverty in recent years has exacerbated health issues among women. The Taliban’s prior policies have severely restricted women’s access to healthcare facilities and treatment. In this context, shutting down women’s medical education institutions and banning their studies will drastically reduce the number of midwives, further limiting access to safe childbirth services. As a result, women and newborns will face even greater risks of death during childbirth. It is clear that if the rapid imposition of restrictions on women’s basic human rights is not halted, the entire society will suffer significantly.HRD+ urgently calls on the international community, especially organizations involved in global health and humanitarian aid—including the World Health Organization (WHO), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the European Union’s Health Support Commission, international oversight bodies for healthcare in impoverished nations, global humanitarian aid organizations, and human rights monitoring entities worldwide—to intervene immediately. We urge them to exert pressure…

INTRODUCTIONSince taking power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed ever-more extreme restrictions on human rights. The rights of women and girls have been especially affected: they have been barred from education beyond sixth grade and many forms of employment, and banned from singing, reading aloud, or even being heard outside their houses. LGBTQI+ people face arbitrary detention, extortion, torture and other ill-treatment and unlawful killing. Taliban forces have summarily executed and forcibly disappeared former government employees, especially security officers. Ethnic and religious minorities face significant risks of persecution and discrimination. Journalists, human rights defenders, and protesters, particularly women, face harassment, arbitrary detention, and violent reprisals. The Taliban have imposed cruel and inhuman punishments, including public executions, flogging and other forms of corporal punishment. The ongoing humanitarian crisis, compounded by economic collapse and the Taliban’s ban on women aid workers, has led to widespread poverty and food insecurity. Women and girls face limits on their freedom of movement that impacts their access to health care, resulting systemic abuses of reproductive rights and the right to health more generally.As noted in the recent United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) stocktaking report on accountability options and processes for human rights violations and abuses in Afghanistan, addressing long-standing and entrenched impunity for past and ongoing human rights violations and abuses in the country is essential to ensure victims’ rights to justice, truth and reparation. It is also crucial for long-term sustainable peace, development and reconciliation, establishing the rule of law, preventing recurrence, and rebuilding trust among the full range of members of Afghan society.The latest resolution on Afghanistan (57/3), adopted by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) by consensus in October 2024, provides a blueprint for the action that is needed going forward. It stresses the…

Recently, 12 innocent Afghan citizens were martyred by “unknown” assailants and terrorists while they were engaged in prayer and worship at a mosque in Nahrin District, Baghlan Province. This is not the first time that our devout compatriots have been massacred during worship by cruel and terrorist groups. The Taliban de facto administration has failed to publish the results of any investigations regarding such incidents, deepening ambiguity about the perpetrators of these heinous crimes.The Taliban de facto administration, which once claimed security as one of its key achievements, has been unable to address such critical matters. These repeated, organized, and group killings with unidentified perpetrators raise significant questions about who is behind these inhumane actions. Over the years, the Taliban’s actions have clearly demonstrated sensitivity toward other religious groups, and their silence in this regard further implicates their responsibility. Human Rights Defenders Plus (HRD+) strongly condemns these mysterious and organized killings and puts forward the following recommendations:The Taliban de facto administration must immediately investigate the perpetrators of this group killing of our citizens in Nahrin, publish the findings, and present concrete evidence.HRD+ calls on the Taliban de facto administration to release the findings of previous investigations into attacks against followers of different religious minorities in the country to inform the Afghan public.HRD+ urges Ms. Nazila Ghanea, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, to intervene in this matter and provide investigations and recommendations to the Afghan people and the international community.HRD+ calls on Mr. Richard Bennett, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, to take immediate action and, in coordination with civil society organizations and human rights activists, prepare a special report on the “challenges to freedom of belief in Afghanistan” and share it with national and international community alongside constructive and actionable recommendations.HRD+ strongly…

Once again, terrorists have committed another crime against humanity by opening fire on 14 of our fellow citizens in Daikundi. The victims of this tragic incident were civilians belonging to the Hazara community. They were massacred collectively due to their ethnic and religious identity, a clear and undeniable example of a crime against humanity. The terrorist attackers forced a group of travellers off their vehicles near the village of Palo Sang, in the Zartalay Valley on the border of Ghor and Daikundi provinces, and then brutally executed them. According to information received by HRD+, the victims had no political affiliations with any armed groups in Afghanistan and were completely innocent. The victims hailed from the village of Qarawdal, part of the Bandar region in Sangtakht and Bandar district of Daikundi province.HRD+ clearly declares:The Taliban administration, which has seized political power, has failed to provide the security they promised. Despite their claims, they have not been able to bring peace to the people. Security is a basic human right for every citizen, and no group should cause the slaughter of innocent people in our nation. We firmly demand that the Taliban administration take immediate action to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of this tragic event.Recently, attacks on Hazara citizens and Shia followers in Afghanistan have increased, raising the risk of sectarian conflicts. We call on the people of Afghanistan to stand in solidarity with our Hazara compatriots during this sensitive time, as they deserve to live a dignified life in peace, both mentally and physically.HRD+ urgently calls on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its Prosecutor, Mr. Karim A. A. Khan, to take immediate and serious action concerning the case of the Hazara massacres in Afghanistan. Most crimes against humanity targeting Shia and Hazara communities have been…

Dear Excellencies, We, the undersigned Afghanistan and international human rights and civil society organisations, write to you once again to share our concerns regarding the grave human rights and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and to reiterate the urgent need for accountability for gross, widespread and systematic human rights violations and abuses that continue to be committed across Afghanistan, including crimes under international law, some of which may amount to crimes against humanity.We call on the UN Human Rights Council, at its upcoming 57th regular session to: renew and strengthen with the necessary resources, the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan; establish a parallel and complementary independent mechanism to investigate, collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse evidence of human rights violations and abuses and crimes under international law; and ensure continuation of a dedicated space for enhanced interactive dialogue on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan with meaningful follow-up to the report of the Special Rapporteur on Taliban’s repression against women and girls. We further urge you to seriously consider the calls for the recognition and codification of gender apartheid as a crime under international law.This letter, just as in our previous letter shared ahead of the 54th session of the Council in September 2023, is an outcome of consultations with Afghanistan’s civil society and human rights defenders located inside and outside of the country and enjoys broad support from Afghanistan’s civil society.In the past three years, the Taliban have completely reversed measures previously adopted to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights in Afghanistan. The Taliban, as the de facto authority, have spurned Afghanistan’s international obligations and have continued to introduce arbitrary, unlawful and wide-ranging restrictions on human rights.With bans on secondary and higher education, employment, freedom of movement,…