Web Desk: A United Nations human rights expert has issued a grave warning that women and girls in Afghanistan are enduring “the most serious assault on gender equality of our time” under the Taliban regime.
Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, told the UN General Assembly that the Taliban has created an “institutionalized system of gender persecution.” He urged the global community to take urgent and unified action to prevent human rights violations rather than normalize Taliban rule.
Bennett highlighted that bans on women’s education and employment — including prohibitions on women working for the UN and humanitarian organizations — have deepened Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis. He warned that cuts in international aid are leaving Afghans “without the last lines of protection and support.”
The UN expert also expressed alarm over rising public punishments, enforced disappearances, and shrinking freedoms for media and civil society. He noted that the Taliban’s mistreatment of ethnic and religious minorities is further inflaming tensions across the country.
Bennett cautioned that such harsh policies could radicalize a generation growing up under repression and poverty. “What is happening in Afghanistan will not be contained within its borders,” he warned.
He also criticized the forced deportation of Afghan refugees from neighboring and European countries, calling on all nations to uphold international law.
Despite the worsening situation, Bennett stressed that “Afghanistan is not a lost cause” and called for continued global accountability and support for Afghan-led human rights initiatives.
