UN calls on Taliban to stop torture

Nick Robertson
·2 min read
17

The United Nations is calling on the Taliban in Afghanistan to reform the way it treats prisoners, citing more than 1,600 human rights violations in a report released Tuesday.

More than half of the violations were instances of torture or other degrading treatment, according to the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) report.

“The personal accounts of beatings, electric shocks, water torture, and numerous other forms of cruel and degrading treatment, along with threats made against individuals and their families, are harrowing. Torture is forbidden in all circumstances,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said.

The report is the result of a year-and-a-half study — January 2022 to July 2023 — of human rights violations in Afghanistan.

Detainees are often physically harmed in order to garner a confession, and they are frequently denied legal counsel, the report claims. The UNAMA lists more than 550 human rights abuses against detainees, most of which involving physical suffering.

The human rights violations continue despite statements and policy from the Taliban government discouraging the conduct, with the UNAMA stating that the rules are “not sufficiently followed at the operational level.”

“The prevalence of torture, coupled with the systemic violation of procedural safeguards in custody, such as lack of access to lawyers, must be comprehensively addressed by the de facto authorities,” Türk said.

Specifically, the report requests that Afghanistan’s “de facto” government establish a legal aid framework and work to end arbitrary and prolonged detention.

“There is a pressing need to consider more engagement with the de facto authorities to end these practices, and I hope the report and its recommendations are seized upon as a matter of priority,” UNAMA head Roza Otunbayeva said. “We remain committed to the people of Afghanistan and our efforts to maintain constructive engagement, with impartiality and in good faith.”

The report claims that the 1,600 figure is likely a significant undercount, noting that many human rights abuses go unreported. In collecting information, the U.N. group spoke with mostly Afghan civilians, but also some government workers, military personnel and journalists.

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