Source: UN News: Tuesday, 04 November 2025 00:01 AM
Richard Bennett, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, warned that normalizing the Taliban regime risks legitimizing abuses in the country and deepening the Afghan crisis. He also expressed concern that gender equality in the country is being systematically attacked. According to Special Rapporteur Bennett, the situation in Afghanistan is serious and therefore there is a need to dismantle the Taliban regime for gender oppression and to tackle the growing human rights crisis in the country. Bennett, an independent UN human rights expert, presented his report to the UN General Assembly on Thursday, saying that there is a need to put women at the center of all political and decision-making processes. Richard Bennett has written a report to protect the rights of women and girls. Called for a principled approach. Richard Bennett, the Special Rapporteur monitoring human rights in Afghanistan, told the UN General Assembly that the human rights situation in the country “continues to deteriorate and there are very few grounds for optimism.” Independent human rights experts and Special Rapporteurs work independently under a mandate of the Human Rights Council, are not UN employees, and receive no remuneration from the UN for their work. Richard Bennett has warned of an increase in sexual harassment, corporal punishment, forced disappearances, and attacks on former government officials, despite the Taliban’s declared amnesty. He said restrictions on media freedom and civil society are also increasing, and discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities is increasing. This also includes cases of forced evictions affecting Hazara communities. © UN Women/Sayed Habib Bidell Restrictions on women and girls She said no Taliban orders restricting women’s rights had been lifted. “Too many Afghan women are being deprived of their right to work,” she said, pointing to recent moves to prevent Afghan women working for the United Nations from entering UN premises. “This is a violation of fundamental rights and UN Charter Richard Bennett also criticized deep cuts to humanitarian and civil society funding, which he said were removing the “last line of protection” for populations already facing widespread deprivation. He urged governments to recommit to long-term, sustained support, particularly for Afghan and women-led organizations. Help Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett also warned about the large-scale forced return of Afghan refugees and urged all countries to respect the international legal principle of the prohibition of refoulement, which prohibits sending people back to places where they could face persecution or serious harm. The situation in Afghanistan remains grave, but Richard Bennett also, He also noted signs of some progress in accountability, including the issuance of arrest warrants against Taliban leaders by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the establishment by the Human Rights Council of an independent investigative mechanism to collect and preserve evidence of serious crimes for future prosecutions. “Afghanistan is not a completely hopeless case.” He stressed that it is an “essential part” of building a future based on accountability, justice, equality and the rule of law. “Turning away now would not only be a betrayal of the Afghan people – it would also undermine the foundation of our shared international order,” he said. He urged countries to engage with Afghanistan “on principled Urged to “engage in ways to avoid taking the Taliban regime for granted until there are improvements in the human rights situation that are demonstrable, measurable and independently verifiable, especially for women and girls.”
