UN experts have demanded an investigation into the suppression of women’s rights in Afghanistan as a form of gender persecution as the situation of women in Afghanistan has been deteriorating with every passing day due to Taliban’s suppression of basic rights of Afghan women, and girls in the country, Khaaam Press reported on Sunday.
The special rapporteurs highlighted how gender bias is a punishable offence under international law and warned of severe consquences
Experts stated that in Afghanistan, recent months have seen a rise in the fundamental rights abuses of women, which are already “severe and unacceptable,” according to a news release from the UN. According to the UN Special Rapporteurs, women’s rights activists have been increasingly targeted, beaten, and detained in recent months, citing activist Zarifa Yaquobi as an example, who is still incarcerated in an unknown location
According to Logar officials, fourteen people–three women and eleven men–were publicly flogged in the eastern Afghan province of Logar for thievery and “moral offences.”
The experts urged the international community to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of gender-based violence in “relevant international and extraterritorial jurisdictions,” while simultaneously working to restore women’s rights in Afghanistan. .
Since the summer of 2021, women in Afghanistan have had many of their most fundamental rights restricted or rescinded in a country that has one of the highest rates of violence against women globally.
