Following concerns expressed by the people of Panjshir province regarding the Taliban’s “massive crackdown” on Panjshir’s civilians, Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, invited Afghans to communicate human rights concerns to his office.
The UN official, Bennett, in a thread of tweets on Sunday, the 23rd of October, stated that he met stakeholders including civil society representatives in several as part of his visit to Afghanistan.
Bennett noted on Twitter that the representatives of Panjshir province in northern Afghanistan described the Taliban’s widespread repression of civilians there, including egregious violations of women’s and children’s rights.
The National Resistance Front (NRF) fighters’ treatment by the Taliban, while they were out of combat, was described as “shocking” by the UN human rights rapporteur for Afghanistan.
Following the conclusion of Richard Bennett’s visit to Afghanistan, a group of protesting women claimed that Bennett had instead spoken to the Taliban government’s governor in Panjshir rather than the locals and victims in Panjshir.
The UN official, however, has said that the Taliban should stop violating human rights in Panjshir and that he will raise the issue at the UN General Assembly on October 26.
Bennett has also urged Afghans to contact the UN office of the human rights rapporteur with any concerns they may have regarding human rights, providing his email address.
This comes as the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan are accused of extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations as they work to suppress an armed uprising, NRF, in the country’s north.
