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By Richard Bennett
In the present report, submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 54/1, building on previous reports, the Special Rapporteur outlines human rights developments in Afghanistan during the period 1 September 2023 to 31 January 2024, with further reflections on changes in the human rights situation over the past year. Two and a half years after the Taliban seized control over the territory of Afghanistan, human rights continue to worsen. In particular, the extent of the de facto authority’s disrespect for the fundamental rights of women and girls is unparalleled in the world. The level of suffering caused not only by the ongoing desperate humanitarian situation but also by gross, widespread and, in some cases, systematic violations of human rights is unacceptable. In this environment, the Special Rapporteur shares the concerns of many Afghans that some members of the international community may be inching towards acceptance of the inevitability of the situation and that, in return for relative security and promises to control terrorism and narcotics, the de facto authorities will be increasingly “normalized”, if not formally recognized as a legitimate government, without making meaningful progress on human rights. However, there is a persuasive case to be made in customary international law in favour of using respect for human rights as a benchmark for recognition as a Government. In particular, and as noted in the joint report of the Special Rapporteur and the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, which was submitted to the Council at its fifty-third session, the Taliban’s appalling treatment of women and girls framed in explicit gender policies violates the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the fundamental spirit and norms of international human rights law, disqualifying them from being recognized as a Government and placing legal duties on other States not to support or endorse the regime. That matter will be explored further in the Special Rapporteur’s report to the Council at its fifty-sixth session where he has been mandated to report on the phenomenon of an institutionalized system of discrimination, segregation, disrespect for human dignity and exclusion of women and girls.
Keywords: Human rights deterioration, Taliban rule, Women and girls’ rights violations, International recognition concerns, Customary international law, Institutionalized discrimination