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\u201cThis situation calls for urgent political dialogue, rather than escalating the use of force,\u201d said the High Commissioner for Human Rights, following a sharp increase in civilian casualties in cross-border clashes with Pakistani military forces, who have been reportedly targeting armed militants sheltering in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
According to the UN Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, 70 civilians were killed and 478 were injured in Afghanistan in the last three months of 2025. \u201cThere were further casualties earlier this week, when 13 civilians were killed and several more injured following airstrikes by Pakistani forces,\u201d Mr. T\u00fcrk said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The latest batch of Taliban decrees since the group overran Kabul in 2021 increases the number of crimes punishable by death and allows women and children to be beaten in their homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Criticism of the authorities is also a criminal offence and the overriding conclusion is that Afghanistan is now \u201ca graveyard for human rights\u201d, Mr. T\u00fcrk told the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the UN\u2019s top human rights forum.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe system of segregation is reminiscent of apartheid, based on gender rather than race,\u201d he said. The\u00a0de facto<\/em>\u00a0authorities have, in effect, criminalized the presence of women and girls in public life. They are banned from secondary education and above, and from most employment. Discrimination affects their healthcare, their access to civic space, and their freedom of movement and expression.\u201d<\/p>\n As an indication of the increasingly pervasive controls and repression that Afghan people now endure in their daily lives, the High Commissioner described how vice legislation is used to ensure that men grow beards and that women wear the hijab in line with strict rules.<\/p>\n The \u201cLaw on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice\u201d is also being employed to enforce the rule that women only leave their homes with a male guardian, while also banning music and images of living beings.<\/p>\n Since 7 September last year, the\u00a0de facto<\/em>\u00a0authorities have prevented Afghan women, including UN staff, contractors and visitors, from entering UN premises across the country. \u201cThese restrictions are unprecedented and deeply disturbing,\u201d Mr. T\u00fcrk said, as he urged the international community \u201cto put pressure on the\u00a0de facto<\/em>\u00a0authorities\u201d so that they respect their international human rights obligations.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn Afghanistan and elsewhere, human rights violations and abuses have serious implications for peace and security,\u201d the High Commissioner insisted, before adding that his Office will continue \u201cdocumenting and recording the violations and abuses that have taken place in Afghanistan\u201d.<\/p>\nVeiled threat<\/strong><\/h2>\n