Afghanistan Archives - UN Watch https://unwatch.org/category/country/afghanistan/ Monitoring the UN Promoting Human Rights Fri, 26 Jun 2026 13:14:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Marzieh Hamidi Speaks for Afghan Women at UN Side Event https://unwatch.org/marzieh-hamidi-speaks-for-afghan-women-at-un-side-event/ Fri, 26 Jun 2026 13:14:49 +0000 https://unwatch.org/?p=586852   On June 26, 2026, Afghan-Iranian Taekwondo champion and women’s rights advocate Marzieh Hamidi spoke at UN Watch’s official side event at the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, “Women’s Rights Under Extremism and Conflict,” calling on the international community to cease diplomatic normalization with the Taliban. Prepared Remarks: Ladies and Gentlemen, I […]

The post Marzieh Hamidi Speaks for Afghan Women at UN Side Event appeared first on UN Watch.

]]>

 

On June 26, 2026, Afghan-Iranian Taekwondo champion and women’s rights advocate Marzieh Hamidi spoke at UN Watch’s official side event at the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, “Women’s Rights Under Extremism and Conflict,” calling on the international community to cease diplomatic normalization with the Taliban.

Prepared Remarks:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I did not come to Geneva to ask for sympathy.

I came to ask for accountability.

Europe says it is fighting extremism. So why are the representatives of one of the most extremist regimes in the world being welcomed into diplomatic spaces?

Why are the victims of extremism forced into hiding while extremists are invited to meetings?

Why are Afghan women being told to be patient while the people who erased them from public life are treated as political actors?

Afghan women deserve answers.

Because let us be honest about what the Taliban are.

The Taliban are not misunderstood politicians. They are not reformers. They are not partners for progress. They are a regime that has erased women from public life, banned girls from education, stripped women of the right to work, to travel freely, and to participate in society, and turned discrimination against women into state policy.

I want Europe to hear this clearly.

You cannot claim to defend women’s rights while legitimizing those who destroy women’s rights.

You cannot claim to fight extremism while opening the door to extremists.

You cannot speak about freedom, democracy, and human dignity while sitting across the table from those who deny all three.

I am tired of the hypocrisy.

I am tired of hearing beautiful speeches about women’s rights while Afghan women are abandoned in reality.

I am tired of politicians hiding behind soft diplomatic language while millions of women are living under one of the most brutal systems of gender oppression in the world.

What is happening in Afghanistan is not a cultural difference. It is not a misunderstanding. It is not a complicated political situation.

It is oppression. It is persecution. It is gender apartheid.

And while we are sitting in this room today, women inside Afghanistan continue to pay the price.

Recently, in the city of Herat, women protesting for their rights were reportedly beaten, threatened, and violently suppressed.

Women continue to be detained and harassed simply for appearing in public.

Women have been arrested because they were not wearing the blue burqa demanded by Taliban authorities — even when they were fully covered.

Think about that.

Not because they committed a crime. Not because they harmed anyone. But because extremists decided that even a fully covered woman was still not covered enough.

This is not culture. This is not tradition. This is not religion. This is control.

Every single day, I receive messages from inside Afghanistan.

Messages from girls. Messages from mothers. Messages from students whose dreams have been stolen.

They tell me:

“Please be our voice.”

“Tell the world what is happening.”

“Do not let them forget us.”

And perhaps the most important message of all:

“The Taliban do not represent us.”

“The Taliban are not Afghanistan.”

“We do not want terrorists speaking in our name.”

So when governments invite the Taliban, they should remember something.

They are not inviting the voice of Afghan women. They are not inviting the voice of Afghan girls. They are not inviting the voice of the Afghan people.

They are inviting the people who silenced those voices.

I am not here to ask the world to speak for Afghan women. Afghan women are already speaking.

They are speaking through fear, through resistance, and through extraordinary courage.

The problem is not that Afghan women do not have a voice.

The problem is that too many people in positions of power have chosen not to listen.

And even worse, some have chosen to listen to the oppressors instead.

I am a young woman. I am an athlete. At 23 years old, I should be worrying about my next competition.

Instead, I have to worry about surviving threats from extremists who want to kill me because I believe women deserve freedom.

Extremism is not an abstract concept to me. It affects how I live, how I move, how I work, and how I plan my future.

Terrorists do not become legitimate because they are invited to conferences.

Oppression does not become acceptable because it is discussed politely.

Every invitation matters. Every diplomatic meeting matters. Every photograph matters.

Because every time the Taliban are treated as legitimate political actors without accountability, the message sent to Afghan women is devastating.

Your freedom can be negotiated.

Your dignity can be negotiated.

Your future can be negotiated.

I reject that message.

The women of Afghanistan do not need more empty statements.

They need courage. They need solidarity.

And they need the world to stop legitimizing those who are responsible for their oppression.

History will not ask how carefully we balanced our political interests.

 

The post Marzieh Hamidi Speaks for Afghan Women at UN Side Event appeared first on UN Watch.

]]> Marzieh Hamidi Speaks for Afghan Women at UN Side Event - UN Watch   On June 26, 2026, Afghan-Iranian Taekwondo champion and women's rights advocate Marzieh Hamidi spoke at UN Watch's official side event at the 62nd pinned Hillel Neuer Asks UN: Where Is the Outrage Over 1.8 Million Afghans Deported to the Taliban by Iran https://unwatch.org/hillel-neuer-asks-un-where-is-the-outrage-over-1-8-million-afghans-deported-to-the-taliban-by-iran/ Thu, 30 Oct 2025 14:05:45 +0000 https://unwatch.org/?p=583336 SHARE: YouTube   Executive Director of UN Watch, Hillel Neuer, delivers an urgent and scathing address to the UN Human Rights Council, regarding the dire human rights crisis in Afghanistan and the world’s indifference. He highlights how the Islamic Republic of Iran has deported 1.8 million Afghans, condemning them to life under the Taliban. UNHRC Chair: […]

The post Hillel Neuer Asks UN: Where Is the Outrage Over 1.8 Million Afghans Deported to the Taliban by Iran appeared first on UN Watch.

]]>
YouTube player

SHARE: YouTube  

Executive Director of UN Watch, Hillel Neuer, delivers an urgent and scathing address to the UN Human Rights Council, regarding the dire human rights crisis in Afghanistan and the world’s indifference. He highlights how the Islamic Republic of Iran has deported 1.8 million Afghans, condemning them to life under the Taliban.


UNHRC Chair:

I Give the floor to United Nations Watch.


Hillel Neuer, UN Watch:

Mr. President, we express condolences to the families of 2,000 victims who perished in the earthquake last week in Afghanistan. This tragedy was only made worse by what happened next.

Rescue workers, applying Taliban rules, refused to help trapped and injured women and girls, some of them bleeding. They were left under the rubble.

Four years after seizing power, the Taliban continues to trample basic human rights of its own people.

Women are banned from speaking or showing their faces.

Human rights activists, journalists, teachers have faced enforced disappearances, torture and summary executions.

And now, into this torment, the Islamic Republic of Iran has since June expelled 700,000 Afghan refugees, violently rounding them up.

Humiliated from its war with Israel, Tehran is seeking a scapegoat and accuses Afghan refugees of being spies. Many are beaten.

‘They threw us out like garbage,” said Sahar, a mother of five.

Already this year, Iran has expelled 1.8 million refugees. That’s why we brought Afghan activists here:

Husna and Dr. Massouda Jalal, Nila Ibrahimi, Zarifa Ghafari, to sound the alarm.

But where is the rest of the world?

Where are the mass rallies in London, Paris and Madrid for suffering Afghan women and girls?

Where are the campus protests for 1.8 million Muslim refugees expelled by Iran?

Why is the UN Secretary General silent?

And we ask this Human Rights Council, why are you now planning to elect, by acclamation on October 8, a representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran?

The post Hillel Neuer Asks UN: Where Is the Outrage Over 1.8 Million Afghans Deported to the Taliban by Iran appeared first on UN Watch.

]]> Hillel Neuer Asks UN: Where Is the Outrage Over 1.8 Million Afghans Deported to the Taliban by Iran - UN Watch https://youtu.be/_uXtTgDKyrs?si=8a4PtOgJvjYMm2Ba SHARE: YouTube   Executive Director of UN Watch, Hillel Neuer, delivers an urgent and scathing address to pinned YouTube player Hillel Neuer Exposes the U.N.’s Inaction to Protect Afghan Women https://unwatch.org/hillel-neuer-exposes-the-u-n-s-inaction-to-protect-afghan-women/ Sun, 06 Oct 2024 11:01:47 +0000 https://unwatch.org/?p=576976   Hillel Neuer addressed the Human Rights Council to call out the U.N.’s inaction to protect Afghan Women from the Taliban’s oppression. Full Remarks: Thank you, Madam Chair. In Afghanistan, we are faced with repressive and escalating attacks against the basic rights of women and girls by the Taliban since their illegal seizure of power […]

The post Hillel Neuer Exposes the U.N.’s Inaction to Protect Afghan Women appeared first on UN Watch.

]]>
YouTube player

 

Hillel Neuer addressed the Human Rights Council to call out the U.N.’s inaction to protect Afghan Women from the Taliban’s oppression.

Full Remarks:

Thank you, Madam Chair. In Afghanistan, we are faced with repressive and escalating attacks against the basic rights of women and girls by the Taliban since their illegal seizure of power in August 2021. Afghanistan faces a deepening crisis described by international human rights experts as gender apartheid.

We urgently appeal to this council and to the United Nations. When will you take action to safeguard the human rights of Afghan women and girls? When will you protect women’s rights activists who face persecution for the crime of peacefully campaigning for their basic freedom?

Now, last year, Afghan women and girls saw their rights increasingly curtailed greater enforcement of restrictions on education including a ban on girls attending high school and university to intensifying exclusion of women from political and public life. Women are banned from a growing list of forms of paid employment. From registering organizations and undergoing vocational training, women are denied the right to make a living and are further confined to the private sphere.

Last year, new restrictions imposed by the Taliban included the closure of beauty salons, blocking women from overseas travel for study, mandating female health workers in some areas to have a male chaperone while traveling or at work, and prohibiting women from entering a national park.

Now, they arrested women’s rights activists Neda Parwani, Zholia Parsi. They forcibly disappeared Manizha Seddiqi. They arrested Matiullah Wesa, founder of an NGO advocating for girls’ rights. They arbitrarily detained Ahmad Fahim Azimi, a dedicated girls education activist. Last month, the Taliban declared a ban on women’s voices and women’s faces.

What is this council doing to help Afghan women?

What is the United Nations doing?

Why in this session is there no agenda item on the crimes of the Taliban?

Why in the past three years has there been no special session for the victims of the Taliban?

I thank you.

 

 

The post Hillel Neuer Exposes the U.N.’s Inaction to Protect Afghan Women appeared first on UN Watch.

]]> Hillel Neuer Exposes the U.N.'s Inaction to Protect Afghan Women - UN Watch   Hillel Neuer addressed the Human Rights Council to call out the U.N.'s inaction to protect Afghan Women from the Taliban's oppression. Full pinned YouTube player Hillel Neuer urges the UN not to recognize the Taliban https://unwatch.org/hillel-neuer-urges-the-un-not-to-recognize-the-taliban/ Mon, 11 Sep 2023 10:09:49 +0000 https://unwatch.org/?p=572997      Hillel Neuer takes the floor at the United Nations, urging the international community not to recognize the Taliban and exposing their relentless assault on human rights.  

The post Hillel Neuer urges the UN not to recognize the Taliban appeared first on UN Watch.

]]>  

 

Hillel Neuer takes the floor at the United Nations, urging the international community not to recognize the Taliban and exposing their relentless assault on human rights.

 

The post Hillel Neuer urges the UN not to recognize the Taliban appeared first on UN Watch.

]]> Hillel Neuer urges the UN not to recognize the Taliban - UN Watch      Hillel Neuer takes the floor at the United Nations, urging the international community not to recognize the Taliban and exposing their Video Top U.N. Official Calls for Recognition of Taliban https://unwatch.org/top-u-n-official-calls-for-recognition-of-taliban/ Wed, 19 Apr 2023 15:12:03 +0000 https://unwatch.org/?p=562924 The United Nations deputy secretary-general expressed the hope that an upcoming conference of the world body will discuss granting official recognition to the Taliban. See transcript below. Amina Mohammed delivered her remarks at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, formerly known as the Woodrow Wilson School, interviewed by Dean Amaney Jamal. No joke: […]

The post Top U.N. Official Calls for Recognition of Taliban appeared first on UN Watch.

]]> The United Nations deputy secretary-general expressed the hope that an upcoming conference of the world body will discuss granting official recognition to the Taliban. See transcript below.

Amina Mohammed delivered her remarks at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, formerly known as the Woodrow Wilson School, interviewed by Dean Amaney Jamal.

Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General: We have some amazing envoys that work on Afghanistan, and we have Afghan women too. And what we are hoping is that we will gather them now, in another two weeks in the region, and they will have that first meeting of envoys across the board, the region and internationally, with the Secretary General for the first time. And out of that, we hope that we will find those baby steps to put us back on the pathway to recognition. Is it possible? Don’t know.
Jamal Amaney, Dean of Princeton’s SPIA: Recognition of?
AM: Of the Taliban. A principled recognition. In other words, there are conditions I mean, you…
JA: Quid pro quo?
AM: Let’s see, let’s see what that does. Because that discussion has to happen. I mean, there are some that believe this can never happen. There are others that say, well, it has to happen.
JA: Does the Taliban want recognition?
AM: Yes. The Taliban clearly want recognition. And that’s the leverage we have.

The post Top U.N. Official Calls for Recognition of Taliban appeared first on UN Watch.

]]> “Why No Condemnation of the Taliban?” — Hillel Neuer Confronts the UN Human Rights Council https://unwatch.org/why-no-condemnation-of-the-taliban-hillel-neuer-confronts-the-un-human-rights-council/ Fri, 17 Sep 2021 13:32:58 +0000 https://unwatch.org/?p=551415 Video of the following rare moment of truth at the UN is now being shared widely on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Testimony by UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer before the United Nations Human Rights Council special session on Afghanistan, August 24, 2021 Madam President: The United Nations was founded to prevent war. For years we appealed to […]

The post “Why No Condemnation of the Taliban?” — Hillel Neuer Confronts the UN Human Rights Council appeared first on UN Watch.

]]>
YouTube player

Video of the following rare moment of truth at the UN is now being shared widely on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

Testimony by UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer before the United Nations Human Rights Council special session on Afghanistan, August 24, 2021

Madam President:

The United Nations was founded to prevent war. For years we appealed to this Council to hold an urgent session on the war in Afghanistan.

Yet even as 241,000 people were killed, including 71,000 civilians, this council refused to hold a single session to try and help Afghanistan’s victims. Not a single commission of inquiry to hold terrorists and their state sponsors to account.

Even as this Council has held nine special sessions criticizing another country, it never once met on Afghanistan, or adopted a single resolution to condemn the Taliban.

Today we have to ask: If the council had held to account the Taliban terrorists who lash women for going to work, or for speaking on the phone to a man, and if the council had pressured Pakistan to stop aiding and abetting the Taliban, how many thousands of lives could have been saved?

Today’s session is too little, and too late. In my hands is the draft resolution. Why is there nowhere any condemnation or even mention of the Taliban?

Why no condemnation of the Taliban’s latest offensive that directly targeted civilians, or of their assassination of human rights activists and journalists, their summary executions, arbitrary detentions, mass executions of civilians, and subjugation of women and girls?

Why is the West blamed for “military interventions,” while Iran and Pakistan are praised?

Why is there no mention that if the Taliban government is recognized by the United Nations, these misogynists stand to inherit Afghanistan’s seat on the UN women’s rights commission?

I thank you.

SHARE: Facebook • Instagram • Twitter • YouTube

The post “Why No Condemnation of the Taliban?” — Hillel Neuer Confronts the UN Human Rights Council appeared first on UN Watch.

]]> "Why No Condemnation of the Taliban?" — Hillel Neuer Confronts the UN Human Rights Council - UN Watch https://youtu.be/Qziah1CFVsE Video of the following rare moment of truth at the UN is now being shared widely on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and pinned YouTube player Telling The Truth About The Taliban https://unwatch.org/the-taliban-takes-afghanistan-un-watch-speaks-out/ Mon, 06 Sep 2021 20:04:45 +0000 https://unwatch.org/?p=551068 As the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, many worldwide turned to UN Watch for the truth about the misogynistic terrorist group. Below are some our viral tweets on the crisis. Western Reactions Our tweets on naive diplomatic appeals to the Taliban sparked a firestorm. 🇺🇸 Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield says U.S. expressed "in no uncertain terms" […]

The post Telling The Truth About The Taliban appeared first on UN Watch.

]]> As the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, many worldwide turned to UN Watch for the truth about the misogynistic terrorist group. Below are some our viral tweets on the crisis.

Western Reactions

Our tweets on naive diplomatic appeals to the Taliban sparked a firestorm.

UN Silence

UN Watch called out the pitiful reaction of the UN, including Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Human Rights Council Calls Special Session

When the Human Rights Council did eventually react, it was led by Pakistan, which resulted in a shockingly watered-down resolution that failed to mention the Taliban by name.

Taliban Could Join Top UN Women’s Rights Body

UN Watch called out the delayed response from the UN Human Rights Council, and exposed how the Taliban are poised to inherit membership of UNESCO, the UN agency charged with safeguarding world heritage, as well as Afghanistan’s existing memberships of ECOSOC and the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

https://twitter.com/HillelNeuer/status/1428129037776523265?s=20

Woke Hypocrisy

Woke leaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Ben and Jerry’s failed to condemn Taliban atrocities. Swedish foreign minister Ann Linde reacted to criticism by blocking Hillel Neuer on Twitter.

Taliban and Islamist Human Rights Abuses

The post Telling The Truth About The Taliban appeared first on UN Watch.

]]> Taliban Blew Up Colossal Buddhas, Now Poised to Join UNESCO https://unwatch.org/taliban-blew-up-colossal-buddhas-now-poised-to-join-unesco/ Wed, 18 Aug 2021 22:49:18 +0000 https://unwatch.org/?p=551023 GENEVA, August 19, 2021 — The terrorist group that shocked the world in 2001 when it obliterated Afghanistan’s 1,500-year-old Buddhas of Bamiyan, is now poised to inherit Afghanistan’s membership on UNESCO, the UN body charged with protecting world cultural heritage sites, warned UN Watch, an independent non-governmental human rights group based in Geneva. The Taliban, […]

The post Taliban Blew Up Colossal Buddhas, Now Poised to Join UNESCO appeared first on UN Watch.

]]> GENEVA, August 19, 2021 — The terrorist group that shocked the world in 2001 when it obliterated Afghanistan’s 1,500-year-old Buddhas of Bamiyan, is now poised to inherit Afghanistan’s membership on UNESCO, the UN body charged with protecting world cultural heritage sites, warned UN Watch, an independent non-governmental human rights group based in Geneva.

The Taliban, a terrorist group that negates the UN’s fundamental principles, also stands to inherit a seat on ECOSOC, a principal UN organ that oversees influential agencies, including two separate UN entities charged with protecting women’s rights.

“Let me be clear: Putting the Taliban in charge of protecting world heritage and women’s rights would be like making a pyromaniac into the town fire chief,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

1. The Taliban on UNESCO: Oversight on Education, Counter-Extremism, World Heritage

Afghanistan holds a 2019-2023 membership term on UNESCO’s Executive Board, with responsibility for overseeing that body’s agenda, program of work and budget.

If the Taliban inherit this seat, the terrorist group would, for example, oversee UNESCO’s work on education, where gender equality is an underlying principle, even as they deny Afghan women and girls the right to an education.

The Taliban would also gain oversight of UNESCO’s initiative on preventing violent extremism through education and celebrating cultural diversity, even as they crush dissent and administer medieval justice, lashing women for going to school or for speaking on the phone to a man.

And the entity that obliterated one of the world’s greatest cultural heritage sites would have fiduciary responsibility for safeguarding the world’s cultural and natural heritage.

Blowing up the Buddhas

In March 2001, before US-led forces invaded Afghanistan and removed the Taliban from power, the Islamist extremist group destroyed giant 5th-century statues of Afghan Buddhas in what UNESCO’s then director-general called a “crime against culture.” Koichiro Matsuura said it was “abominable to witness the cold and calculated destruction of cultural properties which were the heritage of the Afghan people, and, indeed, of the whole of humanity.”

Afghan Buddha destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.

The empty niches where the Buddhas stood were inscribed on the World Heritage List as part of the “Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley” World Heritage property in 2003. Commemorating the event twenty years later, UNESCO describes it as a “deliberate act of destruction, motivated by an extremist ideology that aimed to destroy culture, identity and history.”

2. Taliban on ECOSOC: Shaping Women’s Rights, Overseeing Human Rights Activists

Afghanistan was just elected for the 2022-2024 term to the UN’s Economic and Social Council, a top UN body that regulates human rights groups, oversees the UN women’s rights commission, and adopts resolutions on a vast array of global issues ranging from internet freedom to the treatment of prisoners.

If a Taliban government assumes Afghanistan’s seat on ECOSOC, the terrorist group will be in a position to influence decisions on accrediting and overseeing human rights groups at the UN, deciding which can participate at the Human Rights Council.

As a member of ECOSOC, the Taliban would be one of 54 states electing member states to the Commission on the Status of Women, the Executive Board of UN Women, and UNICEF.

“It would be grotesque to hand global responsibility for gender equality and women’s empowerment to an extreme Islamist group responsible for sending women’s rights back to the dark ages,” said Neuer.

“We are calling on the US, the EU, and all other UN member states to show resolve and deny the Taliban the credentials they need to take over Afghanistan’s seat. We cannot allow a misogynistic, murderous band of terrorists to influence the world bodies responsible for education, culture, women’s equality and human rights,” said Neuer. “Allowing in the Taliban to such bodies would be truly absurd, immoral and obscene.”

The post Taliban Blew Up Colossal Buddhas, Now Poised to Join UNESCO appeared first on UN Watch.

]]> buddhas UN Watch Speaks Out For Torture Victims in Afghanistan at UNHRC https://unwatch.org/un-watch-speaks-out-for-torture-victims-in-afghanistan-at-unhrc/ Tue, 16 Jul 2019 13:06:11 +0000 https://unwatch.org/?p=26142 United Nations Watch Universal Periodic Review Report on Afghanistan Agenda Item 6, UNHRC 41st Session July 4, 2019 Delivered by Mr. Samuel Orloff Thank you, Mr. President.  United Nations Watch welcomes the report of the Working Group. As noted in Paragraph 9, Afghanistan recently ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. This development, […]

The post UN Watch Speaks Out For Torture Victims in Afghanistan at UNHRC appeared first on UN Watch.

]]>

United Nations Watch
Universal Periodic Review Report on Afghanistan
Agenda Item 6, UNHRC 41st Session
July 4, 2019
Delivered by Mr. Samuel Orloff

Thank you, Mr. President. 
United Nations Watch welcomes the report of the Working Group. As noted in Paragraph 9, Afghanistan recently ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. This development, along with the 2018 reform of the penal code, and the enactment of the anti-torture law, are welcome steps.
 However, according to recent findings by UNAMA, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, the overall figures of torture and ill-treatment of conflict-related detainees remain disturbingly high.
Nearly one-third of all detainees were subjected to torture. This is a shocking figure. Yet when Afghanistan was reviewed by the Council for this report, only eleven countries drew attention to the ongoing problem of torture.
Moreover, United Nations Watch is deeply troubled by the high number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan. In the first quarter of 2019 alone, UNAMA documented nearly 1800 civilian casualties.
The Taliban and the Islamic State, which deliberately target civilians, are often the primary cause of these casualties. Just this past Monday, in Kabul, we witnessed a horrific Taliban attack near a school. Even by the standards of Afghanistan’s long war, this massacre stood out as unusually brutal. Fifty-one children were wounded, and one killed; another 39 people lost their lives, most of them civilians. In all, 116 people were hospitalized with serious injuries, 26 of them children. We mourn the victims of this senseless slaughter.
In addition, while we don’t equate the two, the Afghan government must also do its part to reduce civilian casualties.
Mr. President, to improve the situation for Afghan civilians, further international cooperation is required. That is why the recent statements by Iran’s deputy foreign minister, raising the prospect that his government might expel Afghan refugees, are so troubling.
United Nations Watch calls on all stakeholders to work together to bring an end to this protracted war, and to protect the basic human rights of the long-suffering Afghan people. 
Thank you. 

The post UN Watch Speaks Out For Torture Victims in Afghanistan at UNHRC appeared first on UN Watch.

]]> UN Watch Speaks Out For Torture Victims in Afghanistan at UNHRC - UN Watch United Nations Watch Universal Periodic Review Report on Afghanistan Agenda Item 6, UNHRC 41st Session July 4, 2019 Delivered by Mr. Samuel Orloff Thank Orloff Farce: Meet 2018 Membership of U.N. Human Rights Council https://unwatch.org/farce-u-n-s-2018-membership-human-rights-council/ Wed, 17 Jan 2018 19:00:05 +0000 https://unwatch.jaredco.com/?p=20278 MEMBERS: Saudi Arabia Iraq, Cuba, China, Qatar, Angola, Burundi, Pakistan, Venezuela, DR Congo, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates… Meet the 2018 membership of the U.N. Human Rights Council, elected by the United Nations with the mandate to “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights“: Democratic Republic of Congo Expertise in human rights: President remains in power in violation of […]

The post Farce: Meet 2018 Membership of U.N. Human Rights Council appeared first on UN Watch.

]]> MEMBERS: Saudi Arabia Iraq, Cuba, China, Qatar, Angola, Burundi, Pakistan, Venezuela, DR Congo, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates…
Meet the 2018 membership of the U.N. Human Rights Council, elected by the United Nations with the mandate to “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights“:
Democratic Republic of Congo
Expertise in human rights: President remains in power in violation of constitution as democratic elections postponed; suppression of opposition; torture; arbitrary arrests and prolonged detention; civil war; extrajudicial killings and massacres by government forces; violence against women; child soldiers.
Qatar
Expertise in human rights: Exploitation and abuse of 2 million migrant workers in Qatar; no political parties; women subjected to discrimination and denied basic rights to equality, denied right to be elected to legislative council; finances ISIS and Hamas.
Saudi Arabia
Expertise in human rights: Death sentences for apostasy and adultery; corporal punishment including flogging and amputation; judiciary controlled by regime; beheading more peoeple than ever before; arbitrary arrests of dissenters and minorities; no freedom of speech; jails blogger Raif Badawi.
Venezuela
Expertise in human rights: Widespread arbitrary detention; imprisonment of opposition leaders; intimidation of journalists; torture; policies causing mass hunger and health catastrophe.
China
Expertise in human rights: Denial of freedom of speech, religion, and association; extrajudicial killings; repression of civil society; discrimination against Tibetans and other minorities.
Cuba
Expertise in human rights: Systematic violation of freedom of speech, assembly, press; elections are neither free nor fair; threats and violence against dissidents.
Iraq
Expertise in human rights: Pro-government militias commit widespread human rights abuses, including assassinations, enforced disappearances, property destruction.
Burundi
Expertise in human rights: Police killings of peaceful protesters; government forces commit summary executions, targeted assassinations, enforced disappearances; arbitrary detention, torture, sexual violence; genocide warning.
United Arab Emirates
Expertise in human rights: No political parties, no option to change government; restrictions on freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association; arrests without charge, incommunicado detentions, lengthy pretrial detentions; police and prison guard brutality; violence against women; anti-gay discrimination; mistreatment and sexual abuse of foreign domestic servants and other migrant workers.
Pakistan
Expertise in human rights: Extrajudicial and targeted killings by military and security forces; terrorism; torture; arbitrary detention; corruption; violence and discrimination against women and girls including honor killings and rape; violence against gays; violence against journalists; persecution of religious minorities; keeps Christian mother of five on death row for blasphemy.
Afghanistan
Expertise in human rights: Widespread government corruption; torture and abuse of detainees by government forces; terrorism; extrajudicial killings by government forces; arbitrary arrest and detention; restrictions on freedoms of speech, press, religion; routine violence against women and girls; abuse of children; trafficking in persons.
Angola
Expertise in human rights: Endemic government corruption; economic crisis; mass poverty; high child mortality, one in five children die before age five; extrajudicial killings and torture by government security forces; harassment and intimidation of journalists
Etc.


Here’s how UN Watch fights the dictatorships and defends human rights:

YouTube player

In 2017:

YouTube player

In 2016:

YouTube player

The post Farce: Meet 2018 Membership of U.N. Human Rights Council appeared first on UN Watch.

]]> Farce: Meet 2018 Membership of U.N. Human Rights Council - UN Watch MEMBERS: Saudi Arabia Iraq, Cuba, China, Qatar, Angola, Burundi, Pakistan, Venezuela, DR Congo, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates... Meet the 2018 2018 UNHRC v2 UNW HR 2017 Impact YouTube player YouTube player YouTube player