Geneva: As the desperate scenes at Kabul airport yesterday underlined the gravity of the situation after the Taliban seized all the major population centres in Afghanistan, a United Nations human rights expert, Karima Bennoune today warned of a “cultural disaster” in Afghanistan after Kabul fell to Taliban forces.
Bennoune, a Professor of Law and Martin Luther King, Jr. Hall Research Scholar at the University of California-Davis School of Law, where she teaches human rights and international law, urged States to provide urgent assistance to human rights defenders, including those working on women’s and cultural rights, as well as artists, trying to flee the country.
“It is deplorable that the world has abandoned Afghanistan to a fundamentalist group like the Taliban whose catastrophic human rights record, including practice of gender apartheid, use of cruel punishments and systematic destruction of cultural heritage, when in power, is well documented,” said Bennoune, who is also the UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights.
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“Protecting Afghan lives and rights must be the top priority. Efforts must also be made to ensure the safety of all forms of culture and cultural heritage which are essential for enjoyment of those rights, and to protect those who defend it on the frontlines.
“All governments and the international community must act with urgency today to prevent a massive human rights and cultural disaster in Afghanistan.”
She said immediate priority must be given to opening Kabul’s airport to civilian flights, and to ensure safe passage for those at risk. The expert also urged States to provide them with visas.
Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, meanwhile said today that “fortunately”, the capital and the other last major cities to be captured such as Jalalabad and Mazar-e-Sharif were not subjected to prolonged fighting, bloodshed or destruction. However, the fear instilled in a significant proportion of the population is profound, and – given past history – thoroughly understandable, he added.
Taliban spokespeople have issued a number of statements in recent days, including pledging an amnesty for those who worked for the Government. They have also pledged to be inclusive. They have said woman can work and girls can go to school.
However, what is significant is a quote by Ned Price, Department Spokesperson of the US Department of State, when he responded to a question yesterday that whether there was any agreement with the Taliban for the U.S. military to run the airport, to run the airspace, to be in control? Price replied: “We have engaged with the Taliban. We have had discussions. I would say that some of those discussions have been constructive. But again, when it comes to the Taliban, we are going to look for their actions rather than listen to their words.
Colville too made it clear that the promises that Taliban made will need to be honoured, and for the time being — again understandably, given past history — these declarations have been greeted with some scepticism. “Nevertheless, the promises have been made, and whether or not they are honoured or broken will be closely scrutinized,” he said.
However, Bennoune went on to criticise the US government without naming it, when she said, “It is not enough for foreign governments to secure the safety of their own nationals. They have a legal and moral obligation to act to protect the rights of Afghans, including the rights to access to education and to work, without discrimination, as well as the right of everyone to take part in cultural life.”
The Special Rapporteur said she was gravely concerned at reports of gross abuses by the Taliban, including attacks on minorities, kidnapping of a woman human rights defender, killing of an artist and exclusion of women from employment and education. Any efforts to justify such abuses in the name of Afghan culture should be strongly opposed and denounced, she said.
Bennoune recalled that the Taliban’s own cultural officials in 2001 had attacked not only the Bamiyan Buddhas but also the country’s national museum, destroying thousands of the most important pieces, as well as banning many cultural practices, including music.
“Afghan cultural rights defenders have worked tirelessly and at great risk since then to reconstruct and protect this heritage, as well as to create new culture. Afghan cultures are rich, dynamic and syncretic and entirely at odds with the harsh worldview of the Taliban,” she said.
“Governments which think that they can live with ‘Pax Taliban’ will find that this is grave error that destroys Afghan lives, rights and cultures, and eviscerates important advances that had been made in culture and education in the last two decades with international support and through tireless local efforts.”
Bennoune said such a policy will harm Afghans most but will also setback the struggle against fundamentalism and extremism, and their harmful effects on cultures, everywhere in the world, threatening the rights and security of all.
The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres had said in his statement to the Security Council yesterday that all parties, including the Taliban had an obligation to protect civilians and to uphold human rights, and that they must respect and protect both international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
As the UN Human Rights High Commissioner had noted a week ago, and the Secretary-General also pointed out yesterday, there have been chilling reports of human rights abuses, and of restrictions on the rights of individuals, especially women and girls, in some parts of the country captured over the past few weeks. “Such reports continue to be received. Unfortunately, for the time being, the flow of information has been considerably disrupted, and we have not been in a position to verify the most recent allegations,” Colville said.
There have been many hard-won advances in human rights over the past two decades. The rights of all Afghans must be defended. We are particularly concerned about the safety of the thousands of Afghans who have been working to promote human rights across the country, and have helped improve the lives of millions.
“We call on the international community to extend all possible support to those who may be at imminent risk, and we call on the Taliban to demonstrate through their actions, not just their words, that the fears for the safety of so many people from so many different walks of life are addressed,” Colville said.
– global bihari bureau
