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UN says Taliban committing ‘rights violations' against Afghan returnees

UN says Taliban committing ‘rights violations' against Afghan returnees

KABUL: The United Nations said Thursday that Taliban authorities were committing human rights violations, including torture and arbitrary detention, against Afghans forced to return by Iran and Pakistan.
Large-scale deportation campaigns launched by Iran and Pakistan have forced millions of Afghans to return to Afghanistan, including more than 1.9 million this year, the overwhelming majority from Iran.
'People returning to the country who were at particular risk of reprisals and other human rights violations by the de facto (Taliban) authorities were women and girls, individuals affiliated with the former government and its security forces, media workers and civil society,' the UN said in a statement accompanying the release of a report.
'These violations have included torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary arrest and detention, and threats to personal security.'
The UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) recently estimated that up to three million people could return to Afghanistan, which is facing a severe humanitarian crisis, in 2025.
The report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Human Rights Office was based on interviews with 49 returned Afghans.
It said violations have been committed against Afghans 'based on their specific profile', including women, media workers, and members of civil society, as well as people affiliated with the former foreign-backed government that fell in 2021.
The Taliban government rejected the findings, accusing the UN of spreading propaganda and rumours.
'The people cited in this report may have been inaccurate, may be opposed to the system, or may want to spread propaganda or rumours and are therefore using the UNAMA for this purpose,' Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP on Thursday.
Taliban authorities have previously said they declared an amnesty against those who worked for NATO forces and the former government during the two-decade conflict against the Taliban's insurgency.
'Nobody should be sent back to a country where they face risk of persecution on account of their identity or personal history,' UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement this month.
'In Afghanistan, this is even more pronounced for women and girls, who are subjected to a range of measures that amount to persecution on the basis of their gender alone,' he added.
Over the past four years, women have been increasingly isolated from public life by the Taliban authorities, which have banned them from universities, public parks, gyms and beauty salons, in what the UN has denounced as 'gender apartheid'.
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