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Guterres is “particularly concerned” with increasing reports of human rights violations against Afghan women and girls during the Taliban’s occupation of Kabul.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the Security Council to “use all the tools at its disposal to suppress the threat of global terrorism in Afghanistan” and to ensure that basic human rights are respected.
An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Afghanistan was held on Monday at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Taliban enters Kabul On Sunday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan because the organization took over the country 20 years after being overthrown by a US-led invasion.
“We have received chilling reports of severe human rights restrictions across the country. I am particularly concerned about reports of human rights violations by women and girls in Afghanistan,” he told the 15-member committee.
“We cannot and must not abandon the Afghan people,” he said.
At this “critical moment,” the Secretary-General urged all parties, especially the Taliban, to “maintain maximum restraint to protect lives and ensure that humanitarian needs can be met.”
Thousands of people poured into the city’s airport on Monday, trying to escape the organization’s frighteningly hard-line rule.
Taliban officials issued a statement aimed at quelling the panic.
Under Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, women could not work and girls were not allowed to go to school. If women wanted to venture out of the house, they had to cover their faces and be accompanied by male relatives.
“Attacks on civilians or civilian objects must be stopped. The human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Afghan citizens, especially women, girls and members of minorities, must be respected,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas Greenfield told the Security Council.
Afghanistan’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ghulam Isaczai, told the Security Council that he was speaking for millions of people whose destiny was “hanging in the balance”, including “imminent loss of school, work, and participation in politics, economy, and the country’s social life”.
Isaczai called on the Security Council and the United Nations not to recognize any government that has gained power through force or any government that is not inclusive. He urged them to call for the immediate establishment of an inclusive transitional government.
The United Nations has approximately 3,000 national staff and approximately 300 international staff in Afghanistan. On Friday, the United Nations said that some staff had been transferred to Kabul, but no one had been evacuated.
“The presence of the United Nations will adapt to the security situation. But the most important thing is that we will stay and provide support when the Afghan people need it,” Guterres said.
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