Over four years into the Taliban rule, the country remains a hotbed of unchecked and unabated human rights abuses – gender persecution, torture, arbitrary detentions, and censorship – all with zero accountability. The world’s response? Tepid at best.
Since the Taliban seized power in 2021, Afghanistan has been in a downward spiral of human rights violations. Women are banned from all aspects of life, abuses like torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, censorship, among others, continue with absolute impunity. Severe restrictions on right to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and political participation of women have gone unchecked. The return of corporal punishment and absence of an independent judiciary further exacerbates these issues, leaving victims without any recourse to justice.
Even as the people of Afghanistan remain stuck in this endless nightmare, the international community has failed to take any meaningful action.
Strong words won’t stop this repression; strong action will. Governments around the world must step up to put an end to this cycle of repression.
