16 June 2025. Read the oral statement below.
UN Human Rights Council – 59th Session
Item 2: Interactive Dialogue on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan
16 June 2025
Mister President,
FIDH, its member organisation Armanshahr/OPEN ASIA, and the Afghanistan Democracy and Development Organization (ADDO) welcome the Special Rapporteur’s report on access to justice and protection for women and girls in Afghanistan to the Council.
Once more, the Special Rapporteur’s reporting highlights the gravity of the human rights violations faced by women and girls in Afghanistan. As we have documented, the Taliban’s policies systematically exclude women from all aspects of public life, including education, and most sectors of employment. Survivors of gender-based violence have no access to legal recourse, and the few existing protection mechanisms have been dismantled. Such deliberate system of oppression amounts to gender apartheid.
Mister President,
Over two million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran continue to face human rights abuses and remain at risk of being forcibly returned to Afghanistan. In addition, the latest travel ban by the US administration on Afghan nationals risks further endangering asylum seekers and hampering resettlement efforts. We call on all UN member states to respect the internationally-recognized principles of non-refoulement and non-discrimination based on race or nationality.
We repeat our call to the Council: a new UN independent, international accountability mechanism must be created to investigate, collect and preserve evidence, and facilitate accountability. The people of Afghanistan – and especially women and girls – cannot afford to wait any longer for concrete action.
Thank you.