Bayan News – The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in its latest report has expressed concern that public punishments by the Taliban continue.
The United Nations Human Rights Office released a new report on Monday, October 23rd, regarding the human rights situation in Afghanistan, covering the period from July to September of this year.
The report explicitly expresses concern that public punishments for individuals accused of crimes persist. It further states that on August 16th, 19 individuals, consisting of two women and 17 men, were publicly punished in a sports stadium in the province of Sar-e Pol in northern Afghanistan.
According to the report, the relevant authorities in Afghanistan have denied access to legal representation for a young girl and boy who have been detained on charges of “adultery.”
UNAMA has also criticized the activities of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice under the interim Kabul government, stating that the ministry, in addition to restrictions on women, continues to enforce bans on music, regulate the length of beards, and dictate men’s hairstyles.
The report documents that on July 27th, the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice detained seven young men in Badakhshan province for trimming their beards, holding them for several hours.
The report states that restrictions on women’s education and employment, restrictions on media, and the detention of journalists, military personnel, and former officials by the Taliban have persisted during the period covered by this report.
However, the officials of the interim Kabul government have not yet responded to this UNAMA report.
Previously, the United Nations Assistance Mission had stated in a published report that over the past year, 1,600 human rights violations occurred under Taliban rule.
