Ministry Statements & Speeches:
Mr President
Aotearoa New Zealand thanks the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan for his extensive report, and welcomes the opportunity to engage on this critical situation.
New Zealand continues to be profoundly concerned and disappointed by the ongoing deterioration of human rights in Afghanistan. As the Special Rapporteur concludes, the Taliban’s actions, and its failure to meet its obligations and make good on its assurances have led to ongoing gross violations in respect of civil, political and cultural rights.
Women and girls are the main victims of much of this repression and discrimination, as well as of violent reprisals. New Zealand condemns this repressive approach to dissent, including through the arbitrary arrests of journalists, protestors, and civil society activists.
New Zealand continues to abhor that the fundamental human rights of women and girls, half of Afghan society, remain severely compromised by multiple restrictions, including on freedom of movement and access to education and employment. As a UN independent experts group commented on 12 August: “Nowhere in the world has there been as widespread, systematic and all-encompassing an attack on the rights of women and girls.”
New Zealand calls on the Taliban leadership to comply fully with the binding obligations under international treaties to which Afghanistan is a party, and to restore access by all Afghans to their fundamental human rights. New Zealand also supports consideration being given to the possible establishment of an accountability mechanism, to undertake in-depth investigations into the human rights situation in Afghanistan in support of the work of the Special Rapporteur.
Thank you.