June 2023
Item 2: Enhanced interactive dialogue with the
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan
and the Working Group on discrimination against women and
girls
Statement by the Human Rights Law Centre,
Australia
Thank you, Mr President. I am Sitarah Mohammadi.
Since the Talibans return in 2021, they have launched a
systematic campaign against human rights in Afghanistan that
affects all liberal groups, women, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras,
Pashtuns, and minorities.
While Afghanistan is a land of ethnic minorities among
the various victims of the Talibans repressive rule, it is
important to recognise the genocidal and systematic persecution
endured by the Hazara people, a religious minority. Recognising the
systematic persecution of Hazaras should lead to meaningful steps
to document these abuses and protect the Hazaras from further
repression, dispossession, and marginalisation.
The systematic persecution of the Hazara people
illustrates a complex combination of factors such as ethnicity,
religion, predominantly Shia Muslims, and the suppression of
democratic and progressive values. Consequently, the situation of
Hazaras further reflects the broader human rights violations and
atrocities committed by Taliban rule.
At the national level, Hazaras are excluded entirely
from the Talibans governance system. The systematic and structural
discrimination against the Hazaras at the micro and local levels is
deeply concerning. The Taliban actively divert international
humanitarian aid from Hazara areas to reward their supporters in
other areas.
Several Hazara communities in several provinces have
been forcefully displaced from their ancestral lands.
This is genocidal displacement.
Hazaras face active discrimination in the judicial
system at the administrative and district levels. Locally, the
return of the Taliban has created a situation whereby one group,
primarily the Pashtun people, completely dominates the Hazaras
politically, economically, and culturally.
The Taliban have entirely removed all Hazaras from the
courts across Afghanistan, including in areas where the Hazaras
form the majority of the population.
Hazara women experience extra layers of vulnerability
due to the intersectional factors of gender, religion, and
ethnicity.
Hazaras face widespread and all-encompassing
discrimination that affects them in various aspects of their
lives.
The mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in
Afghanistan (UNAMA) was renewed by UN Security Council Resolution
2678 on March 16, 2023. On the same day, the Council approved
Resolution 2679, mandating an ongoing human rights assessment of
Afghanistan.
The UN must go beyond tepid ver...
