UN rights chief warns of abuses amid Taliban’s Afghan blitz

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GENEVA – The U.N. quality rights main warned Tuesday that she had credible reports of “summary executions” and restrictions connected women successful areas nether Taliban power successful Afghanistan, fueling fears of what their regularisation mightiness clasp a week earlier U.S. forces are acceptable to withdraw.

Michelle Bachelet urged the Human Rights Council to instrumentality “bold and vigorous action” to show the rights concern successful Afghanistan successful the aftermath of the Taliban's stunning takeover, arsenic she sought to guarantee that planetary attraction connected the state doesn’t wane.

Taliban leaders person promised to reconstruct information and tried to task an representation of moderation, but galore Afghans are skeptical and are racing to the permission the country, starring to chaos astatine Kabul's planetary airport. Amid scattered reports, it has been hard to find however wide abuses mightiness beryllium and whether they bespeak that Taliban leaders are saying 1 happening and doing another, oregon if fighters connected the crushed are taking matters into their ain hands.

Leaders from the Group of Seven nations program to conscionable aboriginal Tuesday to sermon the burgeoning exile situation and the illness of the Afghan authorities amid wrangling implicit whether the afloat U.S. withdrawal of troops could beryllium extended beyond the extremity of the period to let much clip to evacuate those hopeless to leave.

U.S. medication officials person refused to beryllium pinned down astir whether an hold is apt oregon adjacent imaginable fixed that a Taliban spokesperson has warned that Aug. 31 is simply a “red line” and that extending the American beingness would “provoke a reaction.”

In the meantime, tragic scenes astatine the airdrome person transfixed the world. Afghans poured onto the tarmac past week and some clung to a U.S. subject transport plane arsenic it took off, aboriginal plunging to their deaths. At slightest 7 radical died that day, and different 7 died Sunday successful a panicked stampede. An Afghan solider was killed Monday successful a gunfight.

On Tuesday, Bachelet called for beardown enactment to analyse reports of rights abuses.

“At this captious moment, the radical of Afghanistan look to the Human Rights Council to support and support their rights,” she said. “I impulse this assembly to instrumentality bold and vigorous action, commensurate with the gravity of this crisis, by establishing a dedicated mechanics to intimately show the evolving quality rights concern successful Afghanistan.”

By “mechanism,” Bachelet was referring to the anticipation that the assembly mightiness name a committee of inquiry, peculiar rapporteur oregon fact-finding ngo connected the concern successful Afghanistan.

While advocacy groups similar Human Rights Watch echoed specified calls, a draught solution astatine the assembly stopped acold abbreviated of intensified scrutiny — and appeared to propulsion backmost immoderate deeper look astatine the rights concern until adjacent year.

Bachelet cited reports of “summary executions” of civilians and erstwhile information forces who were nary longer fighting, the recruitment of kid soldiers, and restrictions connected the rights of women to determination astir freely and of girls to spell to school. She cited repression of peaceful protests and expressions of dissent.

Bachelet did not specify what clip timeframe she was referring to oregon the root of her reports.

Days earlier, a Norway-based backstage quality radical said it obtained grounds that the Taliban person rounded up Afghans connected a blacklist of radical they judge worked successful cardinal roles with the erstwhile Afghan medication oregon with U.S.-led forces. Several Afghans are successful hiding, saying they fearfulness specified reprisals.

When the Taliban past ruled Afghanistan successful the precocious 1990s, the radical mostly confined women to their homes, banned tv and music, chopped disconnected the hands of suspected thieves and held nationalist executions.

Bachelet noted that Taliban leaders person precocious pledged to respect the rights of women, girls and taste minorities and refrain from reprisals.

“The onus is present afloat connected the Taliban to construe these commitments into reality,” she told the 47-member-state council, which is the U.N.’s apical quality rights body.

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