Human rights watch says six male employees of the women and children research and rights foundation have been detained by the Taliban in Kabul for the past month and have been forcibly disappeared. The organization has called for their whereabouts to be disclosed and for their families to be granted access to the detainees.
In a statement issued on Thursday, August 13, Human Rights Watch said the Taliban have provided no information about the whereabouts of the six men, who were detained in Kabul on July 18. The organization called on the Taliban authorities to release them immediately if no lawful charges have been brought against them.
Human rights watch also urged the Taliban to allow the detainees’ family members and lawyers to visit them and obtain information about their condition and place of detention. The organization said the continued lack of information about their fate has heightened concerns about their well-being.
The women and children research and rights foundation works on women’s and children’s rights and provides advocacy, research, and support programs in these areas. Human rights watch said the foundation is among the organizations that have worked to promote and protect the rights of women and children in Afghanistan.
Maqarena Saees, the director of the women’s rights division at human rights watch, said the Taliban appear to view efforts to support women and girls as a threat to their rule. She called for the immediate disclosure of information about the whereabouts of the six employees and for their release if they are being unlawfully detained.
According to human rights watch, on June 21, Taliban forces raided the offices of the women and children research and rights foundation in Kabul and confiscated employees’ laptops and mobile phones. A source familiar with the matter also told the organization that the foundation’s office was searched and subsequently sealed.
According to information provided to human rights watch, Taliban forces questioned employees of the organization about its activities in the weeks following the raid. The interrogations continued before the six male employees were detained.
On July 18, Taliban officials asked the six male employees to return to the foundation’s office to collect the confiscated belongings. However, according to human rights watch, all six were arrested after arriving at the office, and their families have had no information about their whereabouts or condition since then.
Family members of the detainees have also said that Taliban authorities have provided no information about their place of detention, physical condition, or any possible charges against them. Zarqa Yaftali, the former director of the foundation, who now runs a partner organization in Canada, said the families of the detainees are living in a state of constant fear and uncertainty.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. Women and girls in the country face severe restrictions on education, employment, and freedom of movement, while many of their rights and freedoms have been curtailed.
Human rights watch says the Taliban have in recent years detained and imprisoned a number of their critics, including women who have challenged the group’s restrictions. According to the organization, some of these individuals have been arbitrarily detained and kept away from their families and the wider community for weeks.
The organization also alleges that some detainees have been held in poor conditions and subjected to torture and other forms of mistreatment. Human rights watch stressed that the detention and enforced disappearance of human rights defenders should prompt a strong response from the international community.
Human rights watch has called on governments to pressure the Taliban to end the escalating repression of women and halt the detention and enforced disappearance of human rights defenders. The organization said governments’ response to the human rights situation in Afghanistan has so far been inadequate.
Saees also said governments should hold the Taliban accountable for the repression of women and the detention and enforced disappearance of human rights defenders. At the same time, she criticized some governments for engaging with the Taliban to facilitate increased deportations of migrants, warning that returning people to Afghanistan could expose them to serious risks.
Writer:Salima Aryaei
