By The South Asia Times

GENEVA - The United Human Rights chief Volker Türk on Tuesday said that human rights in Afghanistan are in a state of collapse, acutely affecting the lives of millions of women, men, girls and boys.

Speaking at the 54th Session of the Human Rights Council, he said that violations of human rights in the country are not new: decades of armed conflict mean that Afghanistan has known violence and injustice for much of its recent history.

"But the dynamic imposed by the Taliban since they took power two years ago constitutes a systematic assault on the rights and freedoms of the population, which particularly targets women and girls and excludes them from most aspects of public and daily life," he said. 

"The country has also plunged into a grave humanitarian and economic crisis, with two thirds of the population now in need of assistance.

"The current drought also is severely affecting livelihoods and communities," said Turk.

Talking about the Taliban restrictions against women and girls in the country, he said the shocking level of oppression of Afghan women and girls is immeasurably cruel and Afghanistan has set a devastating precedent as the only country in the world where women and girls are denied access to secondary and higher education.

"Restrictions are becoming increasingly severe, quelling women and girls’ fundamental freedoms, effectively confining them to the four walls of their homes - to invisibility," said the UNHR chief.

"This Council is by now familiar with the long list of misogynistic restrictions and edicts.  An ongoing ban on secondary and higher education. A requirement to wear the hijab in public places, with punishments extending to male relatives if they do not comply. No parks, gyms, or public baths. No beauty salons. No travelling more than 78km without a mahram, or male chaperone. No working for domestic or international NGOs, and now, the United Nations. This last ban flies in the face of the UN Charter and its fundamental principle of equality, compromising both human rights and the humanitarian response."

Women and girls deemed non-compliant with this litany of rules face arbitrary arrest and detention, harassment and even physical violence, as do their male relatives.

In recent weeks, the de facto authorities prevented a group of female students from travelling to Dubai for their studies because they were not all accompanied by their male chaperones.

"What can possibly come next?," he questioned. 

"Any prospect of a stable, prosperous future for Afghanistan rests on the participation of half of the population. Denying women and girls’ rights to participate in daily and public life not only denies them their human rights, it denies Afghanistan the benefit of the contributions they have to offer," said Turk.

He urged the member states to influence over the de facto authorities to help them reverse this trajectory and said its  fatal not only for human rights, but for the future development and security of the country.