US Senators ask UN to not offer seat to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan over human rights abuses

Slamming the Taliban for curtailing women's rights and carrying out human rights abuses, US Senators on Friday, July 29, asked United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to not offer any seat to the Taliban at the UN.

In a letter addressed to the UN chief, four American senators namely Robert Menendez, James E. Risch, Jeanne Shaheen and Joni K. Ernst expressed concerns about the human rights violations by the hardline fundamentalist group who have been making appeals for the formal recognition of their government in Kabul. 

US Senators ask UN chief Guterres to hold Taliban accountable

Senators from the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee asked the UN chief Guterres to hold the Taliban accountable for its human rights abuses in Kabul, particularly targetting Afghan women and girls who have been deprived of even the right to education. The Senators asked the UN Security Council to "re-impose its 1988 sanctions" on the Islamic regime that will prohibit their international travel.

They reminded that such a travel exemption is being used unfairly by the regime to build diplomatic relations with other countries and appeal for formal recognition despite the continued atrocities on women. Washington's lawmakers also urged the UN to make sure that the Taliban does not receive a formal diplomatic seat at the United Nations.   

“We must not stand by as the Taliban seeks to erase the human rights of Afghan women and girls. In this moment, the United Nations has an opportunity to take meaningful actions that will send a clear, unequivocal message to the world that its member nations will defend the human rights of Afghans, particularly women and girls,” US Senators said in a letter accessed by Tolo news addressed to UN. 

The letter further questioned the UN's travel exemption entitled to the Taliban officials, as the Senators reiterated that such a provision has failed to produce meaningful dialogue with the Taliban. No amount of favourable policies or concrete actions in favour of the Taliban have moved the regime to "demonstrate their respect for the human rights and freedoms of the Afghan people," the US senators stressed. They maintained that Taliban leaders have "misused UN's exemption," adding that they have made a trip to Beijing and US' adversary Moscow to establish diplomatic ties. 

“We urge you to work to ensure the Taliban does not receive a seat at the United Nations when the UN Credentials Committee meets this September to determine diplomatic representation for Afghanistan,” the letter further asserted.