Chair,

The European Union welcomes the Special Rapporteur and his report and wishes to express its steadfast support for his mandate.

In Afghanistan all safeguards in the legal system have been lifted: the country is ruled by edicts, while judges, prosecutors and lawyers have been removed from the legal system – as have women, who have been erased from all spheres of society.

The EU condemns the deliberate and systematic character of the Taliban’s oppression of women and girls and will continue to call for the full and equal enjoyment of their human rights, their empowerment, participation and leadership in all spheres of society, as well as for their protection from all forms of violence.

We are alarmed that, in Afghanistan, persecution on the grounds of gender may be occurring – which is a crime against humanity defined in the Rome Statute, to which Afghanistan is a party. We recall that Afghanistan has obligations under CEDAW and CRC to which it is also a party.

The ban on Afghan women from working for the UN and NGOs severely impacts the effective delivery of life-saving assistance and basic services, putting at risk the lives of millions of Afghans, especially women-led households, and worsening the humanitarian situation. While the rest of the world marks the 75^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Taliban continue to severely restrict the education of girls, violating Article 26 of UDHR and attempting to thwart the full intellectual development of one half of the Afghan population.

We urge the Taliban to cease their ongoing human rights violations and abuses, respect, protect and fulfil the rights of all the persons of Afghanistan, and restore civic space, allowing NGOs, and other parts of civil society, journalists, and media workers to operate freely.

We stress that extra-judicial killings, arbitrary detentions, physical abuse, torture, enforced disappearance and ill-treatment of suspects, as well as targeted attacks against persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities and groups and discrimination against LGBTI persons need to stop immediately.

We underline the importance of justice and accountability for all these human rights violations and abuses, with a trauma-informed, victim and survivor-centered approach.

An inclusive political process, including persons belonging to ethnic and religious groups and other minorities, is required to ensure sustainable peace, stability and prosperity in Afghanistan.

Special Rapporteur,

What are the main avenues for accountability for the human rights violations and abuses you have documented?

Thank you.