Afghanistan - March 2023

Human Rights Watch reported an expansion of the Taliban’s crackdown on journalists, women’s rights protesters, civil society activists, and humanitarian workers in what it described as an effort to crush all criticism as the path to political legitimacy. Those detained were denied access to lawyers and their family, and in most cases, authorities offered little or no explanation for the detentions, let alone how long detentions would last or under what legal pretext. In a separate statement, the United Nations Security Council urged the Taliban to relax its restrictions, worrying hunger and insecurity were taking an increasingly devastating toll on the country’s citizens.

Sources: Human Rights Watch, United Nations