MONITORING (SW) – The Geneva Call aid group has announced that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has adopted a humanitarian declaration after high-level discussions in Geneva.
“The declaration covers crucial issues including the #protection and provision of #healthcare and #education for all Afghans; the respect of #humanitarianaid and the safeguard of the #environment and cultural heritage”, it tweeted.
An Afghan Taliban delegation visiting Geneva faced calls by Swiss diplomats to respect human rights and international humanitarian law.
There are no current plans to re-open a Swiss cooperation office in Kabul that was evacuated and closed when the Taliban surged to power link last year, reported SWI.
The 11-strong Taliban delegation was invited to Switzerland link by the Swiss non-governmental organisation Geneva Call. Part of its mission was to meet a range of NGOs to discuss the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.
They also met on Thursday with Swiss officials, led by Ambassador Raphael Nägeli, Head of the Asia Pacific Division at the Swiss foreign ministry.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Nägeli said the talks had been “open” and “honest” without producing many concrete results.
The Taliban delegation repeated a promise to open up schooling for girls in Afghanistan from next month. “We expect them to keep this promise. We will judge them by their actions and not by their words,” said Nägeli.
“We are deeply concerned by reports of kidnappings and reprisals against people associated with the former Afghan government as well as violence against human rights defenders, women and intellectuals,” he added.
During the meeting the Taliban gave security assurances for the re-opening of the Swiss cooperation office. But Nägeli said the security situation was still too fragile to make such a decision.
He added that the meeting with the Taliban delegation was “neither a legitimation nor a recognition” of the Taliban regime.
ENDS
