MONITORING (SW) – The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the recent attacks in Afghanistan, which claimed many civilian lives, including members of the Hazara Shia community and at least 16 children.
“I repeat: Attacks against civilians are strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law. Civilians are not a target”, he tweeted.
Earlier, US Special Envoy Rina Amiri also raised her voice in regard to the situation in Afghanistan. “The longer the Taliban ignore such calls, the more it erodes its standing with Afghans & the world”, she tweeted.
Meanwhile, reacting to a joint statement by members of the UN Security Council on the human rights situation of Afghan women, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul said these concern were “far from reality”.
The ministry issued a statement saying that the Islamic Emirate is committed to ensuring the full rights of women, children and minorities within the framework of Afghanistan’s accepted religious and cultural values.
The majority of Afghans are Muslims and the Islamic Emirate considers the observance of the Islamic hijab in accordance with the religious and cultural values of Afghan society and in line with the aspirations of many Afghan women, the statement said. The declaration emphasizes that nothing has been imposed in opposition to the religious and cultural beliefs of the Islamic community.
It called on the world to respect the religious and cultural values of the Afghan people with a clear understanding of the objective realities of Afghanistan, and not to judge on the basis of “biased and destructive media reports and propaganda of opponents of the Islamic Emirate.”
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