The warning from the Purple Saturdays movement to the international community, the United Nations, and human rights organizations

The warning from the Purple Saturdays movement to the international community, the United Nations, and human rights organizations 

A serious response to Taliban crimes is an urgent need and a test for human rights and international justice.

Afghanistan women, as the main victims of the Taliban’s systematic violence, have witnessed widespread violations of their human rights over the past three years, including horrific rapes in prisons, forced marriages to Taliban fighters, and even being kidnapped from the streets under the pretext of implementing Sharia and hijab. They have famously suffered at the hands of this group.

The continuation of crimes against women has not only destroyed the lives of Afghanistan women but has also challenged the global commitment to human rights and justice. We, the members of the Purple Saturdays movement inside Afghanistan, emphasize that the Taliban group, under the guise of Islamic laws, have turned terrible tactics such as sexual violence into tools to suppress and silence women’s protests against their crimes against humanity. We give a serious warning to the United Nations and other world human rights institutions that before the humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan is completely out of control, they must respond immediately, decisively, and seriously to the Taliban’s anti-human crimes, particularly against Afghanistan women. This includes putting an end to interactions with the Taliban by applying pressure and imposing severe sanctions, as well as facilitating immediate humanitarian intervention and independent monitoring of this group’s crimes.

Let us not forget that the fight against the crimes of the Taliban is not the only battle for Afghanistan and its women. The world’s delay and indifference to the Taliban’s crimes against humanity will lead Afghanistan women to a darker fate and create a dangerous precedent for other repressive regimes in the region and around the world.

We believe that the fight against Taliban crimes is a test of the moral compass and global commitment to human rights and justice; this commitment should not be limited to words, and the international community should not stand by and watch the decline of women’s human rights in Afghanistan.

Report from Ahmed Sohail Perto