Pakistan wants EU to ease scrutiny on human rights in Afghanistan under Taliban
- The EU is leading an effort to pass a resolution that would name a special rapporteur to help Afghanistan uphold its international commitments on human rights
- Pakistan says concrete pledges of assistance for the war-wracked country are needed without using human rights as the sole criteria
Islamabad says “further improvements” to a resolution at the UN’s top human rights body are needed, including concrete pledges of assistance for the war-wracked country without using human rights as the sole criteria.
Pakistan is arguably the Taliban’s closest state interlocutor, with historic ties and ostensible influence with the religious militia.
The European bloc is leading an effort backed by more than 40 countries at the Human Rights Council to pass a resolution next week that would, among other things, name a special rapporteur on Afghanistan to help the country uphold its international commitments on human rights and offer support to advocacy groups – much of whose work has been disrupted under the new leadership.
The Europeans want consensus for the resolution at the council, which counts Pakistan among its 47 member countries. The rapporteur would benefit from expertise in legal affairs, torture and degrading punishment, the right to education, and the rights of women, girls and minorities, according to the resolution.
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