UN Extends Mandate of Special Rapporteur on Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) passed a resolution extending Richard Bennett’s appointment as the organization’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan for another 12 months.

The UNHRC said in a statement on Friday, October 7, that the special rapporteur was also expected to include in his mandate a focus on children’s rights and the obligation to record and preserve information about abuses and violations of human rights.

Richard Bennett and the Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls are also expected, per the statement, to submit a report on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan.

A vote of 29 in favor, 15 abstentions, and 3 against – China, Venezuela, and Pakistan – resulted in the adoption of the UNHRC resolution on the state of human rights in Afghanistan.

Pakistan and China, Afghanistan’s two neighbors, voted against the resolution. China’s representative maintained that the Taliban administration should be allowed to perform its duties.

There is still a chance for peace and stability in Afghanistan, according to the representative of Pakistan at the UNHRC, who voted against the resolution. The Pakistani representative argued that the extension of Bennett’s mandate does not help resolving the problem in Afghanistan.

Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan, started his work in March last year to monitor and record women’s rights and ethnic minorities in Afghanistan, under Taliban rule.

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