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The Taliban tortured and threatened Afghan citizens who were forced to return from Iran and Pakistan for their identity or personal history, the UN report said Thursday.
Pakistan and Iran are expelling millions of Afghans who say they illegally live in their countries.
Afghan authorities pledged pardons for those who left after the Taliban returned to power in 2021, urging the people to return.
However, rights groups and the United Nations have repeatedly warned that there is a risk of persecution due to their gender, occupation, or connections with former West-backed regimes.
A report from Afghanistan’s UN mission on Thursday revealed that while some people have experienced serious human rights abuses, others have been hidden or relocated for fear of retaliation by the Taliban.
Violations include torture, abuse, abuse, arbitrary arrests and threats to personal safety at the hands of the Taliban, according to the report.
Former government officials told the UN missionary mission that after returning to Afghanistan in 2023 he was detained and severely tortured with sticks and cables. He was turned into a waterboard and subjected to mock executions.
Non-binary people said they were beaten badly, including the back of the gun.
Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said no one should be sent back to a country facing the risk of persecution because of their identity or personal history.
This is even more pronounced for Afghan women and girls, who have been exposed to a variety of measures “involving persecution on the basis of gender alone,” he added.
The Taliban imposed serious restrictions on Afghan girls and women, blocking access to education beyond the age of 12.
In response to the report, Taliban authorities have refused to abuse Afghan returnees and refused to file claims of arrest, violence, intimidation or retaliation against people due to their identity or personal history.
Afghans returning from neighboring countries were provided with facilities related to documents, transportation, resettlement and other legal assistance, they said, but the Home Ministry said it was offering a “warm welcome.”
They called for the UN mission to prevent the UN from deporting, adding that the entire UN is “sulyted” to provide basic needs to refugees such as food, medicine, shelters and education.
An uncertain future
Afghans who have left their homelands by millions of people over decades are either expelled by exile campaigns like Iran and Pakistan, or face an uncertain future due to reduced assistance to refugees.
On Monday, thousands of American Afghans lost protection from deportation after the federal court of appeals refused to postpone the US President Donald Trump administration’s decision to end legal status.
The U.S. Homeland Security Authority said in their decision to end the temporary protected status of Afghans, saying that the situation in their home country is getting better.
But a group supporting Afghans with this position says the country is still very dangerous.
The Trump administration’s suspension of refugee programs in January has left thousands of Afghans stranded, especially in Pakistan, and the travel ban on Afghans has further reduced hopes for resettlement in the United States.
Additional sources •AP
