UN envoy meets Taliban Minister over missing Afghan women activists; gets assurance

The top UN envoy in Afghanistan Deborah Lyons met top Taliban leadership and expressed concern over the missing Afghan women activists. On Wednesday, the UN Mission in Afghanistan said that the global outrage over the fate of missing Afghan women activists has been conveyed to the Taliban. Lyons said that the militant government’s ministry of foreign affairs has assured of efforts to resolve the issue. 

It is pertnent to mention that the UN representatives are continuously engaging with the Taliban to voice concerns about women’s safety issues in the country. Earlier this week, the top UN envoy in Afghanistan had even urged the Taliban to take all possible steps to secure the liberty of women. Moreover, in recent weeks, the rising UN concern come as several women activists, who were raising concerns about rights issues, went missing in Kabul. 

Rising concern over Afghans' human rights

The UN has sought information from the militant government on the reported detentions by the outfit. Previously, Lyons had even expressed deep concern about the well-being of “disappeared” women activists. Lyons had stated that world support to Afghanistan has eroded without respect for all Afghan’s rights. 

Meanwhile, US Special Envoy Rina Amiri also stated that if the Taliban wanted to gain credibility from the Afghan people and the rest of the world, the outfit needed to completely stop unjust detentions of Afghans' human rights. Earlier on Monday, February 7, Germany also joined the United Kingdom and other western countries in expressing concerns about the recent disappearance of female Afghan activists. Tomas Niklasson, the Special Envoy of the European Union for Afghanistan, also slammed the Taliban, stating that the group's proclaimed commitment to safeguarding human rights is contradicted by the arbitrary detention of civilians in the country.