Afghanistan: with opposition from Venezuela, China and Russia, the UN has created an office to monitor the human rights situation

The European Union (EU) won a battle on Thursday at the UN Human Rights Council by securing the creation of a rapporteur on Afghanistan who will be responsible for monitoring the situation in the country and making recommendations.

“This is an essential step to guarantee a continuous monitoring, through an independent expert, and help prevent a further deterioration of the human rights situation in Afghanistan”, Declared after the adoption of the text the representative of the EU to the UN in Geneva, Lotte Knudsen.

“The rights of women and girls are of great concern to us”he added.

The resolution, which create this mandate of rapporteur for one year, was presented with the support of the United States and the Afghan diplomat appointed by the previous government, and adopted by 28 countries, despite the opposition of five other (China, Russia, Venezuela, Pakistan and Eritrea), while 14 abstained.

The rapporteur will follow “the evolution of the human rights situation in Afghanistan“And will make recommendations to improve it. It will also help the country, ravaged by a humanitarian crisis and insecurity, to “comply with human rights obligations under the international treaties it has ratified “and” will provide support and advice to civil society “.

In addition, the European Commission on Thursday asked the countries of the bloc to commit to welcoming the most vulnerable Afghans.

“In the short term, they must continue efforts to evacuate“To more Afghans,” declared the European Commissioner for the Interior, Ylva Johansson, at the end of the High Level Forum on Afghanistan convened on Thursday by the Community Executive and during which the Foreign Ministers of the EU and Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein.

According to the police station, to date, the countries The Europeans have managed to evacuate 22,000 Afghans since the withdrawal of international coalition troops at the end of August after 20 years of presence in this Central Asian country.

He also assured that Twenty-seven still have “long lists of people” who must be evacuated and provide them with humanitarian visas to come to the EU “, a task they asked the Commission to coordinate.

“We are delighted to do so”, says Swedish policy.

“This is the effort that must continue in the short term. In the medium and long term, we must also focus on the resettlement of neighboring countriesFrom Afghanistan stressed.

Johansson said that many EU countries announced they would welcome more immigrants, not just Afghans, but avoided giving a concrete figure.

United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) High Commissioner Filippo Grandi said 85,000 Afghans expected to leave Afghanistan in the next five years, of which the EU could accommodate half, said the Commissioner at the end of the Forum.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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