Afghanistan: UN withdrew most of its staff, IMF blocked funds, and Human Rights Watch is on alert

08/19/2021 5:29 AM

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 08/19/2021 5:29 AM

After the Taliban seize power, Afghanistan begins to suffer the

reactions of the whole world

: from the blocking of funds from the International Monetary Fund, passing through the relocation of the personnel of the United Nations Organization (UN), to the firm requests from Human Rights Watch to respect Human Rights.

In the first place, a hundred UN employees in Afghanistan were transferred to Kazakhstan as a "temporary measure" given the situation in the country due to the fall of the Government against the Taliban.

"A group of UN personnel travels from Kabul to Almaty in Kazakhstan, where they will

continue their work remotely,

" said the spokesman for the UN Secretary General,

Stéphane Dujarric

, during a press conference.

As he explained, it is a measure with which it is expected that "the UN will continue to provide assistance to the people of Afghanistan with minimal disruption", while "

reducing the risk to personnel

."

"The remote presence

will provide close support

to the ongoing work of the United Nations family on the ground in Afghanistan," he added.

Citizens try to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban seize power.

Photo EFE

Then, he stressed that "

staff will return to Afghanistan if conditions allow

."

Last Monday, the Secretary General, António Guterres, had explained that "the presence of the United Nations in Afghanistan" would be adapted

"to the security situation

.

"

In parallel, the IMF announced that the new government of Afghanistan will

not be able to access reserve assets and other resources

from next week, in an attempt to prevent the Taliban from seizing new funds while the political situation is clarified. in the Asian country.

According to the organization, 

 "there is a lack of clarity"

in the international community regarding the recognition of the future Afghan Administration.

"As always, the IMF is guided by

the opinions of the international community,

" said a spokesman in a message collected by the Bloomberg agency.

Like other countries, Afghanistan was to receive

455 million dollars

(about 390 million euros) in special drawing rights

on Monday

, exchangeable for cash.

As has already happened to Venezuela or Burma, Afghanistan will receive the assets, but in reality it

will

not be

able to control or exchange them for any currency.

Human Rights Watch on alert 

The NGO

Human Rights Watch

(HRW) affirmed that, so far, the Taliban have only offered "vague words" in relation to the respect of freedoms and Human Rights in Afghanistan, for which reason they were urged to publicly commit to

comply with the treaties in vigor

and allow the presence of the UN and independent international observers.

HRW's campaign manager for Asia, John Sifton, believes that "the Taliban

need to demonstrate their commitment to Human Rights with action

."

"Gaining the trust of the nation and the world will require that the Taliban authorities throughout the country respect the Human Rights of all," he added, aware of the risk faced by

vulnerable groups such as women

, government officials or collaborators with the foreign military.

José Miguel Vivanco, head of the Latin America section of Human Rights Watch

Indeed, HRW and other organizations have already collected information on

alleged extrajudicial killings

of officials by the Taliban in recent weeks.

The head of HRW considers it "key" that the UN can put in place a mechanism to

investigate Human Rights in Afghanistan

and publicly report the real situation.

For its part, the Human Rights Council is scheduled to meet urgently next Tuesday and the HRW hopes that a resolution will be adopted that will open the door to an investigation.

With information from agencies.

DB

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