Pakistan and Iran are expelling millions of Afghans who they say are staying illegally in their countries. The Afghan authorities have urged their citizens to return and have promised amnesty for those who left the country after the Taliban took power in 2021.
But human rights organizations and the UN have repeatedly warned that some returnees risk being persecuted due to their gender, connections to the previous Western-backed government, or their profession.
Thursday's report states that some individuals have been subjected to serious human rights abuses, while others have been forced to go underground or move again for fear of reprisals from the Taliban.
Torture and abuse
The abuses include torture, abuse, arbitrary arrests, and threats to personal safety.
A former civil servant told the UN mission that after his return to Afghanistan in 2023, he was arrested and severely tortured with sticks and cables. He was subjected to mock drowning and a mock execution. A person who identifies as non-binary said they were severely abused, including with the butt of a weapon.
”May be wrong”
In response to the report, the Taliban authorities deny that they have abused returning Afghans and claim that they give them a "warm welcome".
The people quoted in the report may be wrong, they may be in opposition to the system or want to spread propaganda or rumors and are therefore using Unama (the UN mission in Afghanistan) for their purpose, says the Taliban's spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid to AFP.
