Afghanistan- Debate: ‘The struggle for the respect of fundamental rights must continue’

Since the Taliban took power in August 2021, Afghanistan’s people have suffered a humanitarian catastrophe. In an open letter to ‘Le Monde,’ people from various organizations, the media and culture, urge European governments to do more to help them.

Twenty-one years ago, on September 11, 2001, the United States suffered large-scale terrorist attacks. Two months later the Taliban regime, in power in Afghanistan for five years, was overthrown. It’s now back in power.

It’s been a little over a year since the Taliban returned to reign over Afghanistan, basing the country’s entire social and judicial system on religious rulings. Since their takeover, the country’s 41 million people – almost two-thirds of France’s population – have suffered a major humanitarian catastrophe.

The first victims of this new society are women, who have been deprived of their fundamental rights, forced into submission in personal and professional settings, and hit hard by severe repression. Human rights defenders, journalists, artists, magistrates, lawyers, and all those who reject this regime are also subject to daily persecution. They all fear for their lives and those of their loved ones..

By Group letter – Le Monde