Statement by Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding report by Richard Bennett at 77th UNGA Session

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers recent report on the human right situation in Afghanistan presented by the Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett at the 77th UNGA Session as contradictory to reality witnessed by and relayed to the authorities by the rapporteur himself during his visit, and publication of baseless allegations contrary to his profession and status.

Such irresponsible remarks are aimed at sowing hypocrisy and schism in the Afghan society. Richard Bennett recently publicized his email on Twitter and requested human right violations be sent to the address.

The Islamic Emirate recommends that Mr. Bennett – as an impartial and professional rapporteur – gather and share information about social problems and progress in the human right situation in a fair and balanced manner.

Reports founded on anecdotes, unverifiable sources and malicious personal emails contravene all scientific and professional fact-finding methods, and hold no value.

During the visit, officials of the Islamic Emirate provided Mr Bennett with verifiable reports demonstrating improvements in the human right situation in Afghanistan, but he conveniently ignored them in his statements. Such conduct by ME Bennett is harmful to the spirit of cooperation.

Mr. Bennett openly stated in his remarks that IEA authorities provided him with all needed facilities and access to regions and sensitive sites – including prisons.

This itself demonstrates that the Islamic Emirate has nothing to conceal and seeks transparent inquiry into the human right situation. But despite this, Mr. Bennett presented a biased and unprofessional report. Such unbalanced, unfair and partisan statements are not only in
conflict with his remarks in Kabul but reflect serious unprofessionalism and prejudice that attempts to broaden distance between Afganistan and the world, and besmirch the
name of an Islamic government, culminating in the report being suspect and condemnable.

Mr. Bennett should have dedicated a portion of his report to damages caused to the Afghan people and country by the US-allied invasion, highlighted humanitarian crisis caused by
the freezing of Afghan assets, and talked about the challenges created for Afghanistan due to non-engagement by some countries with the new government.

We welcome position ofa number of countries identifying this report as partisan, malicious and incomplete, and appreciate their recommendations for continued assistance to and political engage with the Afghan government for humanitarian and economic stabilization.

We also urge other countries to express their principled position against such an unfounded report.