UNESCO AND UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS CONDEMN TALIBAN EDICT ON IDENTIFICATION OF NON-MUSLIMS

Paris, May 23 (No.2001-72)- United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura today expressed outrage over reports of a Taliban edict requiring non-Muslims in Afghanistan to wear a distinctive sign on their clothes.

In a joint statement, Ms Robinson and Mr Matsuura today denounced the edict saying it “harks back to the darkest periods of human history”.

“Prescribing how certain groups of people should dress or otherwise singling them out so that they can be easily identifiable is at best discriminatory", they said. “Similar practices in the past - from Nazi Germany in the 1930s to Rwanda in the early 1990s - have led to the most horrible crimes”, they added.

Ms Robinson and Mr Matsuura said the stated aim of the edict by the Taliban, namely the protection of minority groups, can best be achieved through the strict observance of internationally recognized human rights principles.

In their statement, the two declare that the Taliban edict “brings home in a most forceful way the urgent need to address bias and discrimination, which are at the root of major human rights violations”.

“We call upon the Taliban urgently to reconsider their position, which is another serious step backwards for a people already enduring extreme hardship in terms of deprival of basic rights such as education”, they said.

Ms Robinson and Mr Matsuura further said: “We also call on all nations able to exert any influence whatsoever on the authorities in Kabul to ensure that they see the error of their ways before long.”

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