A/RES/53/165
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Degrading Treatment or Punishment,6 the Convention on the Rights of the Child7 and the Geneva Convention
relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War,8 and that it has signed the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,9
Recalling also all its relevant resolutions, as well as the resolutions and presidential statements of the
Security Council, the decisions of the Economic and Social Council and the resolutions and decisions of the
Commission on Human Rights,
1. Takes note with appreciation of the interim report of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on
Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan10 and of the conclusions and recommendations
contained therein;
2. Strongly condemns the mass killings and systematic human rights violations against civilians and
prisoners of war, and notes with alarm the escalating cycle of mass killings;
3. Expresses its gravest concern at numerous reports of mass killings in the areas of Mazar-e Sharif
and Bamian by the Taliban;
4. Condemns the widespread violations and abuses of human rights and humanitarian law, including
the rights to life, liberty and security of person, freedom from torture and from other forms of cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment, freedom of opinion, expression, religious persuasion, association and
movement and, in particular, the grave human rights violations against women and girls;
5. Condemns also the killing of Iranian diplomats and the correspondent of the Islamic Republic
News Agency by Taliban combatants, as well as the attacks on and the killing of United Nations personnel in
Taliban-held territories of Afghanistan, and calls upon the Taliban to fulfil their stated commitment to
cooperate in urgent investigations of these heinous crimes, with a view to bringing those responsible to
justice;
6.
Notes with deep concern:
(a) The worsening pattern of human rights violations in Afghanistan;
(b) The continuing and substantiated reports of human rights violations against women and girls,
including all forms of discrimination against them, notably in areas under the control of the Taliban;
(c) The intensification of armed hostilities in Afghanistan and the increasingly ethnic and religious
nature of the conflict, which have resulted in extensive human suffering and forced displacement, and which
hinder the return of the internally displaced to their homes;
6
Resolution 39/46, annex.
7
Resolution 44/25, annex.
8
United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, No. 973.
9
Resolution 34/180, annex.
10
A/53/539, annex.
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