ACLJ Delivers Critical Presentation at the U.N. Urging Immediate Action To Protect Christians and Religious Minorities in Afghanistan

We have told you how Christians and religious minorities are under threat by the Taliban and ISIS-affiliated groups in Afghanistan. In fact, from August 2021 – June 2022 approximately 700 civilians have been killed and a further 1,406 have been wounded in Afghanistan. Most of these attacks have occurred against “ethnic and religious minority communities in places where they go to school, worship, and go about their daily lives.” In our most recent written intervention on Afghanistan, we highlighted one such example of a Sufi mosque that was attacked while people were gathered inside to worship.

On April 29, 2022, there was an explosion at a Sufi mosque in Kabul. Approximately sixty-six people were killed in the blasts and seventy-eight people were injured. The attack came as worshippers were gathered inside. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

In response to this horrific and deadly attack, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Afghanistan stated that “[i]t is unconscionable for civilians to be targeted indiscriminately as they go about their daily business, gathering for prayers, going to school or the market, or on their way to work.”

To put a stop to the deadly violence and to call for immediate action to protect religious minorities in Afghanistan, I just personally delivered a critical oral intervention, via video, to the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC).

As I stated in my presentation to the U.N.:

Afghanistan has been reported to be the worst place for Christians to live in the entire world. Since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, Christians and other religious minorities are at extreme risk of being persecuted by the Taliban and ISIS.

Both Sunni Islamist groups are bent on the death and destruction of Christian and other minorities, including the Hazara, Shia, and the Sufi communities. In addition to religious minorities, schools and women and girls are already under attack by these groups.

The Taliban also threatens the lives of Christians, particularly those who converted from Islam, as they are considered to be apostates. According to a report, the Taliban have even “gone door to door hunting down converts.” As I further stated:

Under the Taliban’s rule, converting from Islam to Christianity is against the law and punishable by death. The Taliban has been utilizing tactics to uncover Christians by confiscating suspected Christians’ phones and looking through messages and contacts. The Taliban has even used direct correspondence and social media to deliver threats of imprisonment and execution to every Christian in Afghanistan saying, “we will find you and we will kill your entire family to bring you the punishment you deserve and to be a lesson for others who are leaving Islam.”

The international community must open its eyes to the atrocities being carried out against Christians and religious minorities in Afghanistan. Immediate action must be taken to stop the senseless violence being carried out by the Taliban and ISIS-affiliated groups. I reminded the U.N. HRC that the international community has a duty to respond in these types of situations. As I pointed out:

In keeping with the very basic mandates of the U.N. Charter, the ECLJ requests that the international community must not allow a full-scale genocide to perpetuate. This is only the beginning. If meaningful action is not taken now, the problem in Afghanistan will only worsen.

We will continue to bring attention to these atrocities in Afghanistan because we have seen in Iraq and Syria the brutality of genocide that can happen when the U.N. fails to take preventative action when it is clear that mass atrocities are being carried out.

Stand with us as we continue to advocate on behalf of persecuted Christians in Afghanistan and around the world.