LOC14:38
11:38 GMT
ISLAMABAD, Sept 17 (KUNA) -- The United Nations' High Commissioner for
Human Rights, Navi Pillay on Tuesday warned that the human rights situation
was worsening in Afghanistan, where the NATO-led combat mission is scheduled
to end in 2014.
The UN official after meeting with the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai said,
"I do have serious concerns the human rights situation in the country is
deteriorating." She feared that the gains made over the past 12 years in
Afghanistan could be reversed and she had heard apprehensions about a sharp
spike in human rights violations.
The UN rights commissioner told that the civil society activists in the
country were increasingly worried that the achievements of the past decade
could be undone if the situation continued unchecked and in particular she
explained that women's rights were being spurned. UN top official during her
meeting with the President and Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul called for the
protection of human rights.
The Foreign Minister renewed the government's commitment to protecting
people's rights in pursuing reconciliation with the Taliban. "The Afghan
government will never compromise rights of the people," the minister promised.
(end)
sbk.mt
KUNA 171438 Sep 13NNNN