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UNESCO Leader Calls for Action Against Taliban Oppression

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Chief Federico Mayor called for international support to end human rights abuses by Afghanistan’s militant Taliban. He wants leaders to act rather than talk.

“As the Taliban extend their grip of terror on the long-suffering country. . .it is time that the entire United Nations system and the international community move from the clearly ineffectual condemnation of abuses to actions which might stem them,” stated Mayor.

Fifteen Afghan intellectuals sent Mayor a letter charging the Taliban with “medieval repression” and “ruthless policies of linguistic domination and ethnic cleansing.”

Mayor feels the accusations made by the intellectuals mirror a report on human rights in Afghanistan delivered last month to the U.N. General Assembly.

Special reporter for the U.N. Human Rights Commission, Choong-Hyun Paik, requested an investigation on the part of the world organization into the clear human rights violations, such as reports of mass-killings in Afghanistan.

Sources:

Reuters - November 23, 1998

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