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November 4,2021

Anna Murray 

On November 4, UN Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor describes human rights defenders in Afghanistan are living in a climate of fear, threats, intense insecurity, and growing desperation, requiring an urgent coordinated response from the international community. Defenders have reportedly lived in a climate of constant fear in Afghanistan and have had their human rights violated as a result of direct threats, such as gendered threats against women, arrests, beatings, enforced disappearances, and the killing of defenders.

Ms. Lawlor previously served as Director of Amnesty International's Irish Office from 1988 to 2000, after joining the organization's Board of Directors in 1975 and serving as President from 1983 to 1987. Ms. Lawlor is currently an Associate Professor of Business and Human Rights at Trinity College Dublin Business School's Centre for Social Innovation (CSI). Ms. Lawlor represented Front Line Defenders, the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, which was established in 2001 to assist human rights defenders in danger. Meanwhile, as Executive Director from 2001 to 2016, Ms. Lawlor was instrumental in its development.

The Taliban have raided human rights and civil society organizations' offices, looking for names, addresses, and contact information. In Afghanistan, human rights activists and others are being pursued, arrested, and killed. More than 100 human rights defenders had submitted online testimonies to Ms. Lawlor. She demanded immediate international assistance, including an urgent evacuation plan for those in danger in Afghanistan and their families.