The Security Council requires the Taliban to respect international commitments

Children in Kabul Children in Kabul Photo by sohaibghyasi on Unsplash

30 August 2021

UNSC Resolution 2593 (2021) calls for the Taliban to permit humanitarian assistance for those in need

In its Resolution 2593 of 30 August 2021, the UNSC condemns the attack on Kabul airport of 26 August 2021 and considers three additional issues: the Resolution highlights the importance of combating terrorism in the Afghan territory, calls for the Taliban to permit humanitarian assistance for those in need and reaffirms the necessity of upholding human rights, in in particular of women, children and minorities.

The Resolution was adopted with 13 votes in favor. Two of the five permanent members, Russia and China, abstained. The ambassador of the Russian Federation justified the abstention by the incapacity of the Resolution to properly address the fight against terrorism. In particular, his country deplores the lack of the Resolution to explicitly mention the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the East Turkistan Islamic Movement as terrorist groups. China considers that the current unstable situation is caused by the manner in which the foreign troops withdrew from Afghanistan, accusing the respective countries of having failed to accept responsibility. During their respective addresses to the Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan, the other three permanent members, France, the United States and the United Kingdom, stress the importance of all persons’ right to leave any country for whatever reason at any given time.

In sum, with this Resolution, the Security Council aims at addressing the needs of those who remained in Afghanistan and stresses the necessity to continue supporting the people in need by engaging with the Taliban to ensure that the foreign nationals still in the country and Afghans at risk are able to leave.

 

Sources:

https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-analysis/resolution-2593-on-taliban-unsc 

https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/08/1098802 

https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/103712/afghanistan-press-statement-high-representative-josep-borrell-informal-meeting-foreign_en 

 

Author: Pietro Mattioli

 

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