{"id":218363,"date":"2025-10-12T04:50:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T04:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/218363\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T04:50:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T04:50:07","slug":"human-rights-experts-condemn-new-taliban-internet-restrictions-jurist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/218363\/","title":{"rendered":"Human rights experts condemn new Taliban internet restrictions – JURIST"},"content":{"rendered":"

UN human rights experts on Friday condemned<\/a> the Taliban\u2019s internet and social media restrictions in Afghanistan, calling them violations of fundamental human rights.<\/p>\n

The social media restrictions<\/a>, which began on October 7, target major platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. \u00a0They follow a two-day, nationwide internet blackout from September 29 to October 1.<\/p>\n

Prior to this, Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada had ordered<\/a> a fiber-optic internet shutdown across five northern provinces on September 17, 2025. After connectivity was largely restored<\/a> on October 1, the authorities then imposed the current restrictions, blocking platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.<\/p>\n

The experts warn that restricting internet and telecommunications services worsens Afghanistan\u2019s humanitarian and economic crisis, increasing poverty, unemployment, and food insecurity. These measures also hinder the delivery of critical humanitarian aid to vulnerable communities, including those affected by natural disasters and individuals forcibly returned from neighboring countries.<\/p>\n

They called for the Taliban to comply with international obligations, stating:\u201d[i]n line with Afghanistan\u2019s human rights obligations, the Taliban must ensure that any restrictions to the rights to freedom of expression and access to information are provided by law and are a necessary and proportionate response to a specific concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, the experts highlighted the disproportionate impact of internet restrictions on women in Afghanistan, stating \u201cmany [women] are heavily dependent on online platforms for education, remote work, business opportunities, and virtual social spaces.\u201d In Afghanistan, the internet has been described<\/a> as \u201cthe only light\u201d for women living under the Taliban\u2019s gender apartheid regime. Online communities have served as a lifeline for women, providing support amid widespread job losses and systemic oppression.<\/p>\n

Under Article 19(3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)<\/a>, restrictions on freedom of expression and access to information must be lawful, necessary, and proportionate to protect specific interests, such as others\u2019 rights, national security, public order, health, or morals. The experts stress that the Taliban\u2019s actions fail to meet these standards. These restrictions significantly hinder human rights defenders and journalists, already under intense repression, from documenting Afghanistan\u2019s human rights crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UN human rights experts on Friday condemned the Taliban\u2019s internet and social media restrictions in Afghanistan, calling them…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[174,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-218363","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-internet","9":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}