10/12/2025
The Rahyab Initiative’s Statement on the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Afghanistan on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day
On December 10th, the International Human Rights Day, it is still essential to draw attention to the ongoing violations of the human rights of persons with disabilities in Afghanistan, ranging from inequalities in entitlements and the use of benefits, to barriers in accessing fundamental human rights, such as education, healthcare, employment, and justice. Over the past four years in particular, these conditions have witnessed tangible regression.
Moreover, discrimination against this segment of society cannot be accurately understood without considering the factor of intersectionality. In many cases, a person with a disability is simultaneously impacted by additional layers of vulnerability, such as being a woman, belonging to specific ethnic or religious communities, holding diverse gender identities, living in rural versus urban areas, or experiencing individual or family-level economic hardship. These intersecting factors expose individuals to multidimensional forms of discrimination and violations that must be accounted for in all advocacy efforts.
In humanitarian aid processes, as well as in protection mechanisms within migration and asylum pathways, persons with disabilities have too often been left behind or excluded; an exclusion that runs counter to the principles articulated in Article 13 (the right to freedom of movement and to leave any country) and Article 14 (the right to seek asylum) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Rahyab Initiative, on this global day and with reference to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on this very date, calls for serious attention to, and redress of, violations against persons with disabilities.
It further urges effective national and international measures to ensure the realization of their rights, with full consideration of intersectional factors, across all present and future planning for Afghanistan, in the spirit of Article 1 and Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In the hope of a future in which persons with disabilities fully enjoy their fundamental human rights. Long live humanity!
Image source: https://www.un.org/en/observances/human-rights-day
