UNITED NATIONS, July 7. /TASS/. During its plenary session on Monday, the UN General Assembly adopted a draft resolution expressing concern about human rights in Afghanistan, a TASS correspondent reported.

The 67-point document was drafted by Germany, Ireland and Sweden. It received 116 yes votes. 12 countries, including Russia, Belarus, China, India, North Korea and Iran, abstained. Israel and the United States voted against.

The document expresses deep concern "over the dire economic, humanitarian and social conditions, persistent violence and the presence of terrorist groups, the absence of political inclusivity and representative decision-making, as well as violations and abuses of human rights, including those of women, girls and persons belonging to minorities since the takeover by the Taliban."

Apart from that, the resolution "urges Afghanistan to adhere to international law, comply with its international obligations and honour and fully respect and implement all treaties, covenants or conventions, bilateral or multilateral, to which it is Party, and coexist peacefully with neighbouring countries and the region."

Russian Deputy Permanent Representative Anna Evstigneeva said in her speech that Moscow consistently advocated "having a truly consensus GA resolution, which would reflect present-day realities and a consolidated approach of the international community to finding effective and lasting solutions regarding the Afghan settlement."

"Unfortunately, for several years now, the situation surrounding the work on the document has been the other way round. Despite the pragmatic approach by the facilitators of the Afghan file and that by a number of donors, we are witnessing persistent attempts by some Western colleagues to impose a 'virtual reality' on the entire international community as regards what is happening in the country," she continued. "In essence, what we see is the aforementioned group of states deliberately pushing forward an exclusively human rights-centric agenda in the country. Thus, real socio-economic and humanitarian problems facing Afghanistan have once again been pointedly disregarded, just as the need to resolve them in a depoliticized and prompt manner."

The Russian diplomat pointed to the fact that "the issues of lifting unprecedented unilateral sanctions and swiftly unfreezing the Afghan assets, which are needed to ensure the country's economic recovery and development, to build roads, schools, and hospitals" have been ignored for years.

"We deem such an approach to be hypocritical and not geared towards finding viable solutions that could truly rectify the situation in Afghanistan," Evstigneeva said.

 

Russia’s recognition of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

 

On July 3, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that Moscow had formally recognized the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Later that day, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko accepted credentials from Gul Hassan, Afghanistan’s new ambassador to Russia. The ambassador arrived in Moscow on July 1.

On April 17, the Russian Supreme Court granted a plea from the prosecutor general to suspend the ban on the Taliban's activities in the country. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced the removal of the Taliban's status as a terrorist group, paving the way for building a comprehensive partnership with Kabul in the interests of the Russian and Afghan peoples.