Afghanistan’s Permanent Mission to the UN Office in Geneva has expressed concerns over the current situation of art and music under the Taliban, stating that they are at risk of vanishing.
“Our rich and deep-rooted culture, traditional music, and arts are at risk of vanishing,” The Mission in a statement at a meeting of the Assemblies of the World Intellectual Property Organization that ended on Friday.
“We are looking for innovative solutions to preserve our cultural and folklore heritage with the help of our artists and musicians in exile.”
The Taliban has severely restricted art and music, prompting many artists and musicians to flee fearing for their work and their lives. While the group has not officially banned art, it has barred women from singing and dancing and threatening to punish those who violate the ban with imprisonment or even death.
Recently, a group of women artists in exile managed to smuggle collections of artwork out of Afghanistan to Germany to hold an exhibition, depicting the oppressive state of women and girls under Taliban rule.
Afghanistan’s Permanent Mission has highlighted a significant brain drain since August 2021 that caused a wave of migration of the “most educated and talented” people outside the country amid Taliban bans and restrictions on freedoms and mobility, among other things.
“Institutions are suffering from brain-drain and lack of educated and experienced staff,” the statement said. “The situation is further exacerbated by the Taliban ban on modern education as well as depriving women and girls of education and work.”
The situation of human rights continues to deteriorate under the Taliban, which has especially affected millions of women and girls.
According to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, the Taliban has imposed over 50 edicts against women and girls between September 2021 and May 2023, barring girls’ and women’s education, employment, mobility, public spaces, rights to peaceful assembly and political and civil participation, and other limitations on their freedoms.
The Geneva Mission has urged the international community to foster their engagement for the youth and women to allow “crucial and creative” talents to drive “robust social and economic growth”.
