More than 100 former members of the Afghan security forces and others have been killed since the Taliban takeover in August, with most of the killings allegedly at the hands of the hardline Islamist group, UN officials have said.
It follows reports of disappearances, as well as children being sold, recruited as soldiers and forced into early marriages.
In a speech to the UN, Nada al-Nashif, deputy high commissioner for human rights, said the Taliban rule was marked by “extrajudicial killings and restrictions on women and girls’ basic rights”.
At least 72 of the alleged executions have been at the hands of the Taliban, according to Ms al-Nashif.
In addition, 50 suspected members of a local affiliate of Islamic State called ISIS-Khorasan- an ideological enemy of the Taliban – have died by hanging and beheading.
Ms al-Nashif said in several cases the bodies have been publicly displayed.
Around eight Afghan activists and two journalists are known to be dead, with the UN also recording 59 unlawful detentions and highlighting particular vulnerability faced by those working in the legal sector.
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Ms al-Nashif added that the Taliban decree earlier this month has violated the freedom of females, as women and girls across the country are being barred from work, education and public life.
“With the military takeover of Kabul by the Taliban, not only do we see a total reversal of two decades of advances… but the group is also committing a litany of abuses with full impunity,” Nasir Ahmad Andisha, Afghanistan’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, said.
He added that “credible reports have testified accounts of ethnic and tribal purging in several provinces of the country”.
