MESSAGE BOARD NEWSLINKS US EDITION COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights have deplored the Taleban's edict requiring Hindus in Afghanistan to wear a distinctive sign on their clothing saying it "harks back to the darkest periods of human history."
"Prescribing how certain groups of people should dress or otherwise singling them out so that they can be easily identifiable is at best discriminatory," UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura and UNHCR Commissioner Mary Robinson said in a joint statement in Geneva on Thursday.
"Similar practices in the past - from Nazi Germany in the 1930s to Rwanda in the early 1990s - have led to the most horrible crimes," they said.
They said the stated aim of the edict, namely the protection of minority groups, can best be achieved through strict observance of internationally recognised human rights principles.
In the statement, the two declared that the edict "brings home in a most forceful way the urgent need to address bias and discrimination, which are at the root of major human rights violations."
Tell us what you think of this report
