A/HRC/57/5 89. The Dominican Republic commended Afghanistan for organizing working groups to examine the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Afghan people. 90. Ecuador expressed concern about the dismantling of institutional human rights protections. It urged the adoption of measures to promote women’s participation in public life and protect them from gender-based violence. 91. Egypt welcomed the presentation of the national report and presented recommendations. 92. Estonia expressed concern about directives violating human rights and targeting women and girls and urged the compliance of any law review with international human rights law. 93. Finland noted with deep concern the developments in Afghanistan since the previous review. 94. France expressed cognizance of the particular situation experienced by the Afghan people, notably that they were forced to obey de facto authorities that disregarded international norms. 95. The Gambia expressed appreciation for the constructive engagement of Afghanistan during the review and made recommendations. 96. Georgia expressed concern about the reports of human rights violations disproportionally affecting women, children and ethnic and religious communities and acknowledged the urgency of responding to the crisis. 97. Germany condemned the human rights violations committed by the de facto authorities and expressed concern about the systematic gender-based discrimination and violence against women and girls. 98. Ghana urged Afghanistan to reverse the discriminatory policies imposed on women and minorities and appealed to the international community for support in addressing the suffering of the Afghan people. 99. The Holy See emphasized the importance of promoting a culture that respected and protected the dignity of every person. 100. Iceland welcomed the national report and made recommendations. 101. The Republic of Moldova commended Afghanistan for taking initial steps to implement previous recommendations but expressed deep concern about the human rights situation in the country, which had deteriorated since 2021. 102. The delegation pointed out that the economic and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan had become much more severe since the Taliban had seized power. A significant proportion of the population lived in poverty, contending with profound food and water insecurity, which had been further intensified due to calamities caused by climate change. 103. Despite the critical humanitarian situation that affected more than 29.2 million individuals, the Taliban had allocated significant financial resources to military and security affairs. 104. Afghanistan was one of the 10 most climate-vulnerable countries, a situation worsened by the current regime’s disregard for environmental policy and international collaboration. Since the Taliban’s takeover, their inadequate governance and incapabilities had led to the freezing of millions of dollars in aid previously earmarked for climate change response. 105. Previously, women had engaged in various sectors of society, supported by constitutional protections. Unfortunately, those protections had been significantly restricted; an estimated 60,000 enterprises owned by women had ceased operations and women had been systematically marginalized from the labour force, including non-governmental organizations and the United Nations. That had had an enormously detrimental effect on their capacity to offer and engage in critical services. GE.24-09690 9