Multiple UN agencies reported an increase in child and forced marriage, as well as gender-based violence and femicide with impunity. The Taliban progressively dissolved the institutional framework of support for survivors of gender-based violence that had operated under the former government, leaving survivors dependent on sharia law (Islamic law) and at risk of further abuse. There were widespread reports of women and girls suffering from depression, in some cases leading to suicide. DISCRIMINATION People from Hazara, Uzbek, Turkmen and Tajik ethnic groups faced growing marginalization and forced eviction from their homes and land. Members of the Baloch community were reportedly detained and forcibly disappeared. The Taliban settled disputes over land and livestock in favour of Kuchi communities, who are ethnically Pashtun and move seasonally, and forced local Hazara communities to pay compensation for cases related to missing livestock dating back over 20 years. There were reportedly instances of Kuchi communities attacking Hazara residents. In addition to beatings of Hazaras and destruction of their property, including vehicles, houses and crops, six Hazara men were killed between June and August in Khas Urozgan area, Urozgan province. Concerns around impunity for these crimes continued. In October, two Hazaras were reportedly killed at the border between Lal wa Srajangal and Dawlat Yar districts of Ghor province. Several killings of Hazara men, including religious leaders, were reported in Herat province in November and December. UNLAWFUL ATTACKS AND KILLINGS Civilians continued to face attacks across the country despite a reduction in conflict-related violence following the Taliban takeover. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) recorded 3,774 civilian casualties between August 2021 and May 2023 (1,095 killed; 2,679 wounded), the majority of which The State of the World’s Human Rights were attributed to the armed group Islamic State of Khorasan Province (IS-KP). On 13 October, IS-KP claimed responsibility for an attack on a Shia/Hazara mosque in Baghlan province that left at least 20 people dead and more than 60 wounded. In the context of fighting with the National Resistance Front (NRF), Amnesty International reported in June that the Taliban had enforced collective punishments on civilians in Panjshir province, including mass or village-wide arbitrary arrests. The report also verified that between 12 and 14 September 2022 alone, the Taliban had carried out at least 14 extrajudicial executions of NRF detainees in Khenj and Darah districts, with many more extrajudicial executions in Khenj, Darah and Rokha districts. The total number of people extrajudicially killed during this period is estimated at least 48, possibly many more.2 A pattern of mass extrajudicial executions of people associated with the former government and members of armed groups resisting the Taliban continued with impunity and constituted war crimes. UNAMA recorded at least 218 extrajudicial killings of members of the former government and security personnel between August 2021 and June 2023. DEATH PENALTY, TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT People were subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention and enforced disappearance, and remained at risk of execution, death in custody and torture and other ill-treatment. UNAMA recorded 1,600 incidents of detention-related human rights violations between January 2022 and July 2023, half of them constituting torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. In June, Amnesty International found evidence that at least three civilians had been tortured to death by the Taliban after being accused of allegiance to the NRF in Panjshir province in 2022. No investigations into this or other cases of torture were reported. In May, the UN expressed concern at the Taliban’s continued use of public executions 71