Artemis Akbary, founder and director of Afghan LGBT Organisation (ALO) at the UN Security Council said that:

“In 2022, ALO received more than 835 requests for help from LGBT people in Afghanistan. 72% of these people told us that they were directly abused and harassed by the Taliban.
67 people were sexually assaulted by the Taliban, most of whom were transgender and lesbian. 85% of these people said that they were harassed by their family and friends during their life”.

Artemis stressed that everyone has the right to life and security which is an ever more dire situation considering many totalitarian regimes’ human rights policies are regressing and establishing further efforts to identify and prosecute LGTBQ+ individuals:

“According to articles one and three of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person.
But unfortunately, LGBT+ people in Afghanistan and neighboring countries have neither freedom nor security”.

Artemis Akbary asked the UN Security Council and International community to support the LGBTI people in Afghanistan:
“The whole world is watching as LGBTIQ people’s human rights are systematically violated in Afghanistan, and yet the international community remains silent, in contrast to its more vocal response to violations impacting women and ethnic minorities. Any countries that maintain a human rights dialogue with the Taliban should raise human rights violations against LGBTIQ people, and must not negotiate our lives away. Members of the Security Council, you have so much power to make LGBTI Afghans safe. I hope you are listening, I hope you are writing home to your capitols, and most importantly, I ask you to take action.”