More than 100 human rights organisations have called on the UN Human Rights Council and the European Union to establish an independent investigative mechanism for Afghanistan.

They said such a step is vital to hold perpetrators of past and ongoing abuses accountable.

In an open letter, 107 Afghan civil society groups and international rights organisations said Afghans have faced widespread abuses under Taliban rule over the past four years. They cited extrajudicial killings, torture, enforced disappearances, systemic discrimination against women and girls, bans on their education and work, exclusion from public life, and persecution of minorities including Hazaras, Shias, Sikhs and Hindus. The groups also noted pressure on activists, journalists, artists, lawyers and judges.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights and the International Bar Association were among the signatories.

The groups said decades of impunity had fuelled repeated atrocities in Afghanistan. They argued that only an independent body tasked with collecting evidence, investigating abuses and pursuing accountability could end what they described as a cycle of violence.

The letter stressed that such a mechanism should complement the work of the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice and national courts with universal jurisdiction. It also warned that inaction by the Human Rights Council would allow violations to continue and undermine efforts to build transitional justice.

Rights groups said the Taliban’s systematic attacks on women and girls, restrictions on civic space, arbitrary punishments and reprisals have continued into the group’s fifth year in power.

Human Rights Watch described Taliban policies as “crimes against humanity in the form of gender persecution,” while UN experts have labelled them “gender apartheid.”

Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, warned earlier this year that “the international community’s failure to hold the Taliban accountable has emboldened them.”

The signatories urged the EU to use its position on the Human Rights Council to table a resolution establishing the mechanism, saying it could provide a path to justice for victims of past and ongoing crimes in Afghanistan.