Afghans “today face a profound humanitarian crisis” that also threatens very basic “human rights," a United Nations official said on Tuesday.  

UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif, in a statement expressed her "deepest concerns" over the current humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.  

“Economic life is largely paralysed with the collapse of the banking system and a severe liquidity crisis. With winter having arrived, women, men, boys and girls face severe poverty and hunger, and limited and deteriorating public services, particularly health care,” she said. “As more Afghans struggle to meet their basic needs, people in vulnerable situations – notably women-headed households and children – are being pushed to take desperate measures, including child labor, the marriage of children to ensure their survival, and – according to some reports – even the sale of children.” 

The situation in Afghanistan, Al-Nashif said, was “compounded by the impact of sanctions and the freezing of state assets.” 

The official said that civilian casualties are still being caused as Daesh and other armed groups launch "ruthless" attacks. 

The UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights voiced concern over the conduct of extra-judicial killings. Between August and November, she said “we received credible allegations of more than 100 killings of former Afghan national security forces and others associated with the former government.”  

At least 72 of these killings were attributed to the “Taliban," Nashif said.  

“In Nangarhar province alone, there also appears to be a pattern of at least 50 extra-judicial killings of individuals suspected to be members of the ISIL-KP (Daesh). Brutal methods of killings, including hanging, beheadings, and public display of corpses have been reported,” she added.   

The UN Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights said that there is a continued risk of recruitment of children by Daesh as well as by the “de facto authorities."