Richard Bennett (UN)

Bennett has served the United Nations as representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and head of the human rights components of peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, and South Sudan, including twice in Afghanistan (2003–2007 and 2018–2019). For a time, he was an advisor to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. From 2007 to 2010, Bennett was the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal and head of the OHCHR Office there. He was also chief of staff of the UN Secretary-General's Sri Lanka Expert Panel and special adviser to the OHCHR in New York City. Bennett worked for Amnesty International from 2014 to 2017, first as programme director for Asia and the Pacific and later as head of the UN Office in New York. Since mid-2019, he has worked as a consultant for UN human rights projects in Afghanistan, Myanmar and New York. Bennett is currently a visiting professor at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Lund, Sweden. Bennett has held various positions in Afghanistan, including Chief of the Human Rights Service at the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). An important part of his work was the protection and promotion of human rights, such as the protection of the civilian population, further development of the justice system, children's rights, rule of law, minority rights, protection of human rights activists and a variety of economic, social and cultural rights. ==Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan==

On 7 October 2021, the UN Human Rights Council adopted the mandate for a UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan in Resolution 48/1 after the Taliban retook control of the country in August 2021. The mandate for Afghanistan was already in place until 2005. Richard Bennett was appointed as the first mandate holder on 1 April 2022 and took office on 1 May 2022. On 21 August 2024, the Taliban barred Bennett from entering Afghanistan, stating that he was appointed "to spread propaganda and he is not someone whose words we can trust". Bennett issued a statement in response to the ban, calling the decision "a step backwards" and committing to continue documenting human rights violations and abuses. On 26 March 2025, Bennett supported calls for FIFA to act against gender oppression in Afghanistan, where women footballers remain banned from competing. Exiled players, including team captain Mursal Sadat, urged FIFA to help reintegrate them into international football, emphasizing collaboration rather than confrontation. Following the 2025 Afghanistan earthquake on 31 August, Bennett called on the Pakistani government to suspend its deportation of Afghan migrants in light of the disaster. ==References==