services to anyone, operation in the criminal economy. where conglomerates make their own laws, they invade our private lives through surveillance. hidden, secretive. what's true, what's vague? it doesn't matter. the only criteria is what will hook people. we shed light on the opaque worlds who's behind benefits. and why are they a threat to was all oh peak worlds this week on d w. ah 50 does the news asia coming up to date of gummy sounds minorities and women suffering under the taliban? delegates from the hard line is flemish group failed to make binding commitments on

improving women's rights at a meeting in our slow guarantees that the west once in return for providing humanitarian aid and a dumping report from human rights watch highlights the dangerous situation. for l . g, b t q persons in time to bond root of gone to thought. ah, i'm british manager, welcome to did up the news asia. glad you could join us. talks between western officials and taliban delegates have ended in our slow, without any concrete agreement. representatives of the united states and european nations linked humanitarian aid to afghanistan with an improvement in the rights of women and minorities. the thought about it, john demanded that $10000000000.00 in of gone cash reserves, currently frozen by night at states and other western countries be released. so

afghans can be held him an opportunity to get caught closer to the world. these talks are controversial from the start. critic said sitting down with the taliban ment legitimizing them. but host norway disagreed, saying it was about creating a foreign exchanging messages. so this is, sir, i believe, a measure that makes it possible to hold those who hold power in afghanistan accountable and to really communicate the clear needs. i know this is a challenge for many to see the totally wrong being received in also it is also something that is a troubling thing for, for many people, including for me, ah, the situation on the ground in afghanistan, the prime minister went on to say, is driving the need for such talks,

more than $20000000.00 afghans are at risk of starvation to lower the month of their misery is being compounded by freezing temperatures. before they got a vision of a honda, the economy has collapsed, eating many having to turn to desperate measures to make ends meet to that ok, snuck has worked whether that looks like a place just before we suffered because of war. now we fighting hunger. people sell their children or risk dying. so we urgently ask for the help of authorities. what is al qaeda caballo in norway? the group was told that for aid to start flowing and for afghan funds to be unfrozen, they must build an inclusive government. but crucially, they must restore the human rights they've taken away from women and girls. this is a, this is a red line for us. if we cannot educate girls, we cannot educate voice. they have to understand that we respect their traditions, but they need to understand that we also have traditions. so we represent the civilization with gender equality is fundamental. as the taliban headed home,

one western observer said the have been incremental shifts that, that more meetings will be needed for the 2 sides to find a way of dealing with each other. joining me now from kabul is country director of the norwegian refugee council, or lean a belive in miss belin, on the poly barn in their meetings, an or slow have demanded of garrison's cash reserves worth 10000000000 dollars be released. so afghans can be helped is the lack of that money hindering aid relief in afghanistan. it entering more on the economy and that money is needed to be released to shore up trade and investment in the country. and also as a contribution towards paying salaries for health care workers for education workers in the country at the moment. is it an economic standstill because there is

no investment and because all assets have been frozen, so it is critical that a resolution is found to, to release those funds, but also to open up the banking system again. and western leaders and officials were the austin, there were demanding of the polar bond improve women's and minority rights in the country before any money is released to the group. do you think that should be the priority right now? cut me. i believe very strongly that what is needed for this country is a solution for the economic crisis, but humanitarian assistance needs to be able to get into the country and to reach the people who need it. it's not for nothing that the un has just launched. one of the largest, or the largest ever humanitarian appeal for $40000000000.00

in order to be able to respond to the needs of over half the population who are facing hunger, facing lack of access to health and education. even basic shelter and resources for fundamental living, urine, gobble, and what has been your experience? can one distribute aid in afghanistan without cooperation with taliban? we have been able to do a fairly comprehensive winterized ation program, distributing blanket shell tickets. non food items, kids with buckets and kitchen kids, stows to to ensure that people have the minimum to be able to provide and cook for that needs to keep them warm through the winter months. so yes, it is possible and much, much more of that assistance is needed to keep people. busy alive and well through

particularly through the very harsh winter season. we have snow on the ground at the moment so and at night minus 13 degrees. so people who are living in very temporary shelters with plastic sheeting wooden frames, they need all the help they can get to be able to survive these very cosh conditions. pauline bellman from the norwegian refugee council that opened to me while the taliban engages and talks of kindness and minorities are left in desperation. a new report for human rights watch and outright action international says the countries as g. b t q community is facing deadly violence and oppression. under parlor bon rule. to be clear, i've got it sounds conservative society was already a difficult place to live as a member of the n g b t q community, before the taliban take up, for example, home a president, i should have gone in government criminalize, same sex sexual relation through a law in 2018. but under the taliban,

the discrimination has descended to attacks, rapes, and death threats. based on interviews conducted with 60 guns last year. the report lists all main ways in which l g. b t q. people are facing danger. now many interviewers say they were attacked sexually, assaulted or threatened by thought by members, many new others who were killed. others report threats and abuse from family members, acquaintances or romantic partners who turned against them. many reported the greatest threats came through their phones via s. m. s or social media, and for many l, g, b, t q. people in the gun on the most pressing threat is not from direct violence, but the inability to and living are going out just to buy food for fear of being identified. the report includes 1st person accounts of the danger. these people are face both from victims and the taliban themselves. it coats $1.00. bon judge

telling a german newspaper. i quote for homosexuals that can only be 2 punishments, either stoning or he must stand behind a wall that will fall down on him. and one man reported having to pass through taliban checkpoints to collect his paycheck. at one he was beaten, then taken away to be whipped and gang raped. when he was released, he was told i caught from now on any time we want to be able to find you, we will and we will do whatever we want with you. and for more, i'm joined by one of the authors of that report. had their bar, she's also associate director of women's rights at human rights watch and joined me from islam above miss. but from what the report describes, it appears there is just no way an l g b t q person can live with dignity in afghanistan. would you agree with that? i'm afraid, i, you know, it's pretty impossible to live in a place where,

you know, you have all the homophobia that existed before. but now you have a situation where if somebody wants to engage in violence against you, not only are they not afraid or in punish anymore, but they feel that they may be working. so it's, it's an intolerable situation for people. so what are you? b t q of guns to do, i mean, do they leave afghanistan and go to neighboring countries, which as your report correctly points out, many of whom have a criminalized same sex relationships. what do they do? so some people have managed to leave a very tiny number, have managed to find their way to safety and resettlement in another country. a far greater number, as you say, are stuck in the region and their problems are not just criminalization. have the same sex conduct in other countries. it's also that they may have arrived without

a visa. the may have come on a short term visa, which is now expired. they are likely not able to work legally, which means that they don't have a means to financially support themselves. and they don't have a pathway to re settlement in another country where they can live safely. but the vast majority of people who are facing these risks and these, these forms of violence are in afghanistan, trying their best to survive from one day to the next. many of them living in hiding afraid to even go out of their houses, to, to get food, let alone to find a way to earn a living and support themselves and their families. your report also suggests among other measures for the poly bon to revise laws of sore eligibility to people can have equal rights. is that a realistic demand to make awe? maybe it's not, but the taliban sees themselves as the government of afghanistan. they're arguing

every day that they are the legitimate government. and if they have a legitimate government, then they need to provide rule of law and they need to respect human rights. and that's their obligation under international law. and so we make recommendations to them based on their obligation, not based on their behavior. now we're talking a day off to talks would bring the polar bond on, burson officials, ended in all school. this spoke about human rights and you might have heard an aid that you think algebra to q writes or of guns is a priority for western missions. i actually question whether human rights her a priority for western nations period. i'm in the osland meeting was, was disturbing. honestly, because, you know, we had this terrible kind of collision of images of the taliban beating women's rights protesters about a week and a half ago and spraying them with pepper spray and then rating the homes of 2 of them and arresting them at night on wednesday. night last week,

and then the taliban flying on a private jet to all slow at a moment when no very few countries had spoken up about the brutality toward the women's rights protester. so i fear, i fear that with that human rights in general or the forgotten by the international community, let alone the rights of l. g. b, t. people which have always been a sensitive and neglected issue in afghanistan. heather baldwin, lever bir. but thanks so much for joining us to birth. and that's it for today as ever. there's more on our website, the deborah dot com forward slash asia. and you can have both also follow us on facebook and twitter wincy gift moral sh. i'm you can that i think that's hard and in the end is a me, you are not a lot us to you anymore. we will send you back. are you familiar with this?

with the smudges were lions of beef. what's your story. ready he wasn't on women, especially and victims of violence in labs and take part and send us your story. the chain always to understand this new culture. so you are not the visitor, not the guests. you want to become a citizen. in phil migrants, your platform for reliable information ah, power outages and factory floor stoppages, 30 orders businesses to suddenly flash their gas supplies. what does that mean for firms already struggling in the countries? poor economy will go to our correspondent in istanbul. kathy pacific lowered its

losses in 2021. a small bit of good news for the hong kong flyer, which is facing tough quarantine rules and legal complaints against its own air crews. and what's a winter wonderland without snow will take you to colorado where climate change has ski resorts making their own powder. hello and welcome to the show. i'm stephen beardsley in berlin. we've been talking about the global crunch in energy supplies in recent weeks. now, perky is feeling the strain. ankara has ordered its biggest gas consumers among them, electricity producers and large factories to scale back massively for 3 days. in effect, that means power outages and stoppages on factory floors. now behind the decision is a supply problem in a ran as the source of about 16 percent of gas supplies going into turkey ran.