HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFGHANISTAN

Treatment of women by the Taliban

The Taliban hold standards for women's behaviour and dress, based on a fundamentalist interpretation of the Hanafi jurisprudence which is enforced through surveillance and force. Human rights groups and the United Nations (UN) have been critical of the group's treatment of women. The UN has said that the Taliban's policy of strict separation of men and women may amount to gender apartheid.[1] During their first rule of Afghanistan, the Taliban were notorious internationally for their misogyny and violence against women.[2][3] In 1996, women were mandated to wear the burqa at all times in public.[4][5] Women were not allowed to work, nor continue their education beyond the age of eight. Women seeking an education were forced to attend underground schools, where they and their teachers risked execution if caught.[6][7] Women could not be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a male chaperone, a barrier which deterred women from seeking healthcare, for many leading to untreated illness and/or further health complications. The Taliban enforced these laws through public corporal punishments and public executions.[8]: 12, 31–32 [9] After retaking control of Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban initially granted women permission to attend universities, albeit in gender segregated classrooms, on the condition that they followed "Islamic standards".[10] However, shortly after, the group expanded the restriction to prohibit girls from going to school beyond the age of 12 — the only restriction of its kind in the world.[11][12][13] Additionally, they have prohibited women in Afghanistan from working in most sectors;[14] there are limited exceptions for healthcare and education, though the Taliban's restrictions have proven prohibitively cumbersome for many women in these fields.[15][16] Some provinces still allow secondary education for girls, despite the nationwide ban.[17] Women are mandated to wear face coverings in public and barred from travelling more than 70 kilometres (45 mi) without a close male relative. In 2022, Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban's reclusive leader, rejected international criticism and demands to ease human rights restrictions, refusing any negotiations or compromises on the Taliban's governance.[18][19][20] Within two years after seizing Afghanistan, the Taliban shut down beauty salons and banned women from accessing gyms and parks.[21] These restrictions have faced near-universal condoms, including from Islamic governments and clerics in and outside Afghanistan who say the restrictions have no basis in Islam.[22][23]

Laws

Afghan women wearing the burqa From the age of eight onward, girls in Afghanistan were not allowed to be in direct contact with males other than a close "blood relative", husband, or in-law (see mahram).[24] From 27 September 1996 to 17 December 2001, when the Taliban were in control of 90 percent of Afghanistan, it imposed the following restrictions on women: ​ Women should not appear in public without a mahram.[5] ​ Women must wear a burqa in public.[5] ​ Women should not wear high-heeled shoes as no man should hear a woman's footsteps lest it might excite him.[5] ​ Women must not speak loudly in public as no stranger should hear a woman's voice.[25] ​ All street-level windows should be painted over or screened to prevent women from being visible from the street.[26] ​ Photographing, filming and displaying pictures of girls and women in newspapers, books, shops or the home was banned.[27] ​ The modification of any place names that included the word "women". For example, "women's garden" was renamed "spring garden".[28][5] ​ Women were forbidden to appear on the balconies of their apartments or houses.[5] ​ Ban on women's presence on radio, television or at public gatherings of any kind.[29] ​ Women were not allowed to wash the laundry at the river banks. If found, the woman was to be brought into the custody of a male guardian who was supposed to severely punish her.[30]

Mobility

The Taliban rulings regarding public conduct placed severe restrictions on a woman's freedom of movement and created difficulties for those who could not afford a burqa (which was not commonly worn in Afghanistan prior to the rise of the Taliban and considered a fairly expensive garment at upwards of US$9.00 in 1998 (equivalent to about $18 in 2025)[8]: 8 ) or did not have any mahram. These women faced virtual house arrest.[3] In December 1998, a decree issued by the Ministry for the promotion of Virtue and prevention of Vice banned taxi drivers from transporting women who did not completely cover their faces.[30] A woman who was badly beaten by the Taliban for walking the streets alone stated "my father was killed in battle ... I have no husband, no brother, no son. How am I to live if I can't go out alone?"[31] A field worker for the NGO Terre des hommes witnessed the impact on female mobility at Kabul's largest state-run orphanage, Taskia Maskan. After the female staff were relieved of their duties, the approximately 400 girls living at the institution were locked inside for a year without being allowed outside for recreation.[24] Decrees that affected women's mobility were: ​ Ban on women riding bicycles or motorcycles, even with their mahrams.

​ Women were forbidden to ride in a taxi without a mahram. ​ Segregated bus services introduced to prevent males and females travelling on the same bus.[25] The lives of rural women were less dramatically affected as they generally lived and worked within secure kin environments. A relative level of freedom was necessary for them to continue with their chores or labour. If these women travelled to a nearby town, the same urban restrictions would have applied to them.[2]

Employment

The Taliban disagreed with past Afghan statutes that allowed the employment of Afghan women in a mixed sex workplace. The claim was that this was a breach of purdah and Sharia law.[4] On 30 September 1996, the Taliban decreed that all women should be banned from employment.[32] It is estimated that 25 percent of government employees were female, and when compounded by losses in other sectors, many thousands of women were affected.[24] Another loss was for those whom the employed women served. Elementary education of all children, not just girls, was shut down in Kabul, where virtually all of the elementary school teachers were women. Thousands of educated families fled Kabul for Pakistan after the Taliban took the city in 1996.[3][33]: 106 Between April and June 1998, the United Nations left their offices in Qandahar following disagreements over a regulation which demanded the female staff to only operate accompanied by a mahram.[34] The two parties later came to an agreement over the working conditions, but the Taliban demanded the agreement to be kept secret.[34] However, most expatriate staff including the staff of the UN left Afghanistan following the death of a UN official in August 1998.[34] Taliban Supreme Leader Mohammed Omar assured female civil servants and teachers they would still receive wages of around US$5 per month, although this was a short-term offering.[35] A Taliban representative stated: "The Taliban's act of giving monthly salaries to 30,000 job-free women, now sitting comfortably at home, is a whiplash in the face of those who are defaming Taliban with reference to the rights of women. These people through baseless propaganda are trying to incite the women of Kabul against the Taliban".[4] A Taliban official mentioned in 1998 that in the Quran it says "stay at home" (in the feminine form), therefore there is not much to do other than to obey.[36] The Taliban promoted the use of the extended family, or zakat system of charity to ensure women should not need to work. However, years of conflict meant that nuclear families often struggled to support themselves let alone aid additional relatives.[3] Qualification for legislation often rested on men, such as food aid, which had to be collected by a male relative. The possibility that a woman may not possess any living male relatives was dismissed by Mullah Ghaus, the acting foreign minister, who said he was surprised at the degree of international attention and concern for such a small percentage of the Afghan population.[24] A Physicians for Human Rights researcher that travelled to Kabul in 1998 described "a city of beggars" filled with "women who had once been teachers and nurses now moving in the streets like ghosts under their enveloping burqas, selling every possession and begging so as to feed their children."[8]: 3 Female health professionals could be exempt from the employment ban, yet they operated in much-reduced freedom of movement.[5] The ordeal of physically getting to work due to the segregated bus system and widespread harassment meant some women left their jobs by choice. Of those who remained, many lived in fear of the regime and chose to reside at hospitals during the working week to minimise exposure to Taliban forces.[3] These women were vital to ensuring the continuance of gynaecological, ante-natal, and midwifery services, but it was on a much compromised level. Under the Rabbani regime, there had been around 200 female staff working in Kabul's Mullalai Hospital, yet barely 50 remained under the Taliban. NGOs operating in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2001 found the shortage of female health professionals to be a significant obstacle to their work.[37] The other exception to the employment ban allowed a reduced number of humanitarian workers to remain in service.

The Taliban segregation codes meant that women were invaluable for gaining access to vulnerable women or conducting outreach research. This exception was not sanctioned by the entire Taliban movement, so instances of female participation, or lack thereof, varied with each circumstance.[3] The city of Herat was particularly affected by Taliban adjustments to the treatment of women, as it had been one of the more cosmopolitan and outward-looking areas of Afghanistan prior to 1995. Women had previously been allowed to work in a limited range of jobs, but this was stopped by Taliban authorities. The new governor of Herat, Mullah Razzaq, issued orders for women to be forbidden to pass his office for fear of their distracting nature.[38]: 243 On 19 May 2022, the Taliban rulers ordered all female TV presenters to cover their faces on air. The directive came from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which replaced the country's Ministry of Women's Affairs after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan.[39] In December 2022, the Taliban banned women from working in non-government organisations (NGOs), and ordered all such organisations to cease employment of female employees.[40] This resulted in some NGOs being unable to continue their work in Afghanistan.[41]

Education

First rule

The Taliban claimed to recognise their Islamic duty to offer education to both boys and girls, yet a decree was passed that banned girls above the age of 8 from receiving education. Maulvi Kalamadin insisted it was only a temporary suspension and that women would return to school and work once facilities and street security were adapted to prevent cross-gender contact. The Taliban wished to have total control of Afghanistan before calling upon an Ulema body to determine the content of a new curriculum to replace the Islamic yet unacceptable Mujahadin version.[3] The female employment ban was felt greatly in the education system. Within Kabul alone, the ruling affected 106,256 girls, 148,223 male students, and 8,000 female university undergraduates. 7,793 female teachers were dismissed, a move that crippled the provision of education and caused 63 schools to close due to a sudden lack of educators.[24] Some women ran clandestine schools within their homes for local children, or for other women under the guise of sewing classes, such as the Golden Needle Sewing School. The learners, parents, and educators were aware of the consequences should the Taliban discover their activities, but for those who felt trapped under the strict Taliban rule, such actions allowed them an opportunity and a sense of self-determination and hope.[31] The Undersecretary of Education Mawlawi Sa'id Shahidkhayl explained in 1998, that education for women was in need of a fatwa regarding its limits.[36]

Since 2021

After their takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban initially gender segregated classrooms in universities as long as they "followed Islamic standards".[10] However, in September 2021, they only allowed boys to return to school, preventing most teenage girls from returning to secondary education. The ban did not affect primary schools, but girls' attendance in those schools appeared to also have fallen significantly.[12][13][14] In March 2022, the Taliban abruptly reversed their plans to allow girls to resume their secondary school education (defined as grade seven and upwards in Afghanistan). With the exception of the current cohort of university students, this decision leaves graduating from sixth grade as the highest level of educational attainment possible for Afghan women and girls. Secondary schools for boys reopened on schedule.[42] Pakistani Islamic scholars, including Taqi Usmani, urged the Taliban to re-open secondary schools for women.[43] On 20 December 2022, the Ministry of Higher Education informed the country's public and private universities that women were suspended from university education.[44] The ministry stated that female attendance would remain suspended "until a suitable environment" had been established at universities and promised that it would provide such a setting soon. However, BBC News pointed out that they had previously reneged on similar promises to reopen secondary education.[45] Some Taliban leaders told BBC News that they disagreed with restrictions on female education.[45] The Taliban decision was also widely condemned internationally.[45] Some provinces still allow secondary education for girls despite the ban.[46][17]

Government

See also: Women in the Parliament of Afghanistan On 17 August 2021, shortly after the Fall of Kabul, a senior member of the Taliban cultural commission, Enamullah Samangani, called on women to join the government.[47] In contrast, in early September, the Taliban said that women would not be allowed to "work in high-ranking posts" in the government[48] and "ruled out" women in the Cabinet.[49] The acting Cabinet announced by the Taliban on 7 September consisted only of men.[50][51]

Health care

Prior to the Taliban taking power in Afghanistan, male doctors had been allowed to treat women in hospitals, but the decree that no male doctor should be allowed to touch the body of a woman under the pretext of consultation was soon introduced.[31] With fewer female health professionals in employment, the distances many women had to travel for attention increased while the provision of ante-natal clinics declined.[3] In Kabul, some women established informal clinics in their homes to service family and neighbours, yet as medical supplies were hard to obtain, their effectiveness was limited. Many women endured prolonged suffering or a premature death due to the lack of treatment. For those families that had the means, inclination, and mahram support, medical attention could be sought in Pakistan.[31] In October 1996, women were barred from accessing the traditional hammam, public baths, as the opportunities for socialising were ruled un-Islamic. These baths were an important facility in a nation where few possessed running water and the ban gave cause for the UN to predict a rise in scabies and vaginal infections among women denied methods of hygiene as well as access to health care.[24] Nasrine Gross, an Afghan-American author, stated in 2001 that it has been four years since many Afghan women had been able to pray to their God as "Islam prohibits women from praying without a bath after their periods".[52] In June 1998, the Taliban banned women from attending general hospitals in the capital, whereas before they had been able to attend a women-only ward of general hospitals. This left only one hospital in Kabul at which they could seek treatment.[33]: 71 After the Taliban takeover, female healthcare workers reported safety issues and being harassed by the Taliban.

Maternal health care conditions declined and many doctors reported that infant and child mortality had increased.[53] In February 2023, the Taliban ordered pharmacies in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif to stop selling contraceptive medicines and devices.[54]

Ban on women's participation in healthcare sector

In December 2024, the Taliban's health ministry banned women from being trained in nursing and midwifery, according to media reports confirmed by The Guardian.[55] This was a reversal of an earlier February 2024 decision to permit basic medical training for women.[56] According to NPR, the health ministry had lobbied for an exemption from the general ban on women's education in the healthcare sector because "in some provinces, the Taliban does not allow women to seek treatment from male medical professionals."[56] The Taliban's ban on basic medical training for women was widely condemned by human rights organizations as a danger to the health and well-being of Afghan women and children, with Afghanistan already having among the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world according to 2020 data, before the Taliban's 2021 seizure of power.[55][56] For example, Heather Barr of Human Right Watch stated: "If you ban women from being treated by male healthcare professionals, and then you ban women from training to become healthcare professionals, the consequences are clear: women will not have access to healthcare and will die as a result."[55] The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) stated that the ban "is profoundly discriminatory, short-sighted and puts the lives of women and girls at risk in multiple ways."[57]

Forced confinement

Family harmony was badly affected by mental stress, isolation and depression that often accompanied the forced confinement of women. A 1998 survey of 160 women residents or former residents of Kabul found that 97 per cent showed signs of serious depression and 71 per cent reported a decline in their physical well-being.[8]: 6–13 [24] Latifa, a Kabul resident and author, wrote:[31] The apartment resembles a prison or a hospital. Silence weighs heavily on all of us. As none of us do much, we haven't got much to tell each other. Incapable of sharing our emotions, we each enclose ourselves in our own fear and distress. Since everyone is in the same black pit, there isn't much point in repeating time and again that we can't see clearly. The Taliban closed the country's beauty salons.[58] Nail varnish and cosmetics were prohibited.[59] Taliban restrictions on the cultural presence of women covered several areas. Place names including the word "women" were modified so that the word was not used. Women were forbidden to laugh loudly as it was considered improper for a stranger to hear a woman's voice. Women were prohibited from participating in sports or entering a sports club.[60]

Slavery of women

In 2017, Taliban members were accused of sanctioning forced marriages, marital rape, and slavery of women.[61]

Punishments

A member of the Taliban's religious police beating an Afghan woman in Kabul on 26 August 2001. The footage was filmed by the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. Punishments were often carried out publicly, either as formal spectacles held in sports stadiums or town squares or spontaneous street beatings. Civilians lived in fear of harsh penalties as there was little mercy; anyone caught breaking decrees were often treated with extreme violence.[24] Examples include: ​ In October 1996, a woman had the tip of her thumb cut off for wearing nail varnish.[24] ​ In December 1996, Radio Shari'a announced that 225 Kabul women had been seized and punished for violating the sharia code of dress.[5] The sentence was handed down by a tribunal and the women were lashed on their legs and backs for their misdemeanor.[62] A Taliban official reminded the women to cover their body completely, and to observe Hejab (seclusion of society) as mandated by the Sharia.[5] In case of a violation, there would be no right for complaint.[5] ​ In May 1997, five female CARE International employees with authorisation from the Ministry of the Interior to conduct research for an emergency feeding programme were forced from their vehicle by members of the religious police. The guards used a public address system to insult and harass the women before striking them with a metal and leather whip over 1.5 meters (almost 5 feet) in length.[2] Public execution of a woman, known as Zarmina, by the Taliban at the Ghazi Sports Stadium, Kabul, 16 November 1999. The mother of five children had been found guilty of killing her husband while he slept.[63][64] ​ In 1999, a mother of five children was executed in front of 30,000 spectators in Kabul's Ghazi Sport stadium for murdering her husband (see right). She was imprisoned for three years and extensively tortured prior to the execution. She claimed she acted alone in a bid to protect her daughter (reportedly the actual culprit).[65] ​ When a Taliban raid discovered a woman running an informal school in her apartment, they beat the children and threw the woman down a flight of stairs (breaking her leg) and then imprisoned her. They threatened to stone her family publicly if she refused to sign a declaration of loyalty to the Taliban and their laws.[31] ​ An Afghan girl named Bibi Aisha was promised to a new family through a tribal method of solving disputes known as baad. When she fled the violence girls often suffer under baad, her new family found her, and a Taliban commander ordered her to be punished as an example, "lest other girls in the village try to do the same thing".[66] Her ears and nose were cut off and she was left for dead in the mountains, but survived.[66] ​ Working women are threatened into quitting their jobs. Failure to comply with the Taliban's threats has led to women being shot and killed, as in the case of 22-year-old Hossai in July 2010.[67][68] ​ In 2013, Indian author Sushmita Banerjee was shot dead by Taliban militants for allegedly defying Taliban dictates. She was married to an Afghan businessman and had recently relocated to Afghanistan. Earlier, she had escaped two instances of execution by Taliban in 1995 and later fled to India. Her book based on her escape from Taliban was also filmed in an Indian movie.[69] ​ On 12 July 2021, a woman in Faryab Province was beaten to death by Taliban militants and her house was set alight because she would not cook for a group of their fighters.[70] ​ In August 2021, Afghan police reported that Taliban extremists had killed an Afghan woman in Balkh Province for wearing tight clothing and not being accompanied by a male relative. The Taliban denied the accusation and said they were investigating the incident.[71] Many punishments were carried out by individual militias without the sanction of Taliban authorities, as it was against official Taliban policy to punish women in the street. A more official line was the punishment of men for instances of female misconduct: a reflection of a patriarchal society and the belief that men are duty bound to control women.

Maulvi Kalamadin stated in 1997, "Since we cannot directly punish women, we try to use taxi drivers and shopkeepers as a means to pressure them" to conform. Examples of punishment of men include: ​ If a taxi driver picked up a woman with her face uncovered or unaccompanied by a mahram, then he faced a jail sentence, and the husband would be punished. ​ If a woman was caught washing clothes in a river then she would be escorted home by Islamic authorities where her husband/mahram would be severely punished. ​ If a tailor was found taking female measurements, the tailor would face imprisonment.[2]: 156–157 Since the Taliban's seizure of power in 2021, there have been many reports of sexual violence, rape, and torture of Afghan women in Taliban-run prisons, especially after the passage of "anti-begging" laws in 2024 resulted in larger numbers of women being detained.[72] In one incident, "The Guardian has seen video evidence of a female Afghan human rights activist being gang-raped and tortured in a Taliban jail by armed men." The woman who later fled Afghanistan said that after she spoke out against the Taliban from exile, she was sent a video recording of her rape as a threat that it would be sent to her family and released on social media if she continued to speak out against the Taliban regime.[73]

International response (pre-2021)

Activists protest against the Taliban on 28 April 1998 in Peshawar, Pakistan. The protests of international agencies carried little weight with Taliban authorities, who gave precedence to their interpretation of Islamic law and did not feel bound by UN codes or human rights laws.[2] After the Taliban takeover of Herat in 1995, the UN had hoped the gender policies would become more 'moderate' "as it matured from a popular uprising into a responsible government with linkages to the donor community".[24] The Taliban refused to bow to international pressure and reacted calmly to aid suspensions. ​ In November 1995, UNICEF suspended all aid to education in regions under Taliban control, as they argued the ban on mixing males and females in education was a breach of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the aftermath of the 1995 Beijing Women's Conference, this action moved to solidify UNICEF's role as a leading agency in matters concerning women and children.[24] ​ In 1996, Save the Children (UK) also withdrew support as communication with women, the primary child carers, was most difficult.[24] ​ UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali expressed his concern regarding the status of Afghan women.[74] ​ In 1998, a detailed report by Physicians for Human Rights concluded in its executive summary: "To PHR's knowledge, no other regime in the world has methodically and violently forced half of its population into virtual house arrest, prohibiting them on pain of physical punishment from showing their faces, seeking medical care without a male escort, or attending school. ... It is difficult to find another government or would-be government in the world that has deliberately created such poverty by arbitrarily depriving half the population under its control of jobs, schooling, mobility, and health care."[8]: 2–3 ​ In 1999, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright publicly stated "We are speaking up on behalf of the women and girls of Afghanistan, who have been victimised...it is criminal and we each have a responsibility to stop it".[75] In January 2006, a London conference on Afghanistan led to the creation of an International Compact, which included benchmarks for the treatment of women. The Compact includes the following point: "Gender:By end-1389 (20 March 2011): the National Action Plan for Women in Afghanistan will be fully implemented; and, in line with Afghanistan's MDGs, female participation in all Afghan governance institutions, including elected and appointed bodies and the civil service, will be strengthened."[76] However, an Amnesty International report on 11 June 2008, declared that there needed to be "no more empty promises" with regard to Afghanistan, citing the treatment of women as one such unfulfilled goal.[77] In September 2021, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan said that a ban on women's education in Afghanistan would be un-Islamic, and he called for the leadership to be inclusive and respect human rights.[78] On 29 December 2021, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the appointment of Rina Amiri as special envoy for Afghan women, girls, and human rights. The appointment came as women in the country were facing increased oppression by the ruling Taliban.[79]

Post-2021

Women's dress

In May 2022, the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice published a decree requiring all women in Afghanistan to wear full-body coverings when in public (either a burqa or an abaya paired with a niqāb, which leaves only the eyes uncovered). The decree said enforcement action including fines, prison time, or termination from government employment would be taken against male "guardians" who fail to ensure their female relatives abide by the law. Rights groups, including the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan, sharply criticised the decision. The decision is expected to adversely affect the Islamic Emirate's chances of international recognition.[80][81] In an interview with Christiane Amanpour, First Deputy Leader Sirajuddin Haqqani claimed the decree is only advisory and no form of hijab is compulsory in Afghanistan,[82] though this contradicts the reality.[83] It has been speculated that there is a genuine internal policy division over women's rights between hardliners, including Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, and pragmatists, though they publicly present a united front.[84]

Education and employment

In July 2022, the Taliban advised female employees in the country's finance ministry to suggest a male relative to replace them so that the women could be dismissed from their positions. Up to 60 female employees reported receiving calls from the HR department requesting them to introduce a male family member to replace them.[85] While Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the Minister for Higher Education until October 2022, was in favor of women being able to attend universities, his successor Neda Mohammad Nadeem opposes university education for women.[86] According to BBC report, by 2025 Taliban government cancelled 18 education courses from Universities out of which six were women studies related, that included 'sexual harassment and human rights', midwifery courses, Gender and Development, The Role of Women in Communication, and Women's Sociology.[87][88] Taliban also banned around 140 books authored by women out of total 680 books of "concern" being not in line with "Sharia and Taliban policies".[88][87][89]

Recreation and sports

In November 2022, women were banned from gyms, public baths, public parks, and amusement parks.[90][91]

Relationships and reproductive rights

In February 2023, The Guardian reported that the Taliban began to restrict access to contraceptives. They ordered pharmacies to clear their stocks of birth control medicine and threatened midwives. In Kabul, Taliban fighters stated that "contraceptive use and family planning is a western agenda".[54] In March 2024, the Taliban's supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, announced that the group was reinstating flogging and death by stoning for women as punishment for adultery, saying, "the Taliban's work did not end with the takeover of Kabul, it has only just begun."[92] In August 2024, the Taliban issued laws banning the transportation of women traveling alone, and women and men who are not related to each other mixing. Also at the same time they issued laws stating women must always veil their bodies in public and that a face covering is necessary and clothing should never be short, thin, or tight. The laws issued then also stated women should veil themselves in front of all male strangers and all non-Muslims, and that women should not be heard reciting, singing, or reading out loud in public, as well as that women are forbidden to look at men they are not related to by blood or marriage and vice versa.[93] A new penal code was passed in 2026 that permits husbands to inflict physical punishment on their wives and children, provided it does not result in broken bones or open wounds. This code also made it a crime for a woman to visit a relative without her husband's consent, or to fail to return when he demands it.[94] Child marriage for girls (and boys) is legal in Afghanistan. In May 2026, Decree No. 18 was issued by Afghanistan's justice ministry, saying in part that if a girl is silent on the matter upon reaching puberty, this can be considered as consenting to get married.[95]

International response

In January 2025, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued two warrants against the Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and the Chief judge, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, for committing crimes against humanity with their campaign of oppression and persecution of Afghan women and girls by depriving their freedom of movement, the rights to control their bodies, to education, and to a private and family life, whereas the alleged resistance and opposition are brutally suppressed with murder, imprisonment, torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence, since 2021. ICC member states are obliged to arrest the wanted if they are on their territory.[96] On 8 July 2025, the ICC upheld the arrest warrants against Akhundzada and Haqqani, with Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejecting them, saying that the Taliban does not recognize the ICC as an entity.[97]

Violation of women's rights in Afghanistan

in Afghanistan [ 1 ] [ 2 ] , especially during both periods of the Taliban Islamic regime [ 3 ], is an issue that has been repeatedly raised by the media and various organizations. [ 4 ] [ 5 ]

A look at some of the most important violations of women's rights in the laws of the Islamic Emirate

Afghan women, especially during the Taliban regime , do not enjoy equal rights with men; inequalities such as: ​ Obligation to wear the compulsory Islamic hijab ​ The equality of two women testifying with one man in court ​ Prohibition of leaving the country without the husband's permission ​ The blood money for a woman is half that of a man. ​ The woman's share of inheritance is half that of the man's. ​ Not allowed to enter the stadium ​ Prohibition of studying at university [ 6 ] ​ Prohibition of abortion ​ Prohibition of singing ​ Prohibition or gender discrimination in education and work ​ Prohibition from working in non-governmental organizations and institutions [ 7 ] ​ Ban on study trips [ 8 ] Also, banning girls from education, closing educational centers, gyms, baths, and amusement parks to women and girls, prohibiting travel without a mahram, etc., are among the major restrictions imposed by the Taliban against Afghan women. [ 7 ]

Protests against violations of women's rights

​ Some Afghan women's rights activists blamed the international community for human rights violations in Afghanistan. [ 9​ ​ Human Rights Watch called for more international pressure on the Taliban. [ 10 ] ​ Moludeh Tawana, a women's rights advocate, told VOA that the United States and its supporters, in a very bad situation, handed Afghanistan over to a "terrorist" group and are therefore responsible for what the country is witnessing in terms of human rights violations . [ 11 ] ​ Rashida Manju, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, said that for many reasons, Afghan women still lack access to their rights in many cases and violence against them has continued. [ 12​

Women's protests against compulsory Islamic hijab in Afghanistan

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Violation of rights

Human Rights Watch has stated in its report that the treatment of Afghan women by Taliban government officials is a “ crime against humanity ” and has therefore called for an international investigation into the matter. [ 13 ]

Prohibition from studying in high school and university

Under Taliban Islamic law, Afghan girls cannot study beyond the sixth grade [ 14 ] , especially at university [ 15 ] , and are even prohibited from studying abroad. [ 16 ]

Prohibition from work

The Taliban Islamic government banned women and girls from working in private institutions. [ 17 ]

Violation of Afghan women's reproductive rights

Prison and exile

Torture and sexual assault

According to Human Rights Watch, women who protest the Taliban's policies of violating women's rights (like male protesters) have been arrested and in some cases tortured. [ 18 ]

Massacre

​ Some of the findings of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights show that various types of violence against women and girls exist in both their personal and social lives, such as: male violence against women, forced marriage, targeted killing of women, sexual harassment of women... [

Human rights in Afghanistan

Human rights in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime are severely restricted and considered among the worst in the world. According to a 2024 report by Freedom House, Political Freedom is rated a 1 out of 40 with Civil Liberties at 5 out of 60, with the overall score of 6 out of 100 due to various factors including but not limited to: women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, ethnic minority rights, torture, and freedom of speech.[1][2] Women's rights and freedom are severely restricted, as they are banned from most public spaces and employment. Afghanistan is the only country in the world to ban education for women over the age of eleven. The Taliban's policies towards women are categorized as a gender apartheid.[3][4] Minority groups such as Hazaras, Uzbek, Turkmen, and Tajik face persecution and eviction from their lands.[5] The Taliban restricts the rights of particular minority groups to remain as close to their extremist interpretation of Islamist Law. These patriarchal norms are meant to uphold a controlling environment in public and private life as well as solidify the Talibans control.[6] Authorities have used physical violence, raids, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, enforced disappearances of activists and political opponents.[7][8][9][10][11] The media is tightly controlled with almost no freedom, with intrusive and strict monitoring in play. The strict media control is primarily used to further their interpretation of Islamic law as well as make sure that they stifle criticism or any dissent against their government. By doing so, the Taliban faithfully eliminates any narrative that may oppose their regime or promote different ideologies, monopolizing information.[12]

History

Under the monarchy of Zahir Shah, human rights were usually respected.[13] As of 1949, the Afghan Prime Minister Shah Mahmud Khan, increased press freedom, but these moves were soon reversed. The Press Law which was implemented in July 1965, gave considerable freedom to the press for the first time.[14] While the press was mostly free, in some cases the King closed down media from dissidents that were considered threatening. The communist Khalq republic that governed Afghanistan after the Saur Revolution in 1978 was brutal, vigorously suppressing opposition. The government abducted and executed thousands of prisoners as well as rural civilian dissidents.[15] In April 1987, Afghanistan ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture (CAT), which prevents the state from inflicting torture on any individual. New leader Babrak Karmal promised to end the Khalq's brutality, which it partly did, but human rights abuses still continued. The government along with the Soviets (during the Soviet–Afghan War) intentionally targeted civilian settlements in rural areas. Under President Mohammad Najibullah's reforms, freedom of expression was further improved but human rights overall remained restricted.[16] In the 1990s, many atrocities were committed by various militias against civilians. Indiscriminate rocket attacks during the Battle of Kabul, especially those by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's militia, killed thousands of civilians. The Taliban, in power from 1996, imposed strong restrictions on women, performed public executions, and prevented international aid from entering the country for starving civilians.[17] The presidential government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, which previously ruled Afghanistan, from 2004 until the Taliban overthrew it in 2021, had a strong human rights framework in its constitution. A bill of rights was enshrined in chapter two of the 2004 Constitution of Afghanistan. The right to life and liberty were constitutionally protected, as were the right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence for all persons. That gave the Islamic Republic a strong human rights framework that was guaranteed to all citizens.

Contemporary human rights issues

Football fans inside the Ghazi Stadium in the capital of Kabul, which is multi-ethnic and the largest city of Afghanistan. The Bonn Agreement of 2001 established the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) as a national human rights institution to protect and promote human rights and to investigate human rights abuses and war crimes. The Afghanistan Constitution of 2004 entrenched the existence of the AIHRC. While the ongoing turmoil, violence and reconstruction efforts often make it difficult to get an accurate sense of what is going on. Reports from NGOs have accused various branches of the Afghan government of engaging in human rights violations.[18] There has been a noticeable shift in recent years, with more information coming to light regarding the abuse of minority groups due to this extremist regime; organizations like Hagar USA are dedicated to spreading information on the dangers of life in Afghanistan with the goal of helping its people. With statistics that claim that 86% of people in Afghanistan are at-risk of human trafficking or slavery, 9/10 Afghan people are living below the poverty line and 30% of girls who are under 18 are married.[19] By publishing this information, they hope to encourage people to learn more about the countries suffering population and join them on their mission to help.

Additionally, a lot of organizations and American media face constant backlash and criticism when discussing the topic because of reports of American soldiers abusing and harming Afghan civilians. During the war that ranged from 2001-2021 where millions of American soldiers were deployed in Afghanistan there were several reports made documenting the psychological and physical abuse endured by citizens in detention facilities as well as blatant use of excessive force on civilians.[20] There have also been various human rights abuses by American soldiers on Afghan civilians, most notably in the Baghram prisons where innocent civilians endured torture, humiliating conditions, and inhumane treatment. The United States was heavily criticized for lenient sentencing for the soldiers responsible.[18] Former Afghan warlords and political strongmen supported by the US during the ousting of the Taliban were responsible for numerous human rights violations in 2003 including kidnapping, rape, robbery, and extortion.[21] Some members of the Afghan National Security Forces were involved in killing civilians in ground operations as well as in air strikes.[22][23][24][25][26][27]

Torture agreement

In March 2002, ABC News claimed top officials at the CIA authorized controversial, harsh interrogation techniques.[28] The possible interrogation techniques included shaking and slapping, shackling prisoners in a standing position, keeping the prisoner in a cold cell and dousing them with water, and water boarding.[28] A United Nations study in 2011 reported on interviews with 379 detainees. It found those held by police or intelligence services were subjected to beatings, removal of toenails and electric shocks.[29]

Justice system

Further information: Supreme Court of Afghanistan Afghanistan has two dominant justice systems: the formal state system and the informal traditional system.[30] Despite the existence of ordinary judicial system e.g. Supreme Court, National Security Court (dealing with terrorism-related cases), first and second instance courts, "jirga" and "shura"-traditional institutions are operating.[citation needed] Under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the justice system has been marked by strict interpretations of Islamic law. In April 2025, Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada defended executions, stating they were an integral part of Islam. This statement followed the execution of four men convicted of murder, which took place in sports stadiums; the largest such mass execution since the Taliban regained power in 2021. The Supreme Court of Afghanistan upheld the death sentence after victims' families refused to grant amnesty. The executions were widely condemned by human rights organizations and the United Nations. Akhundzada emphasized the importance of implementing all divine commands and rejected Western legal frameworks, reinforcing the Taliban's focus on enforcing Islamic law.[31]

Law and order

Main article: Law of Afghanistan Some members of Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) have been accused of running their own prisons, torturing suspects, and harassing journalists. They have also been accused of deliberately killing civilians during government raids.[25][32][33][34] The security forces of local militias, which also have their own prisons, have been accused of torture and arbitrary killings. Warlords in the north have used property destruction, rape, and murder to discourage displaced Pashtuns from reclaiming their homes. Child labor and human trafficking remain common outside Kabul. Civilians have been killed frequently in battles between warlord forces. Poor conditions in overcrowded prisons have contributed to illness and death among prisoners. To stop it, a prison rehabilitation program had begun in 2003. In the absence of an effective national judicial system, the right to judicial protection has been compromised as uneven local standards have prevailed in criminal trials. Fair trial principles are enshrined in the Afghan constitution and the criminal procedure but frequently violated for various reasons, including the lack of well-educated, professional staff (especially defence lawyers), lack of material resources, corruption and unlawful interference by warlords and politicians.[35] Several thousands of people in Afghanistan have been victims of enforced disappearance over the past four decades.[36] On 27 June 2020, two human rights defenders associated with Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) were killed in a bomb attack. They died after an explosive device attached to their vehicle detonated. The attack came less than a week after two prosecutors and three other employees from the attorney general's office were shot dead by gunmen in Kabul.[37] On August 14, 2020, the United Nations experts demanded the Afghanistan government take an early decisive action to prevent the killing of human rights defenders. Nine human rights defenders have been killed since the start of 2020. The number has already surpassed 2019's figure.[38] Since 2021, when the Taliban established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, 100 former government officials and affiliates have been killed.[39] Human rights activists, civil rights activists and media workers are under "constant attack" (threats and intimidation) under this new government.[40]

Freedom of speech and the media

Further information: Mass media in Afghanistan Article 34 of the Afghan Constitution allows freedom of speech and press, though there are restrictions on media that may invoke Islamic law or be offensive to other sects. However, there has been harassment and threats targeting journalists and legal experts, especially outside Kabul. Freedom of the press was guaranteed by interim President Hamid Karzai in February 2002.[41] The 2004 Media Law was signed by Karzai in 2005.[42] In 2008, documentary filmmaker Nasir Fayaz was arrested for criticising politicians from the President's cabinet on his weekly show on Ariana TV. The arrest caused an outcry from journalists and it violated Article 34 which reads "Freedom of expression shall be inviolable".[43][44] Afghanistan ranks 122nd in the 2020 dropping by 2 points from 120th rank in 2017 according to Press Freedom Index. But still, it stands in a better position than all its neighbors.[45] Journalists in Afghanistan face threats from both the security forces and insurgents. Journalists are threatened, assaulted and killed by Afghan officials, warlords and insurgents to stop them from reporting. Furthermore, Human Rights Watch report claims that many Afghan journalists self-censor by steering clear of reporting on sensitive issues.[46] Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC) in 2017 claim that Afghan government accounted for 46% of the attacks on Afghans journalist. While insurgents were responsible for the rest of the attacks.[47]

Religious freedom

Main article: Freedom of religion in Afghanistan No registration of religious groups is required; minority religious groups are able to freely practice their religions but they are not allowed to proselytize them. Islam is the official religion; all laws must be compatible with Islamic morality, and the President and Vice President must both be Muslims. Officially, Apostasy remains punishable by death, per the Constitution of Afghanistan. In 2006, Abdul Rahman, an Afghan Muslim who had been arrested for converting to Christianity, was granted presidential permission to leave the country, and he moved to Italy, where he was granted asylum. In 2014, an Afghan Muslim who had renounced Islam and had become an atheist was granted asylum in the United Kingdom, on the grounds that he could face death if he returned to his country of origin.[48] In 2022, Freedom House rated Afghanistan's religious freedom as 1 out of 4.[49]

Women's rights

Main article: Women in Afghanistan Women had equal rights to men under the 2004 Constitution of Afghanistan The 2004 Constitution of Afghanistan promised equal rights for men and women, including women being permitted to work outside the home, to engage in political activity, and a requirement for each political party to nominate a certain number of female candidates. During the first period of Taliban rule, women had virtually all their rights taken away. Matters ranging from wearing nail polish to job opportunities were severely restricted. By keeping women indoors, the Taliban claimed to be keeping them safe from harm. In late March 2009, Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed into law an internationally condemned "Shia Family Law" which condones apparent spousal rape (in Article 132), child marriage and imposes purdah on married Afghan women. Although the offending legislation is said to have been dormant for a year, President Karzai was trying to gain the support of Afghan northern Shia legislators and the neighbouring Islamic Republic of Iran, which is Shia-dominated. According to Britain's Independent newspaper, the 'family code' was not read in the Upper House/Senate, and also enshrines gender discrimination in inheritance law and divorce against women.[50] Despite various promises from the government to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, the law could not be implemented. The Kabul peace talks that took place in June 2017, included only two women among 47 government and international representatives.[51] On 18 September 2020, President Ashraf Ghani signed a new law to include mothers' names on their children's birth certificates and identification cards. Afghan women's rights activists had been campaigning on social media for several years to include the name of both parents, under the hashtag #WhereIsMyName.[52] In May 2022, the Taliban's Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice published a decree requiring all women in Afghanistan to wear full-body coverings when in public (either a burqa or an abaya paired with a niqāb, which leaves only the eyes uncovered).[53][54] In August 2024, the Taliban codified the 2022 Taliban decree by publishing the Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice through de facto authorities within the Afghan government.[55] The law affirms previously stated ideals and enforcements of female modesty; such as requiring women to don full body-coverings like a burqa or an abaya paired with a niqāb.[56] It also expands on the seclusion and suppression of women by instituting that women cannot speak to men outside of close family. This law does not only affect direct speech, but prohibits women from speaking too loudly and singing to avoid the risk of a man overhearing them.[56] Women are also barred from looking at men outside of their families.[56] The Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice not only furthers the suppression of women, but empowers the position of men as "enforcers" of morality. The Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice explicitly outlines an enforcer as any adult Islamic man with a self-prescribed moral compass.[56] On 23 January 2025, International Criminal Court issued two warrants against the Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and the Chief judge, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, for committing the crimes against humanity with the oppression and persecution of Afghan women and girls, who have been deprived of the freedom of movement, the rights to control their bodies, to education, and to a private and family life, whereas the alleged resistance and opposition are brutally suppressed with murder, imprisonment, torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence, since 2021. ICC member states are obliged to arrest wanted persons if they are on their territory.[57]

Sexual orientation

Main article: LGBTQ rights in Afghanistan Same-sex intimacy is currently illegal in Afghanistan. According to the 2017 Afghan Penal Code, same-sex activity is subject to a maximum sentence of two years in prison, depending on the perceived extent of sexual activity.[58] Section 647 of the Penal Code states that women participating in Musahaqah, same-sex intercourse between females, are subject to a maximum of one year in prison. Section 649 affects male same-sex intercourse called Tafkhiz, which is intercourse that doesn't include penetration. Individuals caught participating in Tafkhiz can be jailed anywhere from three months to a year.[58] Under Penal Code Section 646 regarding sodomy, sodomy charges are not limited to LGBTQ+ individuals and affect heterosexuals as well. Any individual caught participating in anal penetration can be charged up to two years in prison. Section 646 also extends to pedophilia, which is the only offense outside of sodomy included in this section.[58] While the law explicitly outlines prison sentences, it does not address the social stigma and treatment of LGBTQ+ people in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Since the 2021 Taliban Offensive, violent crimes against LGBTQ+ people have increased. If a person is caught or suspected of same-sex desire or intercourse, there is a possibility of being assaulted and possibly killed by police before their trial.[58] In October 2024, nine individuals were publicly flogged for sexual deviance before their trial. A few months prior in June 2024, 63 people were publicly flogged by the Taliban for "immoral activities" including same-sex intercourse and adultery.[59]

Persecution of minority groups

Main article: Persecution of Hazaras Hazaras are one of the ethnic groups in Afghanistan. After the takeover by Taliban, many Hazaras were forcibly evicted from their homes.[60] A report by Amnesty International reported that the Taliban were prosecuting, torturing and unlawfully killing Hazaras.[61] When the Taliban returned to power in 2021, journalists and international organizations documented an increase of targeted attacks and discrimination against these communities. Attacks by extremist groups such as the Islamic State Khorasan Province[62] have largely affected the Hazara civilians and human rights organizations report that this abuse is usually carried out with impunity, making the situation especially concerning the ethnic persecution.

Humanitarian aid

Main article: Humanitarian aid With the knowledge from journalists as well as social media content and general information, there is a growing concern about the treatment that millions of civilians are facing in Afghanistan. The lack of human rights and treatment of women and the LGBTQ+ community have been particularly popular in global media and several groups have formed to offer aid. OCHA has labeled it one of the worlds largest humanitarian crises in 2026.[63] Unfortunately while this has become a global issue with significant media coverage, food insecurity and lack of access to healthcare as well as widespread unemployment continue to affect large portions of the population, especially those residing in rural areas. The Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund was set up in 2014 by OCHA to help the nation face their issues, yet the country is still facing severe issues.[64]

Slavery

This section is an excerpt from Slavery in Afghanistan.edit lavery in Afghanistan was first documented as an accepted practice in the post-Classical history of Afghanistan, continuing during the Middle Ages and after, until being banned by the Emirate of Afghanistan in 1923, though persisting after then in illegal forms. State sanctioned practices akin to slavery of women and girls are widely documented, without being officially designated as such. The origin of the enslaved people in Afghanistan shifted during different periods, and slaves in Afghanistan never had any particular ethnicity. An illegal form of sexual slavery of young boys called bacha bāzī continues into the present day and is sometimes perpetrated by Taliban members, despite being condemned and prohibited by Taliban leadership.

Post-2021 Taliban Rule

Although the Taliban was ousted in December of 2001 following the 9/11 attacks, a U.S invasion forced the group to leave power and retreat in Pakistan and parts of rural Afghanistan.[65] Since their return in 2021, human rights have suffered and deteriorated. Women's rights have suffered greatly due to the Talibans extreme restrictions on their education, employment and general exclusion from public life. In a global perspective, it is exceptionally hard to shine a light on the issue because journalists and news organizations are massively censored as well as intimidating writers. There have been an increasing number if attacks on ethnic and religious minorities with a keen focus on the Hazara community. Upon these developments have raised several concerns throughout international organizations that dedicate their operations to systemic human rights violations.[66]

See also

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Crime in Afghanistan

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2007 Shinwar shooting

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Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan

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Sayed Pervez Kambaksh

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Freedom of religion in Afghanistan

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Anti-Afghan sentiment

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Abdul Samad Amiri, Afghan human rights activist killed by the Taliban in 2019

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Arrest of Barbie and Peter Reynolds

References

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