What is the Taliban’s position regarding women in public?
UNSC, Women Literally Being Erased from Public Life in Afghanistan, Speaker Tells Security Council, Sounding Alarm over Country’s Dire Situation, 20 December 2022
“Roza Isakovna Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said what struck her most during her visit to many parts of the country was the misery of so many Afghans who live in great poverty and their uncertainty about the future.Detailing the de facto authorities’ suppression of media and civil society, she said the Taliban reject the need for any sort of intra-Afghan dialogue and claim that their Government is sufficiently representative. “The only way forward for Afghanistan is through a more pluralistic polity, where all Afghans, especially women and minorities, see themselves represented and have a real voice in decision-making,” she said.Noting a slew of decrees that are especially harmful to women, she reported that women have been banned as of 9 November from visiting most public parks, bath houses and gymnasiums.The prevention of secondary education is extremely unpopular among Afghans and even within the Taliban leadership and has been criticized by the entire Islamic world.However, it remains in force causing damage today that will be felt long into the future, she warned.”
Hijab order
Samana, Kabul
I was walking home alone when I turned down a deserted alley and found two Taliban with guns over their shoulders. They shouted I was a prostitute because I was unveiled, and demanded to know why I wasn’t wearing the hijab. They pointed their guns in my face, and one of them had his finger on the trigger. I lowered my head and said: “It won’t happen again.” When I got home, I sat and cried for an hour. I said to myself: this is a warning for what is coming next. Since then, I have fallen into a deep depression. I can’t bear to look at all my colourful clothes in my closet as they remind me of everything I have lost.
Zahra, west Kabul
After the hijab order was announced, I was caught by Taliban fighters. They asked why I was not wearing the hijab, and although I have no intention of following their orders, I apologised and thought they would let me go. But they visited my home and told my family the next time I was caught in public uncovered I would be arrested. Since then, my father has rarely allowed me or my sisters to leave the house, and says we can’t go to university. Even my brothers now know what I wear and where I go at all times.
Travel restrictions
Zarlasht, Kabul
In June, I was travelling with my brother and we were stopped at a checkpoint by Taliban fighters. Firstly, they questioned us separately to understand if we were related to each other, then they asked for our national ID cards. When my brother said we didn’t carry our ID cards with us, they got angry and one of them hit him with a rifle and was about to fire. We were made to sit there for two hours, and then we had to call our families to bring ID cards so we could return home. Since then, I do not dare to leave the house.
University students
Sabira, Bamyan province
Even though it is not mandatory we are being forced to wear the black hijab to be allowed to enter university. Once we’re inside, women are under constant surveillance. There are hijab notices on the doors and walls. I never imagined that one day, in Bamyan, all female students would be forced to live like this. I can’t believe what life is turning into here.
Islamic State attacks
Abassi, west Kabul
My friend and I were chatting on the bus on the way to work in the Hazara Shia neighbourhood of west Kabul
when suddenly the world around us exploded. We found ourselves in the middle of carnage. Since the Taliban took control, security has deteriorated and our bus had been bombed by IS militants. We later found out that many people were killed. I was wounded in my leg and chest, and my friend in her right leg. When the bomb went off, everything changed for me. After the Taliban took over, things were hard but I continued my work and was determined to live bravely. Now, after the attack, I live in constant fear. The pain of my injuries has been excruciating. I’ve gone through five surgeries and can’t go to the bathroom or dress myself without help. But the psychological wounds are also deep. I have to pass the place where the bomb exploded to get to my doctor appointments, and every time I feel the vehicle shaking, the heat of the explosion and the sound of people
screaming. It keeps repeating and repeating in front of my eyes when I try to sleep.”
UNICEF, UNICEF Afghanistan Humanitarian Situation Report No.12 for 30 November 2022, 16 December 2022
“The restrictions on women by the de facto authorities continue to increase, including restrictions on women’s movement and access to public spaces, including parks, which is having detrimental impact on women and children’s safety and well-being.”
United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (UNOHCHR), Afghanistan: Latest Taliban treatment of women and girls may be crime against humanity, say UN experts, 25 November 2022
“In recent months, violations of women and girls’ fundamental rights and freedoms in Afghanistan, already the most severe and unacceptable in the world, have sharply increased. While girls remain excluded from secondary education, women have been further stopped from entering public places such as parks and gyms, and in at least one region young women were recently blocked from entering their university. Banning women’s access to parks also denies children the opportunity for leisure and exercise and their right to engage in play and recreational activities. Confining women to their homes is tantamount to imprisonment and is likely leading to increased levels of domestic violence and mental health challenges.
“Men accompanying women wearing colourful clothing, or without a face covering, have been brutally beaten by Taliban officers. The Taliban are removing women and girls’ agency by punishing male relatives for the purported offences of women, and instrumentalising one gender against another by encouraging men and boys to control the behaviour, attire and movement of women and girls in their circles. We are deeply concerned that such actions are intended to compel men and boys to punish women and girls who resist the Taliban’s erasure of them, further depriving them of their rights, and normalising violence against them.”
UN News, Taliban’s draconian violations against women may amount to crimes against humanity, 25 November 2022 “While girls remain excluded from secondary education, women have also been stopped from entering parks, gyms, and other public places – and in at least one region, recently blocked from entering their university. “Banning women’s access to parks also denies children the opportunity for leisure and exercise and their right to engage in play and recreational activities”, the experts pointed out. “Confining women to their homes is tantamount to imprisonment and is likely leading to increased levels of domestic violence and mental health challenges”. […] At the same time, Taliban officers have been brutally beating men accompanying women wearing colourful clothing, or without a face covering. Moreover, they are removing women and girls’ agency by punishing male relatives for the
purported offences of women – instrumentalizing one gender against the other by encouraging men to control the behaviour, attire and movement of women and girls in their circles. “We are deeply concerned that such actions are intended to compel men and boys to punish women and girls who resist the Taliban’s erasure of them, further depriving them of their rights, and normalizing violence against them”, the statement underscored. […] The Special Rapporteurs called on the de facto authorities to abide by all international human rights obligations and commitments and fully implement human rights standards, including the rights of all girls and women to education, employment, and participation in public and cultural life.”
Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), How Can a Bird Fly On Only One Wing? Afghan women speak about life under the Islamic Emirate, 22 November 2022
“We asked our interviewees what had changed in their daily lives since the Taleban came to power and which of the changes had affected them most. […] They repeatedly talked about being relegated to the home, becoming dependent for ‘pocket money’ on their husbands and the increasing use of what they consider to be debasing terms with which women are addressed, such ajeza and siyasar (‘helpless’ and ‘blackhead’) that they said had become less commonly used in the period before the fall of the Republic. […] Without exception, all the women we interviewed, including those who initially said that not much had changed or that the changes had been positive, went on to speak in detail about the economic difficulties they were having in their households as well as the financial hardship experienced by their extended families and communities. […] Almost all the women mentioned the closure of girls’ high schools as a prominent concern, even if they had not personally been touched by it. Depression, anxiety and the loss of hope were also discussed at length by many of our interviewees.”
The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), Regional Overview: South Asia and Afghanistan 5-11 November 2022, 16 November 2022
“[T]he Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice barred women from entering parks and public baths in Kabul city last week, as well as banning them from using gyms across the country (RFE/RL, 10 November 2022; Associated Press, 10 November 2022).”
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, Why the Afghan Government Collapsed, 15 November 2022
“In 2021, before the collapse of the Afghan government, we documented the significant gains women experienced in Afghanistan under the U.S.-supported government, including educational attainment, reduced maternal mortality, participation in the workforce and civil society, and occupying public office. However, unlike the more durable gains in literacy, many of the new roles for women in Afghan society have been reversed easily by the Taliban, who have imposed new restrictions on women’s ability to participate in public life.”
BBC News, Afghanistan: Taliban ban women from Kabul parks, 10 November 2022
“The Taliban have banned women from visiting all parks in Kabul, excluding them still further from public life in
Afghanistan.”
“Now women won't be allowed even if accompanied by male relatives.”
Al Jazeera, Afghan women barred from gyms, Taliban official says, 10 November 2022
“The Taliban has banned women from using gyms in Afghanistan, according to a senior Taliban official, in the latest edict by the group cracking down on women’s rights and freedoms since they took power more than a year ago.” “The Taliban has banned girls from middle school and high school, despite initial promises to the contrary, restricted women from most fields of employment, and ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public.”
“A spokesman from the Ministry of Vice and Virtue said that the ban was being introduced because people were ignoring gender segregation orders and that women were not wearing the required headscarf, or hijab.”
“The ban on women using gyms and parks came into force this week, according to Mohammed Akef Mohajer, a Taliban-appointed spokesman for the ministry.”
““The Taliban are lying,” she insisted, speaking on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals. “We were training separately.”
On Thursday, she said two men claiming to be from the Ministry of Vice and Virtue entered her gym and made all the women leave.
“The women wanted to protest about the gyms [closing], but the Taliban came and arrested them,” she added. “Now we don’t know if they’re alive or dead.”
Taliban-appointed Kabul police chief spokesman Khalid Zadran said he had no immediate information about women
protesting gym closures or arrests.”
CrisisWatch Database, Tracking Conflict Worldwide, November 2022
“Taliban regime continued repressive measures, including on women. Taliban 5 Nov stated efforts were under way to end caretaker govt model; how the Taliban will shift to permanent govt remains unclear as group signalled intent to introduce additional governance restrictions.”
“UN children’s agency 7 Nov claimed that women were increasingly being denied access to health facilities unless accompanied by male relatives; ministry for promoting virtue and preventing vice next day announced closure of women’s public baths and declared that women will no longer be able to visit public parks. UN experts 25 Nov said treatment of women and girls may amount to “gender persecution”. Earlier, Taliban 3 Nov arrested human rights activist Zarifa Yaqhoubi and her colleagues in capital Kabul who announced formation of women-led political party. Taliban emir 13 Nov met with judges and urged application of stricter punishments against kidnappers, seditionists and thieves.”
International Crisis Group, Taliban sought to suppress National Resistance Front and Islamic State’s local branch threats in north east, while Taliban signalled harsher restrictions, particularly aimed at women, November 2022 “Taliban regime continued repressive measures, including on women. […] UN children’s agency 7 Nov claimed that women were increasingly being denied access to health facilities unless accompanied by male relatives; ministry for promoting virtue and preventing vice next day announced closure of women’s public baths and declared that women will no longer be able to visit public parks. UN experts 25 Nov said treatment of women and girls may amount to “gender persecution”.
United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, “We are erased”, 10 October 2022 “ “We are erased,” said Mahbooba Seraj, a human rights activist from Afghanistan. “Today the human rights in Afghanistan does not exist. Women of Afghanistan do not exist for the Taliban.”
[…] “Since the Taliban took power in August 2021, the human rights situation of women and girls in Afghanistan has deteriorated. The Taliban have “deprived women and girls of their human rights, removed women from spheres of public life, and undone women’s agency” said Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights. “Women have nowhere to go to seek justice and redress in today’s Afghanistan,” she said.
Nowhere else in the world has there been as widespread and all-encompassing a rollback, stated Richard Bennet, Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan.
“Edicts have been imposed that not only restrict women and girls’ daily lives; they rob them of their futures and strip
them of their identity and dignity,” said Bennet.
In his report, Bennet states that within the last 13 months, there has been a “staggering regression in women and girls’ enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.”. Several edicts and decrees have been put into effect that have limited women’s and girls’ rights, including suspension of secondary education for girls, enforcing mandatory hijab wearing in public, and banning women from traveling without being accompanied by a close male family member (mahram).
Women belonging to ethnic, religious, or linguistic minority groups, as well as women with disabilities, and women without male family members have been suffering from intersectional discrimination, Brands Kehris said.
The increasing constraints on women’s freedom of movement have significantly affected their ability to access health care and education, earn a living, seek protection and escape situations of violence, the report states.
Moreover, the Taliban have dissolved human rights oversight mechanisms, such as the Afghan independent Human Rights Commission and dismantled specialized courts for gender-based violence and victims support services, Brands Kehris added.
“Their subjective and extremist interpretation of Islam is antithetical to the international human rights law, their draconian misogynistic form of rule does not reflect our religion, our culture and our values,” said Nasir Andisha, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the UN. Afghan diplomatic missions continue to represent the former government of Afghanistan, as the international community has not yet recognized the Taliban as the official government of Afghanistan.”
UNHCR, Afghanistan Crisis update: Women and Girls in Displacement | Factsheet II - September 2022, Document - Afghanistan Crisis update: Women and Girls in Displacement | Factsheet II - September 2022 (unhcr.org), 18 September 2022
“The fall of Afghanistan to Taliban rule in August 2021 continues to contribute to the deterioration of the rights and
freedoms of women and girls. The Taliban have introduced restrictive measures that systematically exclude women
and girls from social, economic and political life. In May 2022, the Taliban issued a directive indicating that women and girls must fully cover themselves in public, including their faces, and leave home only in cases of necessity,1 adding to existing restrictions on women’s work, freedom of movement and access to services. On 17 September 2021, the Taliban announced that girls should refrain from attending secondary school, a fact that was reiterated on 23 March 2022 by announcing secondary schools would remain closed for girls.2 Furthermore, rights violations continue to be reported, including forced marriages and beatings, and the detention of protesters, women’s rights activists and female security forces.3 All of this, along with conflict and climate change driven disasters, may be contributing to the displacement of women and girls, both within and outside the country”.
CFR, Women This Week: Call to Declare Taliban a “Gender Apartheid” Regime, 16 September 2022
“Naheed Farid Speaks Out Against Taliban Repression of Women and Girls. Naheed Farid, a former member of the Afghan parliament, implored the world to label the Taliban a “gender apartheid” regime in response to the Taliban’s ongoing and extreme rollback of women’s rights. Farid pointed to stories of Afghan women who are
choosing to take their own lives rather than live under the Taliban. […] Since the Taliban recaptured power over a year ago, girls have been banned from secondary education, forcing hundreds of thousands out of school, women have been forced to completely cover up outside the home, and severe restrictions have been imposed on work and travel.”
Aljazeera, Taliban official says Islam grants women right to education and work, 31 August 2022
“A Taliban official has said that Islam grants women the right to education, work, and entrepreneurship, and reiterated that the group is working to create a so-called “safe environment” for girls and women in secondary schools and the workplace.
“I must say that Islam has given women the right to education, Islam has given women the right to work, Islam has given women the right to entrepreneurship […] if Islam has allowed it, who am I to ban it.” [quote by Taliban spokesperson of the Ministry of Vice and Virtue, Sadeq Akif Muhajir]
“The comments by Muhajir came more than a year after the armed group took over the country and imposed
several limitations on women’s freedoms, including a ban on secondary education for girls.
Since returning to power, the Taliban has among other things, shut down girls’ secondary schools across the country, ordered women to wear hijabs in the workplace and to cover their faces in public, and has banned women from travelling long distanced without a close male relative.”
“But a study by the International Labour Organization (ILO) this year found that Afghan women’s employment levels fell by an estimated 16 percent in the months immediately following the Taliban takeover. In contrast, male employment dropped by 6 percent. ‘In the pessimistic scenario in which restrictions intensify and women do not feel they can safely show up at their workplaces, the scale of job losses for women could reach 28 percent,’ the report said.
Working Afghan women have previously told Al Jazeera that while the Taliban has not directly fired female government employees, it has restricted women from entering workplaces and has paid them a notably reduced salary to remain at home.”
“The Taliban’s return to power has exacerbated Afghanistan’s economic woes. The country has been reeling from
a humanitarian crisis with more than half of the population facing hunger.
The Western-imposed sanctions and the freezing of nearly $10bn in Afghan central bank assets by the US have
largely contributed to the collapse of the economy.”
Inter Press Service, Gender Equality & Women’s Rights Wiped out Under the Taliban, 15 August 2022
“In the year that has passed since the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan we have seen daily and continuous
deterioration in the situation of Afghan women and girls. This has spanned every aspect of their human rights,
from living standards to social and political status. … The Taliban’s meticulously constructed policies of inequality set Afghanistan apart. It is the only country in the world where girls are banned from going to high school. There are no women in the Taliban’s cabinet, no Ministry of Women’s Affairs, thereby effectively removing women’s right to political participation. Women are, for the most part, also restricted from working outside the home, and are required to cover their faces in public and to have a male chaperone when they travel. Furthermore, they
continue to be subjected to multiple forms of Gender Based Violence.”
The Guardian, ‘I was a policewoman. Now I beg in the streets’: life for afghan women one year after the Taliban
took over, 14 August 2022
TOLO News, Human rights in afghanistan since political change, 14 August 2022
“The Islamic Emirate's leadership issued a number of decrees regarding women in the country over the course of
the past 12 months.
On December 3, 2021, the leader of the Islamic Emirate issued the first six-article decree, emphasizing the provision of women's rights based on Islamic Sharia.
According to this decree, no one has the authority to give a woman to someone in return for making peace or resolving a dispute.
On May 7, 2022, the Ministry of Virtue and Vice issued a second decree requiring the hijab for women. In one of its articles, guardians of women who disobey the decree will face punishment and imprisonment.
“If a woman doesn't wear a hijab, first, her house will be located and her guardian will be advised and warned. Next, if the hijab is not considered, her guardian will be summoned. If repeated, her guardian (father, brother or husband) will be imprisoned for three days. If repeated again, her guardian will be sent to court for further punishment, the plan reads,” said Akif Mahajar, a spokesman for the Ministry of Vice and virtue.”
AAN, Transition to a New Political Order: AAN Dossier takes stock of Afghanistan’s momentous year, 12 August 2022
“West Kabul, like many other places where Hazaras/Shia Muslims are in the majority, has been the target of some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan, especially since 2016. Attacks which, moreover, aim to kill the softest of targets – children, women in labour and with their newborns, sportspeople and worshippers… Immediately after the Taleban took power in August 2021, the neighbourhood experienced a short-lived respite from attacks, but has since become the scene of a new cycle of assassinations and bombings.”
“Since the Taleban took power, Afghan women have been stripped of many of their rights. Women workers have, largely, been sent home from government offices. They are hindered from travelling and suffer an enforced a strict dress code. Oder girls have been banned from school. Public protest dwindled in the face of the new authorities’
crackdown on those they viewed as dissidents and rebels. Women’s rights activists have proven the bravest of all, but the Taleban’s response has been harsh – detaining and, reportedly, beating women protesters who had taken to the streets to demand their rights.”
“Access to information is now severely constrained in Afghanistan, and violence against journalists continues, with the Taleban identified as the main perpetrator. There are reports of journalists being told, formally and informally, what and how to report and women TV presenters are now compelled to cover their faces on air. In some cases, those who disobeyed have been summoned, interrogated, threatened, tortured and detained.”
Save the Children, One Year Under Taliban Rule, Girls are More Isolated, Hungry, Sad: New Report, 10 August 2022 “[…] The crisis is also taking a dangerous toll on girls’ mental and psychosocial wellbeing. According to interviews with their caregivers, 26% of girls are showing signs of depression compared with 16% of boys, and 27% of girls are showing signs of anxiety compared with 18% of boys. Girls in focus groups said they had trouble sleeping at
night because they were worried and have bad dreams. They also said they had been excluded from many of the activities that previously made them happy, such as spending time with relatives and friends and going to parks
and shops.”
The National News, How the Taliban has rolled back civil rights after a year in control of Afghanistan, 10 August 2022
“ In the early months after their takeover of Afghanistan last year, the Taliban appeared to have turned over a new
leaf, making surprising statements that seemed to support gender equality and education for women. […] In
March, the Taliban officially announced high schools would remain closed until a plan was created to allow them to re-open in accordance with “Islamic law and teachings”. They are still yet to re-open, a year after the takeover. […] On employment, the Taliban made similar promises of allowing women to continue in the workplace.
However, soon after their takeover, they said those steps would need to wait until women could work in what they considered a safe environment. “In Afghanistan, 20 years of progress towards enhanced protection and promotion of women’s rights was rolled back overnight,” Amnesty International said in a recent report. […] “The Taliban have made it very difficult and expensive for offices to hire women. For instance, they order that there should be gender-segregated spaces for women to work, there is no support within departments for women, and women should not be allowed without a mahram (male guardian),” an Afghan woman told The National in May. “Added to that, women aren’t allowed to represent the organisation in meetings, or conduct outdoor activities such as purchasing and processing documents. So you can see why an organisation will not want to hire women.”[…] Protests against the Taliban’s oppressive views on education and other issues were met with violence, including live ammunition, tear gas and physical beating and lashing of protesters. Under the new government, there are no women in the cabinet and the Ministry of Women's Affairs was shut down. […] In May, the Taliban officially announced that a dress code of sorts will be mandatory for women. “They should wear a chadori [head-to-toe burqa] as it is traditional and respectful,” Taliban chief Hibatullah Akhundzada said.”
The Guardian, Photographer Fatimah Hossaini: ‘In Kabul, there was so much hope and desire’, 7 August 2022 “The Afghan-Iranian artist narrowly escaped from Kabul to Paris last August, as the Taliban took over. She talks about the terror of that time, why she still longs for home, and her work photographing Afghan women in exile in France. […]“In Tehran, people are a little depressed with the situation. But in Kabul there was so much hope and
desire. A new generation was burning with it. I could see women in every sector: musicians, entrepreneurs, artists, politicians. I could teach my classes at the university without a hijab. I could show my students any image I liked. These things would never happen in Iran.” But life really was about to change. When a newly elected Joe Biden confirmed in April 2021 that American troops would be withdrawn by 11 September, Taliban insurgents began to intensify their attacks on the Afghan state; in May, for instance, a car bomb outside a Kabul school killed more than 60 people, most of them schoolgirls. “Even I could see that the security situation was different,” Hossaini says. “I lost two journalist friends [to Taliban attacks] during those months. […] But her mind was clear now: it was, she finally conceded, time to go. Like thousands upon thousands of other desperate Afghans, she pitched up at Kabul airport. She would spend the next four days there. “It was crazy,” she says. “Mothers abandoning their children;
lovers abandoning each other. People were so desperate, they would do anything to leave”.”
Human Rights Watch, Economic Causes of Afghanistan’s Humanitarian Crisis, 4 August 2022
“Women spoke of how the mahram [male chaperone] requirement is impacting every aspect of their lives, from their freedom to go to buy bread and meet the basic needs of their family, to their ability to influence decision- making in the home. Women linked the mandatory face covering with their increasing invisibility. Some women told me they still go to the market without a mahram, but they live in fear that one day they will be stopped and beaten for the act of buying groceries without a man.
Afghanistan’s healthcare system is barely functioning, which has had a devastating impact on maternal and infant health and women and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health care – services that were already in short supply. Taliban restrictions, including requiring that male family members escort women to health appointments and bans on male healthcare professionals treating women, are further compromising women’s access to health care.”
SIGAR, July 30, 2022 Quarterly Report to Congress, 30 July 2022
“Taliban Repress Women
The Taliban announced additional restrictions on women, requiring them to cover themselves fully in public, including their faces. Violations will now result in jail time for male heads of household. The policy was later expanded to include women newscasters. The restrictions sparked national protest and international condemnation. The UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution on the situation of human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, seeking the reversal of Taliban policies that restrict women’s rights, roles, and responsibilities in society.”
Gandhara, ‘Death In Slow Motion’: Amnesty Report Documents Taliban’s ‘Suffocating Crackdown’ on Women,
Girls, 27 July 2022
“Since returning to power almost one year ago, the radical group has systematically violated women’s and girls’ rights to education, work, and free movement, Amnesty International said in a report published on July 26. […] Despite initially attempting to present itself as a more moderate force compared to its first stint in power in 1996- 2001, the Taliban formed an all-male government and banned girls from attending school from seventh grade, imposed all-covering dress that leaves only the eyes visible, and restricted women's access to work. Amnesty said the Taliban has also decimated protections for those facing domestic violence, detained women and girls for minor violations, and triggered a surge in child marriages.
The report -- titled Death In Slow Motion: Women and Girls Under Taliban Rule -- also documented how women who peacefully protested the increasingly oppressive rules have been threatened, arrested, detained, tortured, and forcibly disappeared.
The report comprises the results of a nine-month investigation conducted from September 2021 to June 2022 and included a visit to Afghanistan by the group's researchers back in March. They interviewed 90 women and 11 girls between 14 and 74 years old across the country. Among them were women detained for protesting who described torture at the hands of Taliban guards, including beatings and threats of death. One woman told Amnesty that guards beat her and other women on the breasts and between the legs “so that we couldn’t show the world.” She said one told her, “I can kill you right now, and no one would say anything.”
Amnesty said Afghanistan’s economic and humanitarian crisis has deprived women and girls of education and job prospects. The report documented cases of forced marriages of women and girls to Taliban members -- under pressure by the Taliban member or by the women’s families.”
Khaama Press, Decades of Progress Erased in Months; Deteriorating Afghan Women’s Rights an “Alarm Bell” to the
World, 26 July 2022
“The majority of Afghan women and girls have seen a decline in their rights, their health, and their social and political status practically every day since August 15th, according to Alison Davidian, UN Women representative in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan continues to be the only nation in the world where girls are not allowed to attend high school. She Davidian said that, with the exception of a few sectors and specific jobs, women are not allowed to work outside the home.
“Anywhere in the world, the act of walking outside your front door is an ordinary part of life,” said Alison Davidian, UN Women representative for Afghanistan. “But for many Afghan women, it is an act that is extraordinary. It is an act of resistance.”
Reliefweb, Press briefing: The situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, 25 July 2022
[Statement by Ms. Alison Davidian, Country Representative a.i. for UN Women in Afghanistan, on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, during the daily press briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary- General, 25 July 2022.]
“It has been 344 days since the Taliban took power. For most Afghan women and girls, almost each one of these days since 15 August has brought a deterioration in their rights, their condition, and their social and political status. (…) Over the past 11 months, we have seen an escalation of restrictive policies and behaviours towards women: Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls are banned from going to high school; Women are restricted from working outside the home, except for a few sectors and particular roles; There are no
women in cabinet and there is no Ministry of Women’s Affairs, effectively removing women’s right to political participation; Women are required to have a male chaperone when they are travelling more than 78 kilometres; They’re also required to cover their faces in public. (…) Women spoke of how the* mahram* requirement is impacting every aspect of their lives, from their freedom to go to buy bread and meet the basic needs of their family, to their ability to influence decision-making in the home. Women linked the mandatory face covering with their increasing invisibility. Some women told me they still go to the market without a mahram, but they live in fear that one day they will be stopped and beaten for the act of buying groceries without a man. (…) Many Afghan women and girls feel that they are now invisible, and that the world has forgotten them—compounding their invisibility.”
The National News “Female journalists in Afghanistan face new reality under Taliban rule” 25 July 2022
“Almost a year since the US withdrawal, women reporters and presenters have been made to wear face coverings
on screen, with some fearing further restrictions”
Jurist.org, UN Human Rights Council calls for equal rights for women in Taliban-led Afghanistan, 9 July 2022
“[S]ince the Taliban took power, women and girls in Afghanistan were experiencing the most significant and rapid roll-back in enjoyment of their rights across the board in decades,” said Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at the debate. Bachelet also said that as a “de facto authority exercising effective control” over the country, the Taliban is legally obligated under international treaties to “eliminate discrimination against women and ensure women’s right to equal participation in civic and public life, including politics and decision- making fora.”
AIHRC, An analysis of the meeting of the Taliban, which was held under the name of "The Great Gathering of Afghan Religious Scholars" in Kabul, 3 July 2022
"A meeting was launched by the de facto Taliban government on June 30, 2022, under the name "Great Gathering of Afghan Ulama" in Kabul and continued for three days." […] " The agenda of this meeting was formed without the participation of other political, social, cultural, and economic groups.." […] "… no representative of the large
community of women in the country was invited." […] "In the agenda, speeches, consultative programs, and
working groups, no attention was paid to the role of women." […] "The sources and amount of expenses of this meeting were kept hidden from public view." The meeting "even stated with a determination that if anyone makes the slightest move against our Islamic system and government, they should be beheaded and destroyed." "In this meeting, rigorous literature was used against the role of the world community and defined international mechanisms."
AIHRC, The message of the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan in connection with the deplorable situation of women's human rights in the country, 2 July 2022
"In the field of civil rights, Afghan women have lost all their civil and individual freedoms, and the right to move, the right to speak, the right to dominate the clothing and other freedoms of women have been denied." […] "Playing the role of women in the media has become limited and even impossible. Women avoid going out because of the fear and terror of the rulers in the cities, and the local rulers in the villages do not respect women as human beings. [...] …they have lost the right to political participation, the right to political freedom, the right to manage, the right to equal resources and power, the right to justice in talent and creativity, and the right to use their votes. […] …protesting women are always insulted, prosecuted, arrested, and mentally and physically […] Women have been insulted in non-governmental offices and educational institutions and severe restrictions have been imposed on them under the pretext of hijab. [..] girls are denied the right to education after the sixth grade of primary school […] women are prevented from visiting hospitals due to the lack of female specialists and nurses, and the death rate among women has increased sharply. […] Women have lost their cultural right, including the right to participate in music, theater, cinema and other artistic fields."
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) (Afghanistan), UN Human Rights Council: Urgent debate on
women and girls' rights in Afghanistan, 1 July 2022
"The Taliban have carried out a full-on assault on the rights of women and girls, including their rights to freedom of movement, expression, work, and education. Peaceful protests by brave Afghan women demanding their rights
have been violently repressed in some cases. Many reports have emerged of Taliban’s threats, intimidation, restrictions, arrests, forced confessions, abductions, and end forced disappearances targeting women. In March this year, girls’ rights to education was indefinitely put on hold. In May, women were ordered not to leave their homes unless their heads and faces were covered by a full veil."
The Independent, A culture of intimidation by men: Afghanistan is unravelling under the Taliban, 4 July 2022
Khaama Press (Afghan News Agency), Men to Represent Women in the Taliban’s Grand Assembly: Taliban Leader, 29 June 2022
"Taliban’s religious scholar and tribal elders grand gathering, which is to be held tomorrow at the Loya Jirga Hall in Kabul, will convene without the participation of women, said the deputy prime minister of the Taliban, Mawlawi Abdul Salam Hanafi, on Wednesday […]
When prompted whether women could attend the Taliban’s grand gathering, deputy minister Hanafi responded that male delegates would speak on their behalf.
“The women are our mothers, sisters, we greatly respect them, when their sons are in the gathering it signifies
that they are also involved, in a way, in the gathering,” he said.
According to civil society groups, if women are not present, the gathering will not be legitimate.
However, it still remains unclear what issues would be discussed at the gathering and whether the issue of
reopening girls’ schools and women rights are included in the agenda."
ToloNews, Clerics in Kabul Called for Inclusion of Women in Coming Gathering, 28 June 2022
" In Islam “women are provided with their basic rights. The male and female clerics have the vital role to announce awareness of women's rights through mosques so women can be provided with their rights,” said Bibi Amri, a university instructor.
“If in this gathering various sectors including clerics and elites are not consulted, it will bring a situation that will not be tolerated by the people,” said Mohammad Sarwar Sarwari, a member of Nuhzat-e-Ulema of Afghanistan. The organizers of the gathering issued a resolution calling on the Islamic Emirate government to include women in the gathering.
“The gathering in which women are absent ... will not be fair. The civil society and men and women clerics relevant to the civil society who are not part of the politics and act as a contact bridge between the Islamic Emirate the people of Afghanistan, their inclusion is necessary in the gathering,” said a statement presented by some at Tuesday's gathering.
“As we speak, based on the clerics’ view, it means we are talking in accordance with Sharia, so which type of policy
has the Islamic Emirate considered which is beyond Islam?” said Sitara Sadat, a civil rights activist.
The residents of Kabul province expressed hopes that the gathering will bring positive results for Afghanistan. “There is no work in this country. These issues should be discussed. Our sisters and mothers are jobless,” said Mohammad Javid, a resident of Kabul.
“We hope the result of this gathering benefits the people of Afghanistan so this gathering can solve the challenges and problems of the people, thus we can keep our trust in such gatherings,” said Mohammad Islam Sanjar, a resident of Kabul.
The international community linked the recognition of the current Afghan government to the upholding of human
rights and women’s rights in the country."
UN News, Countries urged to ‘dig deep’ and support Afghanistan in aftermath of deadly earthquake, 26 June 2022 "The earthquake struck at a time when increased restrictions on Afghan women and girls have amplified their needs and also complicated efforts to assist them.
Alison Davidian, Acting Country Representative for UN Women, explained that women and girls are differentially
affected by crisis.
"When their rights to move and work are restricted as they are in Afghanistan, they are disproportionately
impacted, especially in accessing food, healthcare and safe shelter,” she said.
Moving forward, women humanitarian workers as well as women-led civil society groups must be at the centre of response.
“This is the only way to ensure the needs and rights of at-risk and crisis-affected women and girls are effectively
identified and addressed,” she said"
ToloNews, UNSC Session Discusses Afghan Human Rights, Earthquake, 24 June 2022
"On Thursday, the UN Security Council held a session to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. In the session, many of the participants called attention to the devastating earthquake, the human rights situation, restrictions on Afghan women and girls and the overall crisis ongoing since the collapse of republic government in August 2021. Pointing to the current situation within Afghanistan, Alakbarov said that the de facto authorities have increasingly restricted the exercise of basic human rights, such as freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of opinion and expression, quelling dissent and restricting civic space in the country.
“These restrictions continue to be aimed particularly at the rights and freedoms of Afghan women and girls, limiting their involvement in social, political and economic life. These include most prominently the ban on secondary schooling for girls and the decision to impose face covering on women, on which you have been briefed in detail by former Special Representative of the Secretary-General Deborah Lyons,” said Alakbarov.
He added that UNAMA hears credible allegations of killings, ill-treatment and other violations targeting individuals associated with the former government.
Despite all these challenges, he said that UNAMA will remain in Afghanistan to safeguard the rights of Afghans and the especially rights of women and girls, and that the strategy of engagement and dialogue could be the only way to benefit both the Afghan people and regional and international security…
Yalda [Hakim, an international correspondent] talked about the restrictions for Afghan women under the Islamic Emirate rule and said that it has been 279 days since the Taliban banned teenage girls from school.
“Afghanistan is now the only country in the world where girls are prevented from getting an education, locked out of their classrooms, simply because of their gender. Education is not a privilege, but a basic human right,” Yalda said."
The Norwegian Country of Origin Information Centre Land info, Country info response Afghanistan: the situation for Afghan women after Taliban takeover, 22 June 2022
"The Taliban has issued a series of directives restrictinformerg women freedom of movement, access to work, as well as regulations of behavior and dress. The Ministry for Women's Affairs was closed down already in September 2021, and the moral police - Ministry for Propagation moved into the premises of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Samin 2022)."
UNHCR, 2021 Multi sectorial Rapid Assessments Analysis, June 2022
"In relation to non-food items there is a clear need for basic household items. Of note also is the need for undergarments for women and girls, as well as sanitary items, which was raised by both male and female headed households amongst needed items. This is noteworthy as the inclusion of these items in assistance packages has resulted in some sensitivity y following the change in authority in August 2021."
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) (Afghanistan), Oral Statement for the Interactive Dialogue on the
UN High Commissioner’s Oral Update on Afghanistan, 16 June 2022
"Over the past 10 months, abundant evidence has emerged that the Taliban remains the same human rights abusing entity it was before its August 2021 power seizure. The recent decisions by the de facto authorities to keep girls above grade six out of school and to force women to cover their faces are only two examples of the massive setback for the rights of women and girls."
Alive, Kandahari Women: No to Forced Hijab, 10 June 2022
"The Taliban’s priorities has been under a lot of scrutiny, especially its insistence on women covering up since their victory in Afghanistan in August of 2021. The Taliban’s latest decree ordered women to cover their faces in public, and directed taxis, rickshaw drivers and buses to avoid picking up women who are not accompanied by a male guardian.
These decrees by the Taliban further restrict women, especially those without any male guardians and who are the breadwinners of their families, from taking care of their families… there was no need for compulsory hijab as everyone was following Islamic rules before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
Ms. Anwari says, “Afghan women are human beings who have the human right to choose, and not to accept forced hijab. Compulsory hijab is violating human rights. We will never allow anyone to tamper with our choice of wearing a hijab!”
Dr. Fahima Rahmati, a civil rights activist in Kandahar also considers the Taliban ordering women to wear hijab a
violation of women’s rights and emphasizes that Afghan women should not be deprived of their rights."
Afghanistan Analysts Network, "We need to breathe too": Women across Afghanistan navigate the Taleban's hijab ruling, 1 June 2022
"The order rules that a woman’s male guardian (wali) should ensure she wears sharia hijab and it is he who will be punished for any violation, with an escalation of response: advice and warning at the first violation, then being summoned to the “relevant department,” then three days imprisonment, and finally, on a fourth violation, a court appearance and judicial punishment."
"The commission’s proposal follows other moves by the state to restrict the actions of women and girls – banning most women from government offices, making it a legal requirement for women to travel only with
a mahram (close male relative: either a husband, or a male relative whom she cannot marry, such as a brother, father, son or uncle), gender-segregating universities and keeping schools for older girls closed."
"In Panjshir, a young, now unemployed, woman said she had always worn “proper clothing,” but now her father had said she should get an abaya and her older brother had said she should start wearing a burqa outside the house She said that most of her friends who came to her house were now wearing abayas and “longer clothes,” while she had seen some women locally wearing burqas. It seems that not all of the impetus for change has come from the order itself. She said that due to the large numbers of Taleban fighters in the province, even in the more liberal provincial capital, girls started wearing burqas and abayas “just to be safe from the Taleban because they are so dangerous. Some families have even sent their daughters to Kabul due to fear of the Taleban.” When Afghan women feel unsafe, they typically go out less, and cover up more when they do, to try to attract the least attention from men they do not trust."
Gandhara, Women Protest In Afghan Capital Against Taliban Rights Restrictions, 29 May 2022
“Chanting “Bread, work, freedom,” some two dozen women took to the streets of the Afghan capital of Kabul on May 29 to protest against the Taliban's harsh restrictions on their rights. […] Demonstrators marched for a few hundred meters before ending the rally as authorities deployed Taliban fighters in plainclothes, an AFP correspondent reported. "We wanted to read out a declaration, but the Taliban didn't allow it," said protester Zholia Parsi. […] "They took the mobile phones off some girls and also prevented us from taking photos or videos of our protest," she told the French news agency. […] But its promises are being treated with skepticism by many Afghans and governments around the world, especially since women have been forced from some government jobs and barred from traveling alone. This month, Afghanistan's supreme leader and Taliban chief Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered women to cover up fully in public, including their faces.”
Tolo News, Girls at Badakhshan University Say Covering Faces Unhealthy, 28 May 2022
“Female students in the northern province of Badakhshan said that they have been told by the Ministry of Vice and Virtue to cover their faces inside the university. The students said that they have been struggling with heat because of being obliged to wear black clothes and masks in the university. “There are some girls who have pneumonia problems and cannot use the mask, so we are against wearing masks in the class if it is possible to do
so,” said Royta Tahiri, a student.”
OHCHR, Statement by Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, concluding his visit to Kabul and Balkh and Kandahar provinces carried out from 15 to 26 May 2022 (reduction in armed fighting and civilian casualties since August 2021; deterioration of the human rights situation; humanitarian and economic crisis), 26 May 2022
“The expert is alarmed that many of the de facto authorities’ policies and drive for absolute control are having a cumulative effect on a wide range of human rights and is creating a society that is ruled by fear. The advancing erasure of women from public life is especially concerning.”
Gandhara, Taliban's Burqa Decree Exposes Afghan Women To Increasing Domestic Abuse, 26 May 2022
“The Taliban ordered all women to cover their faces when in public earlier this month, urging women not to leave their homes altogether if possible. The militant group said punishments, including arrest or even jail time, would be imposed not on women but their male family members instead.”
Al Jazeera, UN envoy tells of serious concern at Taliban’s ‘erasure of women’, 26 May 2022
“UN envoy Richard Bennett is concerned over deteriorating human rights situation, attacks on religious minorities.
[…] Bennett’s visit coincides with the Taliban – who seized power when they overran the capital, Kabul, in mid- August – enforcing a sharply tougher line on education for girls, women’s dress and appearances in public, and follows a statement by the United Nations Security Council calling on the Taliban to “swiftly reverse” policies
restricting human rights and freedoms for Afghan girls and women.”
UNAMA, PRESS STATEMENT OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL ON THE SITUATION IN AFGHANISTAN, 24 May 2022
“The members of the Security Council further expressed deep concern regarding the announcements by the Taliban that all women must cover their faces in public spaces and in media broadcasts, only leave home in cases of necessity, and that violations of this directive will lead to the punishment of their male relatives.”
Al Jazeera, Afghan female journalists defiant as Taliban restrictions grow, 24 May 2022
“Mahira* has become a familiar face on Afghan television, as viewers tune in every night to watch her present the news. Even during the most turbulent recent events, the 27-year-old journalist remained calm and composed as she reported on the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. On Saturday, Mahira appeared on screen, but her face was covered with a black mask following a Taliban decree ordering female news anchors to cover their faces while on air.”
United Nations Security Council, Security Council Press Statement on Situation in Afghanistan, 24 May 2022
"The members of the Security Council expressed deep concern regarding the increasing erosion of respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls in Afghanistan by the Taliban, including through
imposition of restrictions that limit access to education, employment, freedom of movement, and women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in public life, and emphasized that these restrictions contradict the expectations of the international community and the commitments made by the Taliban to the Afghan people. The members of the Security Council further expressed deep concern regarding the announcements by the Taliban that all women must cover their faces in public spaces and in media broadcasts, only leave home in cases of necessity, and that violations of this directive will lead to the punishment of their male relatives.
The members of the Security Council called on the Taliban to swiftly reverse the policies and practices which are currently restricting the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Afghan women and girls."
Aljazeera, Taliban enforces order for Afghan women TV anchors to cover their faces, 22 May 2022 "Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have started to enforce a new order requiring all female TV news anchors in the country to cover their faces while on air." "The Information and Culture Ministry previously announced that the policy was “final and non-negotiable”."
Deutsche Welle, Taliban Orders female TV presenters to cover face on air, 19 May 2022
"The Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have asked local television broadcasters to ensure that female presenters cover their faces when on air, an official said on Thursday."
Tolo News, Haqqani: 'We Are Not Forcing Women to Wear Hijab', 18 May 2022
"The acting Minister of Interior, Sirajuddin Haqqani, said the Islamic Emirate is committed to the rights of everyone and that it is not forcing women to wear hijab but advising them.
In the second portion released of a CNN interview, Haqqani, the acting Interior Minister, said the hijab is not compulsory but is an Islamic order.“If we talk about the edict, there is Hijab, education, and work. Hijab is an order according to the Islamic Sharia,” he said. "Within the Islamic government, we are committed to the rights of everyone. We are not forcing women to wear hijab, but we are advising them and preaching to them from time to time. Hijab is also (to) create a dignified environment for women’s education and work, hijab is not compulsory but is an Islamic order that everyone should implement.”"
Afghan Voice Agency, Haqqani: 'We Are Not Forcing Women to Wear Hijab', 18 May 2022
"The acting Minister of Interior, Sirajuddin Haqqani, said the Islamic Emirate is committed to the rights of everyone and that it is not forcing women to wear hijab but advising them.
If we talk about the edict, there is Hijab, and work. There is an order according to the Islamic Sharia,” he said. "Within the Islamic government, we are committed to the rights of everyone. We are not forcing women to wear hijab, but we are advising them and preaching to them from time to time. Hijab is also (to) create a dignified environment for women’s education and work, hijab is not compulsory but is an Islamic order that everyone should implement.”
Ariana News, ‘It’s regressive. It’s wrong’ – UK’s UN envoy on IEA hijab, 13 May 2022
"Following a United Nations Security Council meeting on Thursday about an order by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) for women to cover their faces in public, the representative of the United Kingdom spoke out in strident terms against the order. The decree marks a return to a signature policy of the IEA’s past hardline rule and an escalation of restrictions. “It’s regressive. It’s wrong,” UK’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Barbara Woodward, said. “I think it underlines the Taliban’s (IEA) inability to lead Afghanistan out of its current economic and social and humanitarian crisis.” U.N. special envoy for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, briefed the 15-member council, said Norway’s U.N. mission, which requested the closed-door meeting “to address the increased restrictions on human rights and freedoms of girls and women.” Then on Saturday the group’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, said that if a woman did not cover her face outside home, her father or closest male relative would be visited and face potential prison or firing from state jobs. Most women in Afghanistan wear a headscarf for religious reasons but many in urban areas such as Kabul do not cover their faces.
“It’s hard to see that the international community and importantly the Afghan people will ever respect the Taliban
(IEA) as legitimate authorities if this is the future for Afghanistan,” Woodward said."
Gandhara, G7 Decries Taliban's Burqa Order For Afghan Women, Warns Hard-Line Group Is Further Isolating Itself, 12 May 2022
"Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) have expressed their "strongest opposition" and "deplored" the Taliban-led government in Kabul's recent decree telling women to wear the head-to-toe burqa in public and other "increasing restrictions," saying the hard-line group in control of Afghanistan since August is "further isolating" itself internationally. The ministers from the seven leading industrialized countries called on the Taliban "to urgently take steps to lift restrictions on women and girls, respect their human rights, and meet the expectations of Afghans and the world" with respect to their participation in public life and free speech. Such freedoms, they said in a statement, are "crucial for long-term peace, stability and development of the country." "We condemn the imposition of increasingly restrictive measures that severely limit half the population’s ability to fully, equally and
with new punishments for family members to enforce compliance with these restrictions," the G7 statement said."
The National News, UN Security Council to meet over Taliban order for women to cover faces, 11 May 2022 "The UN Security Council will meet on Thursday to discuss an order by Afghanistan's Taliban for women to cover their faces in public. The Taliban announced the decree, made by its supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, in
Kabul on Saturday. It said: “Those women who are not too old or young must cover their face, except the eyes, as per Sharia directives, in order to avoid provocation when meeting men who are not mahram [close male adult
relatives]”.It signifies a return to a signature policy of the Taliban's past hardline rule.
Deborah Lyons, the UN's special envoy for Afghanistan, is expected to brief the 15-member council on the escalation of restrictions, Norway's UN mission said.
The Norway mission requested the closed-door meeting "to address the increased restrictions on human rights and freedoms of girls and women"."
The Guardian, The Guardian view on Afghan women: the Taliban turn the screws, 10 May 2022
"On Saturday, the Taliban once more ordered women to cover their faces in public. While Afghan women have courageously protested against the injunction, the reaction internationally has this time been muted. That it
follows other punitive restrictions creating what some have called “gender apartheid” – preventing teenage girls from studying and women from working outside healthcare or education, or travelling outside their home town without a male guardian – makes it all the more appalling."
" Though the Taliban justify the burqa as a matter of tradition, this has only been the case in the most conservative rural areas. For many Afghan women, this is a wholly alien and unwelcome imposition. Yet, equally, their greatest concern may not be the edict to cover their faces per se, but the fact that this is the latest blow removing their ability to work, earn, or be present in the public sphere, and handing control of their bodies to the men in their families. Authorities also suggested that women should not leave their homes if possible, emboldening enforcers on the ground. Women cannot even decide independently what risks they are willing to take, since if their faces
are seen in public their male “guardians” face fines, jail time and losing their jobs. (Women who work for the
government will also be fired.)"
ToloNews, Women and Girls Drive in Herat City, 10 May 2022
"According to Wafa, driving in a traditional city like Herat has not been easy for women and girls. "It has been many years since we have been allowed to do the same as men who drive and solve their problems," Shima added. Since the political change in the country, driving education and the distribution of driving licenses to women and girls in Herat have stopped. Herat Traffic Management said it is waiting for the order of the General Directorate of Traffic to resume driving licenses for women."
Gandhara, Afghan Women Protest New Burqa Decree Despite Taliban Threats, 10 May 2022
"The women marched through the streets of the capital, Kabul, on May 10 holding signs calling for justice despite intimidation attempts by Taliban operatives, who threatened them with violence. "We were faced with harsh behavior by the Taliban. It was terrifying...They even told us if we move one step forward, they will fire 30 rounds at us," one women said in a video made by the group, called Afghanistan's Powerful Women's Movement."
Khaama, The Taliban Harshly Suppressed the Second Day of the Women’s Protest in Kabul, 10 May 2022
"A handful of women in Kabul have staged demonstrations in response to the Taliban’s decision to “make hijab mandatory,” with Taliban militants allegedly dispersing protesters and detaining journalists."
" The demonstration began at the Ansari square of Shahr-e-Naw and continued just outside of the Ministry of Interior, where the Taliban surrounded them and detained journalists, according to Zhulia Parsi, one of the protesting girls. The journalists have been detained, according to Zhulia Parsi, and she has no idea where they are being held. “The Taliban snatched the girls’ smartphones and took them away,” she claimed. Taliban forces reportedly ripped down the banners and dispersed the protesters, according to Zhulia. The Taliban wanted to take
meaningfully participate in society, including the recent announcement on women’s appearance in public along
the women inside the ministry and force them to confess, Zhulia Parsi told the reporters."
Jurist, Afghanistan dispatch: ‘The Taliban are the enemies of women’s freedom’, 10 May 2022
""These days we are witnessing that words are not enough, and there is no change in this illiterate, cruel, bigoted and rough group. The right to decide how to dress is the most important, fundamental and primary right of a woman. How can women’s rights be respected while a large number of men decide on the way of dressing of women without considering their wants and opinions? What kind of respect is it that I, as a woman, can’t decide on my very own and personal part of my life, which is dressing? There is no respect for women’s rights in Afghanistan. Imposing black Hijab and veils by the Taliban is a clear violation of women’s rights. The Taliban are the enemies of women’s freedom, and they are always trying to suppress and imprison women and remove them from public life.""
Khaama, Women’s Movement for Justice and Freedom: We Do Not Accept Forced Hijab and Dictatorship, 9 May 2022
"On Monday, May 9, members of the movement organized a gathering in Kabul, the Afghan capital, declaring the
mandatory hijab “misogyny” that has sunk society into darkness and authoritarianism."
Deutsche Welle (Afghanistan), How the Taliban are 'eliminating women' in Afghanistan, 9 May 2022
"If there was any hope that the Taliban would pay heed to repeated calls from Afghanistan's civil society and the international community to uphold women's rights, the Islamic fundamentalist group's latest decree for women to cover their faces in public has dashed it. The latest order to make veil compulsory is one of the harshest controls on women's lives in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in August last year. It is also reminiscent of the Islamist outfit's strict Shariah-based rule in the late 1990s."
Al Jazeera, Afghan students run underground book club to keep dreams alive, 9 May 2022
"On Saturday [7 May 2022], the group’s Supreme leader Haibatullah Akhunzada ordered women appearing in public to be covered from head to toe, bringing back the memory of the Taliban’s brutal rule between 1996 and 2001."
French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France condemns the Taliban decision to require women to wear head-to-toe coverings in public spaces, 9 May 2022
"France condemns in the strongest possible terms the Taliban’s deeply shocking, unacceptable decision to require women to wear head-to-toe coverings in public spaces. This latest, extremely troubling restriction follows several other bans ordered by the Taliban since it seized power by force on August 15, particularly the ban on Afghan girls from attending secondary school and the ban on women from traveling alone. This decision demonstrates yet again that the Taliban is pursuing a policy of repression and the systematic exclusion of half the population of Afghanistan, which seriously compromises the country’s sustainable development and its relations with the rest of the world. France will continue to closely monitor the increasingly troubling human rights situation in Afghanistan. It will continue to stand steadfastly with the Afghan people and especially Afghan women and girls, whom it assures of its absolute solidarity."
BBC News, Afghanistan: Women’s faces become latest Taliban restriction after face veil rule, 8 May 2022
"At a press conference, the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue announced that all women would have to cover their face in public, and laid out an escalating set of punishments for anyone refusing to comply."
" In recent weeks, however, they have been introducing more hardline measures, many of them governing women's everyday lives - for example, assigning separate days for them to visit public parks to men, and barring them from undertaking longer distance journeys without a male guardian."
Al Jazeera, Afghan women deplore Taliban’s new order to cover faces in public, 8 May 2022
"While the Taliban have always imposed restrictions to govern the bodies of Afghan women, the decree is the first for this regime where criminal punishment is assigned for violation of the dress code for women. The Taliban’s recently reinstated Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice announced on Saturday that it is “required for all respectable Afghan women to wear a hijab”, or headscarf."
"Punishment was also detailed: Male guardians of offending women will receive a warning, and for repeated offences they will be imprisoned."
The Guardian, Afghanistan face veil decree: ‘I’ve lost the right to choose my clothes’, 8 May 2022
"Yet on Saturday, the Taliban’s sinisterly named ministry for the propagation of virtue ordered that Nafisa, along with millions of women across Afghanistan, should ideally not leave the house at all. If they do, they must be fully veiled and never show their faces in public."
Jurist, Afghanistan dispatch: Taliban issue severe hijab decree for Afghan women, 7 May 2022
"Law students and lawyers in Afghanistan are filing reports with JURIST on the situation there after the Taliban takeover. Here, a young lawyer reports on a new Taliban decree issued Saturday on the wearing of hijabs by Afghan women… "According to this ruling, it is “obligatory” on all “mature and noble” women in Afghanistan to cover all parts of their bodies, including their faces, except for their eyes. This is the most extremist interpretation of the hijab in the Islamic world that the Taliban intend to apply to Afghan women.""
BBC News, Taliban to force Afghan women to wear face veil, 7 May 2022
"Afghan women will have to wear the Islamic face veil for the first time in decades under a decree passed by the country's ruling Taliban militants. Any woman who refuses to comply and ignores official warnings to male members of her family could see a male guardian jailed for three days."
Al Jazeera, Taliban orders Afghan women to cover their faces in public, 7 May 2022
"Afghanistan’s supreme leader has ordered the country’s women to cover their faces in public – one of the harshest restrictions imposed on them since the Taliban seized power last year and an escalation of growing restrictions on women that is drawing a backlash from the international community and many Afghans." "Speaking to Al Jazeera, Fawzia Koofi, former Afghanistan parliament deputy speaker, said the Taliban’s decrees regarding women can only be regarded as “oppression and repression”."
The Guardian, Taliban order all Afghan women to cover their faces in public, 7 May 2022
"The Taliban have ordered all women to cover their faces in public in Afghanistan, the latest sweeping restriction by a government that has taken away women’s right to travel long distances alone, work outside healthcare or education, and receive a secondary education." In a cruel twist, the decree makes women’s relatives and employers the enforcers. If their faces are seen in public, their male “guardian” will be fined, then jailed. If the woman who goes out uncovered or her relative work for the government, they must be fired.
United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), UNAMA statement on the hijab directive by Taliban authorities, 7 May 2022
"UNAMA is deeply concerned with today’s announcement by the Taliban de facto authorities that all women must cover their faces in public, that women should only leave their homes in cases of necessity, and that violations of this directive will lead to the punishment of their male relatives. Information that UNAMA has received suggests this is a formal directive rather than a recommendation, and that it will be implemented and enforced. This decision contradicts numerous assurances regarding respect for and protection of all Afghans’ human rights, including those of women and girls, that had been provided to the international community by Taliban representatives during discussions and negotiations over the past decade. These assurances were repeated following the Taliban takeover in August 2021, that women would be afforded their rights, whether in work, education, or society at large. The international community has been eager for signals that the Taliban are ready for positive relations with the wider world. The decision six weeks ago to postpone secondary schooling for Afghan
girls was widely condemned internationally, regionally, and locally. Today’s decision by the Taliban might further strain engagement with the international community. UNAMA will immediately request meetings with the Taliban de facto authorities to seek clarification on the status of this decision. UNAMA will also engage in consultations with members of the international community regarding its implications."
US DOS, 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Afghanistan, 12 April 2022
“Women in some areas of the country said their freedom of expression in choice of attire was limited by conservative social mores and sometimes enforced by the Taliban in insurgent-controlled areas as well as by
religious leaders. […] The August Taliban takeover prompted numerous, small-scale protests by women demanding equal rights, participation in government, and access to education and employment. Taliban fighters suppressed several women’s protests by force. In the weeks immediately following the August 15 Taliban takeover, several peaceful protests were staged in cities throughout the country, primarily by women activists, without interference by the Taliban. Further protests were increasingly met with resistance and violence by the Taliban, however, and as of December the Taliban suppressed protests against the group and its policies. On September 5, a march by dozens of women towards the presidential palace calling for the right to work was broken up by the Taliban with tear gas and pepper spray. In a similar incident three days later in Kabul, the Taliban reportedly used whips and batons to suppress a group of women demonstrating for equal rights. On September 8, the Taliban issued instructions banning unauthorized assemblies, motivating civil society, particularly women, to shift their efforts behind closed doors and to online platforms. The UN Human Rights Commission stated on September 10 that peaceful protests in many parts of the country were met with an increasingly violent response by the Taliban after their takeover. The Taliban frequently used force to suppress protests, including firing live ammunition overhead to disperse crowds. […] Women active in government and politics before August 15 continued to face threats and violence and were targets of attacks by the Taliban and other insurgent groups. In September the Taliban
announced a “caretaker government,” dominated by ethnic Pashtun members with no women and only a few members of minority groups, none at the cabinet level. […] On September 17, the Taliban closed the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and announced that the reconstituted “Ministry of the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice” would be housed in its building.”
Human Rights Watch, Responding to Taliban Attacks on Women’s Rights, 30 March 2022 “March 25: Taliban begin blocking women from air travel without a male family member. March 27: Taliban issue new rules banning women from parks in Kabul four days a week.”
Tolo News, Haqqani Tells Tribal Elders to Respect Women’s Rights, 30 March 2022
“In a meeting with tribal elders from southeastern provinces, the acting Minister of Interior, Sirajuddin Haqqani, emphasized that women must be granted their Shariah rights.
The Ministry of Interior quoted Haqqani in a series of tweets as saying that they are committed to the general amnesty announced by the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate, Mawlawi Hebatullah Akhundzada.
He made the remarks in a meeting with the tribal elders from the southeastern provinces of Khost, Paktia and Paktika.
“I support you in reconciliation and jirga (council). Get over the hatred against each other,” he said.
Haqqani urged the tribal elders to take the rights of women seriously, in line with supreme leader Mawlawi Hebatullah Akhundzada's decree, and to "eliminate those traditions which are for the disenfranchisement of women."
“Both sides—the groom and bride--will benefit from it. The problems of both sides are considered. An amount of 350,000 Afs is the maximum rate of Mahr (an amount of money the groom must pay the bride for wedding),” said Anas Haqqani, a senior member of the Islamic Emirate.
This comes as international organizations have repeatedly voiced concerns over restrictions on women's activities
in social, economic and political areas since the fall of the former government.”
DW, Afghanistan: Taliban restrict women’s rights as isolation looms, 30 March 2022
“New, stricter, rules are announced almost every day. For example, since Sunday, women are only allowed to
board an airplane in the company of a man.
According to a letter sent by the Taliban to the airlines operating in Afghanistan, this applies to both domestic and international flights. However, the Associated Press reported Tuesday that woman have been traveling alone from Kabul airport, a sign that some of the Taliban's orders are being ignored.
The Taliban are also set to reintroduce a dress code calling for women to wear burqas that fully cover their bodies. Since March 29, all female employees working in government authorities and ministries have been required to cover their bodies completely.
This week, some rules for public life also became stricter. Visiting public parks, for instance, will soon be divided by gender. In the future, women will be granted access only three days a week and access to the parks will be limited to men on the remaining four days.
There are also new rules for male employees working for authorities and ministries requiring them to grow a
beard, wear traditional Afghan clothing and pray together.”
Amnesty International, Amnesty International Global Petition Calls on International Community to Stop the
Taliban’s Suppression of Women’s and Girl’s rights, 8 March 2022
“Since taking power, the Taliban have dismantled the Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). They have also blocked female employees of government institutions and NGOs from returning to work, prevented three million girls from accessing education and imposed severe restrictions on women’s and girls’ rights.”
Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2022 - Afghanistan, 28 February 2022
“The Taliban removed previous legal and institutional guarantees of equal treatment after deposing the elected government. Women who had worked in government, education, and the media were dismissed. The MVV has restricted women’s ability to travel on public transport or without a chaperone.”
The New Humanitarian, Afghanistan’s crises, by the numbers, 15 February 2022
“At home, repression and severe restrictions – on women and girls in particular – have grown since the Taliban’s August 2021 takeover, rights groups say. “We are witnessing the attempt to steadily erase women and girls from public life,” UN rights watchdogs warned.
The Taliban have explicitly sought to restrict women’s freedoms, including control over appearance.”
Bangkok Post, Afghan Women Defy Taliban, 9 February 2022
“One after the other, quickly, carefully, keeping their heads down, a group of Afghan women step into a small Kabul apartment block -- risking their lives as a nascent resistance against the Taliban. They come together to plan their next stand against the hardline Islamist regime, which took back power in Afghanistan in August and stripped them of their dreams. At first, there were no more than 15 activists in this group, mostly women in their 20s who already knew each other. Now there is a network of dozens of women –- once students, teachers or NGO workers, as well as housewives -— that have worked in secret to organise protests over the past six months. When the Taliban first ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, they became notorious for human rights abuses, with women mostly confined to their homes. Now back in government and despite promising softer rule, they are cracking down on women's freedoms once again. [...] There is enforced segregation in most workplaces, leading many employers to fire female staff and women are barred from key public sector jobs. Many girls' secondary schools have closed, and university curriculums are being revised to reflect their hardline interpretation of Islam.
Haunted by memories of the last Taliban regime, some Afghan women are too frightened to venture out or are
pressured by their families to remain at home. [...] ‘These women… had to create something from scratch,’ says Heather Barr of Human Rights Watch. ‘There are a lot of very experienced women activists who have been working in Afghanistan for many years... but almost all of them left after August 15.’ ‘(The Taliban) don't tolerate dissent.
They have beaten other protesters, they have beaten journalists who cover the protests, very brutally. They've
gone and looked for protesters and protest organisers afterwards,’ she adds. Barr believes it is ‘almost certain’ those involved with this new resistance will experience harm.”
Al Jazeera, In Afghanistan, Taliban diktat sparks debate about women’s attire, 26 January 2022
“Many Afghan women in the capital Kabul have protested against a poster campaign launched by the Taliban, encouraging women to wear a burqa or hijab. The Afghan Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice plastered posters across Kabul’s cafés and shops earlier this month to encourage the wearing of the burqa, a full-body veil that also covers the face. It did not issue an official directive. [...] Today, the streets of downtown Kabul are filled with women wearing various styles of the veil. While some dress in burqas that cover their faces, others wear headscarves and an array of mixed traditional and western fashion. [...] Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice spokesperson Muhammad Akif Muhajir told Al Jazeera that because the hijab or burqa is a “Qurani order”, Muslim women should wear it. “If Sharia orders them [women] to do something they should act upon it,” he said, adding that the hijab or burqa could be “anything that a woman uses to cover her body… a hijab or the blue burqa or in some parts women use big shawls to cover themselves”. Despite there being no policy to impose the wearing of the burqa, nor punishments for women who do not adhere to the advisory, there have been sporadic reports of Taliban soldiers trying to enforce it. [...] In protest against these restrictions – including the burqa – some Afghan women gathered to demonstrate in front of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs
last week. Videos on social media showed a small group of women denouncing various restrictions, as some ripped
a white burqa off a woman and kicked it to the ground, saying it came from “backward Pakistani and Arab
culture”.”
Operational Data Portal UNHCR (Iran), Afghanistan situation: Emergency preparedness and response in Iran, 23 January 2022
“Taliban leaders in Afghanistan are institutionalizing “large-scale and systematic gender-based discrimination and violence against women and girls”, independent UN human rights experts warned on Monday (Link). The group of around three dozen Human Rights Council-appointed experts highlighted a “wave of measures” such as barring women from returning to their jobs, requiring a male relative to accompany them in public spaces, prohibiting women from using public transport on their own, as well as imposing a strict dress code on women and girls.
“Taken together, these policies constitute a collective punishment of women and girls, grounded on gender-based bias and harmful practices,” the experts said. These policies have also affected the ability of women to work and to make a living, pushing them further into poverty. “Women heads of households are especially hard hit, with their suffering compounded by the devastating consequences of the humanitarian crisis in the country”, they explained. The experts noted the increased risk of exploitation of women and girls, including of trafficking for the purposes of child and forced marriage, as well as sexual exploitation and forced labour.”
Al Jazeera, UN: Taliban attempting to exclude women, girls from public life, 17 January 2022
“Taliban leaders in Afghanistan are institutionalising large-scale and systematic gender-based discrimination and violence against women and girls, a group of 36 UN human rights experts have said.
“We are concerned about the continuous and systematic efforts to exclude women from the social, economic, and political spheres across the country,” the experts said in a statement Monday. “These concerns are exacerbated in the cases of women from ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities such as the Hazara, Tajik, Hindu and other
communities whose differences or visibility make them even more vulnerable in Afghanistan.” The Taliban have introduced a series of restrictive measures against women and girls since the takeover of the country in August. Many women have been barred from returning to their jobs. Taxi drivers have been directed not to pick up female passengers who are not wearing a specific hijab. Women fear repercussions if they leave the house without a male relative. “These policies have also affected the ability of women to work and to make a living, pushing them further into poverty,” the experts said. “Women heads of households are especially hard hit, with their suffering compounded by the devastating consequences of the humanitarian crisis in the country.””
The Guardian, Taliban forces pepper-spray women’s rights protesters in Kabul, 16 January 2022
“Taliban forces have fired pepper spray at a group of women protesting in Afghanistan’s capital to demand rights
to work and education.(...)
About 20 women gathered in front of Kabul University on Sunday, chanting “equality and justice” and carrying banners that read “women’s rights, human rights”, an AFP correspondent reported.
The protest was later dispersed by the Taliban fighters, who arrived at the scene in several vehicles, three of the protesters told AFP. (...)
The hardline Islamist group have banned unsanctioned protests and have frequently intervened to forcefully break
up rallies demanding rights for women.”
Washington Post, Portraits of fear and loss - Taliban rule through the eyes of four women in Afghanistan, 12 January 2022
“Women who had been active in public life have hunkered down in hiding. With the economy tanking, dreams of
running businesses and getting degrees have been replaced with the daily struggle to survive.
Restrictions permeate nearly every aspect of women’s lives, despite Taliban promises to protect their rights.
Secondary schools remain closed for girls and women.
Their faces are disappearing from public life. Some didn’t even wait for Taliban orders to act. In August, at one hair salon in Kabul, photos of women on window posters were blacked over in advance to avoid attracting the
militants’ attention. In November, women were banned from appearing in television dramas.
Last month, taxi drivers were told not to accept women wishing to travel more than 45 miles without a male chaperone. But in a time of fear and uncertainty, some have faced problems walking alone even for short distances in their neighborhoods.”
Gandhara, Taliban Religious Police Erect Banners Ordering Women to Wear Islamic Hijab, 10 January 2022 “The Taliban's religious police have erected banners in Kabul that order women to wear the Islamic hijab. [...] However, the installation of the posters has provoked an angry reaction from Afghan women. [...]
One woman who lives in Nangarhar Province told RFE/RL that Afghan women "cover our faces. We do not wear chadors and hijabs. This is not our custom." [...]
"By doing this, the Taliban want to instill fear in the hearts of the people," Lina told RFE/RL. "They can rule by force and impose a foreign culture on the people. I am afraid of the day when the Taliban will whip women over their heads."”
The Guardian, Taliban stop Afghan women from using bathhouses in northern provinces, 7 January 2022
“The Taliban sparked outrage this week by announcing that women in northern Afghanistan would no longer be allowed to use communal bathhouses. The use of bathhouses, or hammams, is an ancient tradition that remains for many people the only chance for a warm wash during the country’s bitterly cold winters. Women, who regularly use the bathhouses for ritual cleaning and purification required under Islamic law, said this was another example of the Taliban tightening its grip and infringing their basic rights. They fear the ban will be extended to other parts of the country.”
Gandhara, Women protesters injured in stampede after Taliban militants fire in the air, 28 December
“A number of Afghan women have been injured in a stampede caused by Taliban guards firing in the air during a protest in Kabul against discriminatory measures including new travel restrictions on women.
“The protest on December 28 came amid rising anger -- both within the country and internationally -- over the Taliban's moves to restrict the rights of women.”
DW, Afghanistan: Taliban clamp down on women’s taxi use, 26 December
“Taliban authorities in Afghanistan on Sunday gave new guidance to taxi drivers, advising them against taking fares from women who do not follow a strict Islamic dress code by wearing the hijab, or Islamic headscarf.
“The Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice also told drivers they should not take women who
wish to travel more than 72 kilometers (45 miles) without a male relative as a chaperone.”
Al Jazeera, No long-distance travel for women without male relative: Taliban, 26 December
“In Afghanistan, the Taliban authorities say women seeking to travel long distances should not be allowed on road
transport unless they are accompanied by a close male relative.
“The guidance issued on Sunday by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which also called on vehicle owners to refuse rides to women not wearing headscarves, has drawn condemnation from rights activists.”
Al Jazeera, “We’re not giving up”: A radio station for Afghanistan’s women, 9 December 2021
“From Taliban-controlled Kabul, Radio Begum is broadcasting the voices of women that have been muted across Afghanistan.
Station staff fill the airwaves with programming for women, by women: educational shows, book readings and call- in counselling. [...]
The Taliban granted permission for the broadcaster to stay on the airwaves in September, albeit with new curbs. [...]
The Taliban is yet to formalise many of its policies, leaving gaps in how they are implemented by the group across
the country.”
Gandhara, Taliban Issues New Rules Banning Women In TV Dramas, 22 November 2021
The new eight-point set of “religious guidelines” issued on November 21 by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice are the latest restrictions on life under the Taliban.
The ministry also ordered channels not to broadcast movies, comedies, or entertainment programs that “insult” or "humiliate" individuals or are against the principles of the group’s interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan culture.
UNHCR, Afghanistan Situation Update, 8 November 2021
“The situation for women in Afghanistan remains worrying. On 6 November, the bodies of four women, including one of a women’s rights activist, were discovered in Balkh province in northern Afghanistan; the three other bodies have not yet been identified, the Balkh Information Department Director, Mawlavi Zabihullah Noorani, stated. Since mid-August, women have held regular, nationwide protests against the Taliban, demanding that their rights be restored and protected, and since September, several female activists have been reportedly detained and tortured by Taliban members. On 4 November, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Taliban rules were prohibiting most women from operating as aid workers in the country.”
Kabul Now, Female civil activists murdered in Balkh; Taliban arrest two suspects, 6 November 2021
"The Taliban security forces have arrested two suspects in Mazar-e-Sharif, capital city of the northern Balkh province, in connection to the murder of four women whose dead bodies were found last Thursday, November 04, inside a residence."
Thomson Reuters Foundation news, IN PICTURES: Four Afghan women tell of lives upturned by Taliban, 13 October 2021
“When the Taliban seized Afghanistan on Aug 15, we asked women from various professions to take a photo
marking what could be their last day of work, and to share their thoughts.
As the Taliban mark two months in power, we contacted the women to ask how their lives are now. Whether they have fled Afghanistan or stayed, all have seen dramatic changes. [...]
Shabnam Popalzi, former journalist and presenter at Parliament TV
I am at home in Kabul. All my friends are in the United States or Europe these days so I stay up until the early hours so that I can talk to them and try to find a way out of the country.
I have not left my home for weeks because I'm too scared to go out on the streets. The Taliban have taken everything from me, including the job I love.
I don't think there is any future for women like me in Afghanistan. But western countries won't help me leave because I worked for local media rather than the international media.
I've always promoted women's rights and freedom of speech. How can the international community say that they can't help me? Is this how they pay back 20 years of our efforts to build a modern Afghanistan?
It isn't fair to abandon us without a future, or to be killed by the Taliban.
Kabul has drastically changed. The coffee shops and restaurants, which used to be full of young women, are empty
- or just have male customers. There are few women on the streets and women's faces have disappeared from advertising hoardings.
Most women wear black hijabs in the street now. It's very sad.
It's a basic right to choose what you wear. I don't feel comfortable in long dresses. I prefer jeans and shirts. The
way we dress as Afghan women is part of our fight for our rights.”
United Nations, Afghanistan: ‘Palpable’ fear of ‘brutal and systemic repression’ of women grows, 21 September 2021
“Michelle Bachelet informed a high-level event on safeguarding 20 years of international engagement in Afghanistan, that women have been “progressively excluded from the public sphere”, prohibited from appearing without a male guardian and face increasing restrictions on their right to work.”
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Gandhara, Not Keeping Its Word: Afghan Woman Quits Job After Pressure From Taliban, 11 September 2021
“In some provinces, the Taliban has reportedly banned women from leaving home unless accompanied by a male relative.
No such demand was made publicly yet for women in Kabul. But the English teacher [whose name is being withheld for protection] said Taliban fighters shouted at her, "What the hell are you doing walking alone outside your home?" “
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Gandhara, Afghan Women At Forefront Of Nonviolent Resistance To Taliban, 10 September 2021
“The Taliban has advised women to largely remain indoors for their own safety. The militants have also ordered tens of thousands of former female government workers not to return to work even as their male colleagues went back.”
UNAMA, Report of the Secretary-General: The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security, 8 September 2021
“5. In a press conference on 17 August in Kabul, the Taliban, inter alia, emphasized that it had entered Kabul to prevent a security vacuum and “to ensure security of lives and property of the people”. [...] It assured women of their rights “within the framework of Sharia law”, adding that “no discrimination and violence will be committed against women”;
[...]
6. On 17 August, women marching through Kabul called upon the Taliban to respect their rights to education, work and political participation.
[...]
41. The Taliban taking control of districts had been followed by allegations of regression in the enjoyment by Afghan women and girls of their fundamental rights and freedoms, specifically access to education, access to health clinics, the right to work and freedom of movement, owing to the directive that women were to be accompanied by a male family chaperone when leaving the home and the reinstitution of strict dress code. In several locations, the Taliban had reportedly threatened that violation of those rules would result in harsh punishments. There were reports of women having been flogged and beaten in public because they had breached the prescribed rules. In one case in Balkh Province, on 3 August, a women’s rights activist was shot and killed for breaching the rules.”
Human Rights Watch, Afghan Women Protest Against Taliban Restrictions, 7 September 2021
“ “We decided to protest to demand our basic rights: the right to education, to work, and political participation. We want the Taliban to know that they cannot eliminate us from society.”
Those were the words of Arezo, a young woman from Kabul who took to the streets after the Taliban’s announcement that women would not be allowed to hold senior positions in Afghanistan’s new government. “The Taliban have told women that they have no place in the new order,” another protester said. “We told them that we want to continue working, but they say only female nurses and teachers are allowed to work. We are engineers and lawyers and we want to work in our professions, but they say we cannot and should stay at home instead.”
Protests by Afghan women against Taliban restrictions that began in Herat on September 2 have spread to Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif. On September 4, around 100 women gathered in front of the presidential palace – now the Taliban’s command center in Kabul – carrying banners and chanting slogans for an equal society.
Taliban security forces reacted violently to these protests. In Kabul they stopped the women and beat at least 10 of them. Nargis was among those beaten. She told me: “When I saw that they are badly beating one of the participants, I went to help but the Taliban soldier hit me with a metal object, and I fainted. All I remember is that there were two other women on the ground, and they were still being beaten.” Taliban officials said they detained four of their men who beat the protesters.”
BBC News, Afghanistan: Taliban accused of killing pregnant police officer, 5 September 2021
“Taliban militants in Afghanistan have shot dead a policewoman in a provincial city, witnesses have told the BBC. The woman, named in local media as Banu Negar, was killed at the family home in front of relatives in Firozkoh, the capital of central Ghor province.
The killing comes amid increasing reports of escalating repression of women in Afghanistan.
The Taliban told the BBC they had no involvement in Negar's death and are investigating the incident”
BBC News, Life in Kabul under Taliban: Where is your male escort?, 4 September 2021
“"Why are you travelling without a mahram?" the Taliban guard asks a young Afghan woman about her missing male escort.
She sits on her own in the back of a beat-up Kabul yellow taxi as it pulls up to the checkpoint marked, like all the others, by the white Taliban flag with black script.
What is allowed now in Kabul, and what is not?
The turbaned Talib, rifle slung over shoulder, tells her to call her husband. When she explains she doesn't have a phone, he instructs another taxi driver to take her home to get her husband and bring them back. Once
completed, all is resolved.”