What are the challenges to moving freely within the country?
Statement for the Security Council Briefing on the Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan, 20 December 2022
“Electricity payments to the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation have allowed the UN Humanitarian Air Service to make more than 4,000 domestic and international flights in and out of Kabul this year, transporting more than 24,000 humanitarian workers to multiple locations across the country.”
UNHCR, Afghanistan: Protection Analysis Update: Update on post conflict and climate-related protection risks trends, December 2022, 14 December 2022
“Widespread protection risks persist in Afghanistan as a consequence of the continuing humanitarian and economic crisis, as well as due to shrinking protection spaces particularly for women, girls, and other vulnerable groups. The human rights situation has been exacerbated by conflict, forced eviction, bureaucratic access impediments, as well as natural disasters like earthquakes and flooding. This has a devastating effect on population coping capacities and vulnerabilities, which is escalating the impact of existing protection risks. During this quarter, de facto authorities (DfA) continued threatened and actual forced eviction of people living in informal settlements both on public and private land. Moreover, following the armed clashes between Mawlawi Mehdi Mujahid, Hazara Commander and DFA forces, more than 3,000 families were displaced from Balkhab district and fled to mountainous areas and neighbouring districts and provinces. By mid-July most of the affected families had returned to their villages, and reportedly the majority were forced to return by the authorities. The limitations on movement of women go far beyond the mere issue of ability to move, and present grave implications for women who are struggling to support their families, especially those women who are breadwinners or the heads of their families. The DfA are increasingly asserting their control over the provision of humanitarian assistance and using bureaucratic mechanisms to influence humanitarian service provision. This is leading to protection risks for affected population and a worsening complex operating environment for NGOs. The protection risks requiring immediate attention in the period covered by this analysis are: Discrimination and stigmatization, denial of resources, opportunities, services and/or humanitarian assistance Unlawful Impediments or restrictions to freedom of movement and forced displacement/eviction Psychological and inflicted distress Presence of mines and other explosive ordnance Forced and child marriage”
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.”
Afghan Voice Agency, “Charity trains” left for Afghanistan from Turkey, 25 August 2022
“When the sixth consignment arrives in Afghanistan, a total of 1.25 million Afghans will have received aid carried by the trains, 17 in total, AFAD added.
This comes amid an ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan exacerbated by recent flash floods across a wide stretch of the country that has left at least 182 people dead and thousands of homes destroyed or damaged in the past month.”
IOM, movements In And Out Of Afghanistan: 1 August to 15 August 2022, 23 August 2022
“Acknowledging the deep rooted generosity of the people and the governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistan for hosting millions of Afghan migrants and refugees for over 4 decades, this document captures present mobility and displacement trends between Afghanistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistan. The movements from the Islamic Republic of Iran into Afghanistan increased, of which (67%) were male and (33%) were female. During this reporting period, 47% of all crossings of Afghan nationals from the Islamic Republic of Iran to Afghanistan were deportations. The remains of 48 Afghan nationals, who reportedly died due to accidents and natural causes, were repatriated during the reporting weeks. (The number of individuals crossing into Islamic Republic of Iran from Afghanistan can vary from those reported by UNHCR). During this reporting period, crossings from Pakistan to Afghanistan were observed, averaging a daily inflow of 8,907 individuals (Pakistani nationals with Afghanistan visa, Afghan nationals with valid passport and Pakistani visa, Afghan nationals with ACC/POR card holders and 1,038 undocumented individuals. A majority of Afghan nationals returned from Pakistan after visiting family or conducting business. Movements from Afghanistan into Pakistan increased when compared to the last two weeks. Afghan patients who required medical treatment in Pakistan, along with 1,331 who were attendants (person who accompanies a sick person/patient). The number tripled for Afghans who fled their countries of origin in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict. The number has quadrupled for the individuals moved abroad. The number has
doubled for the Afghan population who have returned to the assessed locations after having spent at least six months abroad.”
Khaama Press, Running Away from Home: Taliban Arrests Three Girls in Western Afghanistan, 23 August 22
“Three young girls have reportedly been arrested by Herat policewomen for the crime of home escape, according to local Taliban authorities in the western Afghan province of Herat. These three girls were reportedly taken into custody from the 6th district of Herat city, the provincial capital, according to the Taliban government’s office of the chief of police in Herat. The case concerning the three young girls has reportedly been brought before the appropriate judicial agencies and authorities in Herat for consideration. The Herat police chief’s office, however, provided no further information regarding the reasons why the three girls left their homes. A boy and a girl from the fifth district of Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan were earlier arrested by Taliban security officers on grounds of running away from home. Afghan women have been subjected to forced marriages and domestic violence, and Human Rights Watch reports that up to 70% of cases of “running away” from home are related to fleeing forced marriage or domestic violence.”
The Guardian, ‘I daren’t go far’ Taliban rules trap women with no male guardian, 15 August 2022
“Those without a male relative to act as a mahram are in legal limbo and unable to travel long distances
But she cannot take them out of the country to finish their education because she is a divorced single mother, and women are barred from long-distance travel without a male “guardian” to escort them.
Wazhma* lies awake worrying what she will do if her sick, elderly mother needs emergency medical help at night. Her father is dead, she is unmarried and her teenage sister is disabled.
She is terrified that as women out alone at night, even on their way to a hospital, they would be stopped and harassed by the Taliban.
Most Afghan women have had to learn to endure new restrictions and controls over the last year, but there is one group whose lives have been particularly curtailed.
Women who live in households without a close male relative, whether through tragedy, circumstance or choice, now exist in a legal limbo, because they do not have a close male relative to act as a mahram, or “guardian”.
In the Taliban’s extremist reimagining of Afghanistan, women are not fully autonomous citizens of their own country. Instead a man is deemed responsible for their presence in public, including how they dress and where they travel. Officially, any woman travelling more than 75km (46 miles) or leaving the country needs a mahram. If a woman is found to have broken the Taliban’s dress codes, their male relatives face punishment.
The rules have been enforced sporadically, with some officials turning a blind eye to solo travel. Raihana* was barred from boarding a plane earlier this year for a work trip but says women have since been allowed back in the air alone. “It was in March, they had just circulated the new notice that no woman can travel to another city without a mahram. I wasn’t allowed to board the plane, and had to wait in the airport for two to three hours, with 20 or 30 other women,” she said. “This went on for a few weeks then they abolished [the rule]. Now we can travel again.”
But many others across Afghanistan have reported restrictions on women’s movements that go far beyond the official regulations. They told the Guardian that Taliban fighters have barred them from even short journeys, including commuting to work, sometimes using indirect tactics such as threatening drivers who take solo female passengers.
Health workers said they had personal experience of women being barred from accessing medical help without a
mahram in at least two districts, one in central Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province and one in southern Helmand. […]
The mahram rule has also contributed to an economic catastrophe for families without adult men, amid a broader economic collapse. The regulations make it harder or more frightening for women to find jobs, or commute to work.” Amnesty International (Afghanistan), Afghanistan: Death in slow motion: Women and girls under Taliban rule, 27 July 2022
"In December 2021, the Ministry of Vice and Virtue issued guidance indicating that women must be accompanied by a mahram, or male chaperone, for journeys longer than 72km. Taliban official Zabiullah Mujahid said in a
previous interview that the Taliban’s mahram requirements would not apply for daily activities such as traveling to work or school. However, this statement was undermined by a decree issued on 7 May 2022 by the Ministry of Vice and Virtue that required women to cover their faces in public and stipulated that they should not leave their homes unless necessary. The Taliban have also instructed airlines to prevent women from flying domestically and internationally without a mahram and they have ordered driving instructors in Herat to cease giving driving lessons and licenses to women."
"Taliban restrictions on movement also have the potential to pressure women and girls to enter into marriage, whether by their own choice or as a result of pressure or coercion from their family members. One
woman who was arbitrarily arrested for being in public with a man who was not her mahram, explained: “If you want to go outside, you have to have a father, brother or husband with you… A father can’t always go out with the daughter, a brother might be busy... This will pressure girls and women to marry, just so that they always have a mahram.”"
International Rescue Committee (IRC), One year on: How the IRC expanded our impact in Afghanistan, 8 August 2022 “In 2021, the IRC supported health facilities around the country by providing personal protective equipment (PPE) to clinics to prepare them against COVID-19. We also trained health care workers on infection prevention measures and community volunteers to identify symptoms and refer people to clinics for treatment. Now, the IRC is supporting 62 health clinics in 11 provinces, and programming includes the delivery of malnutrition services, responding to deadly cholera outbreaks, and maternal and reproductive health.
We also have a network of 31 mobile health teams, who can travel to remote communities to deliver lifesaving medical assistance. After a June earthquake hit a remote area in the southeast, IRC staff formed an all-female mobile health team that was able to quickly deploy to people who had been injured and provide first aid support. “The proudest point in my job is serving my people—the people of Afghanistan,” said Amna Gul, an IRC health manager who helped create the all-female team. “Especially the women who are not able to go to health care facilities because of transportation, financial conditions and Mahram [needing a male chaperone to receive care from a male health care worker].”
Amnesty International (Afghanistan), Afghanistan: Death in slow motion: Women and girls under Taliban rule, 27 July 2022
"In December 2021, the Ministry of Vice and Virtue issued guidance indicating that women must be accompanied by a mahram, or male chaperone, for journeys longer than 72km. Taliban official Zabiullah Mujahid said in a
previous interview that the Taliban’s mahram requirements would not apply for daily activities such as traveling to work or school. However, this statement was undermined by a decree issued on 7 May 2022 by the Ministry of Vice and Virtue that required women to cover their faces in public and stipulated that they should not leave their homes unless necessary. The Taliban have also instructed airlines to prevent women from flying domestically and internationally without a mahram and they have ordered driving instructors in Herat to cease giving driving lessons and licenses to women."
"Taliban restrictions on movement also have the potential to pressure women and girls to enter into marriage, whether by their own choice or as a result of pressure or coercion from their family members. One
woman who was arbitrarily arrested for being in public with a man who was not her mahram, explained: “If you want to go outside, you have to have a father, brother or husband with you… A father can’t always go out with the daughter, a brother might be busy... This will pressure girls and women to marry, just so that they always have a mahram.”"
Khaama Press, 52 People Killed and Injured in Southern Afghanistan As Passenger Bus Overturns, 26 July 2022 “The incident comes at a time when the Afghanistan Meteorology Department issued two warnings, labeling Zabul province with other provinces, this week for heavy rainfall and flash floods.
Drivers’ negligence has resulted in considerable human loss in Afghanistan and traffic incidents associated with the
fault of the driver have increased in recent months.”
ToloNews, Poverty, Govt Restrictions Affects Kabul Parkgoers, 12 July 2022
"Numbers of visitors at the parks in the capital city of Kabul have fallen as recent restrictions have been imposed by the Islamic Emirate.
The residents of Kabul who come to the parks for picnics said new restrictions imposed by the Islamic Emirate are the main reason for the reduction of visitors to the parks."
EurasiaNet, Islamic State threatens Central Asian and Chinese ventures in Afghanistan, 6 July 2022
“[…] Tashkent’s ambition to build a railway across Afghanistan that would connect Uzbekistan to ports in Pakistan and link Central Asia to new markets [threatened by] Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) – the terror group’s local branch, which has claimed a volley of atrocities targeting civilians across Afghanistan in the last year –
has vowed to kill anyone working on it. […] It is not only the trans-Afghanistan railway in Islamic State’s crosshairs. ISKP-linked social media accounts are pouring scorn on the prospective Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project.”
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) (Afghanistan) Humanitarian
Response (Afghanistan), Afghanistan: Emergency Earthquake Response Plan (Jul - Sep 2022), 30 June 2022
"Staffing of female humanitarians is particularly difficult given pre-existing limited numbers of women staff and restrictions on women’s movements without a Mahram."
The Norwegian Country of Origin Information Centre Land info, Country info response Afghanistan: the situation for Afghan women after Taliban takeover, 22 June 2022
"Women cannot travel alone. Already in December 2021 came the directive that women who travel longer than 72km. must be accompanied by a male family member (BBC News 2021). From different parts of the country it is reported that women have been denied health care because they did not has male companion (mahram). Women who visit health centers with the sick children, are rejected because they come unaccompanied (Nader & Amini 2022). Another measure that restricts women's freedom of movement is that they no longer receive it driver's license (Free Press Journal 2022). Furthermore, the Taliban has banned that women can fly without a male companion. The order for a companion applies to both domestic and international flights. The airlines were informed of the restrictions in a letter from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Reuters 2022)."
Tolo News, Travelers Face Trouble at Spin Boldak, Chaman Crossings, 21 June 2022
“According to people interviewed by TOLOnews, residents who live near the Durand Line, particularly people living in nearby Qila Abdullah and Chaman, can cross with either with Kandahar-issued or Pakistani ID cards, while other Afghans with legal documents must wait several days. Bismillah, who is a resident of Ghazni, said that he has tried twice to cross into Pakistan but has not been allowed. “We were not allowed, we were told that we should have a passport or a sick visa in order to pass at the crossing," said Bismillah, a resident of Ghazni. "Yesterday I went three times to the crossing, they sent us back, there were women also with us, they mistreated us and also the women. They threw away our IDs,” Abdul Rahman Shah, a resident of Uruzgan, told TOLOnews. According to residents of Kandahar, sometimes even those residents of Kandahar who have ID cards and legal documents cannot cross.
Citizens asked the Islamic Emirate to solve the problem permanently. "This is the third time that we have gone, they send us back and do not accept our Kandahar ID cards and they are not allowing us through," said Khan Wali, a resident of Kandahar. Meanwhile, local officials in Kandahar said that they are trying to solve this problem through dialogue with Pakistani officials. "We have talked to the Pakistani officials about this problem so that all the people of Afghanistan can move freely so that there is no gap between them and their relatives," said Hafiz Esmatullah, an official.”
AVA, Kabul, Tehran want Khawaf-Herat railroad completed, 15 June 2022
“A delegation of the Afghan Railway Authority (ARA) led by Mullah Bakhtulrahamn Sharafat head of the department and Iranian railway authorities have discussed work on the third portion of the Khaf-Herat railroad. RA in a statement received by BNA said that the two sides during a meeting discussed the resumption of work on the third portion of Herat-Khaf railway transportation via the track. The source said that the Iranian side assured of its preparedness to resume work on the remaining portion of the railway and use the route for transportation.
Meanwhile, the ARA head thanked the Iranian side for their cooperation and emphasized the continuation of such meetings in the future for better coordination on the railway construction process. Iranian Urban Affairs Minister Rustam Qasami directed relevant organs of his country to complete work on the remaining parts of the Herat- Khawaf railroad and put it to use before the arrival of winter this year. Herat-Khawaf is a standard railway that connects Khaf in Iran to the Herat province of Afghanistan. The railway is divided into four potions two of which are in Iran and the rest are in Afghanistan.”
UNOCHR, Oral update on Afghanistan Statement by Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 15 June 2022
“The enforcement of a strict hijab rule continues; barriers are in place for women’s access to employment, including for female NGO workers performing their duties; there are no opportunities for women to participate in public and political life; and their freedom of movement has been severely restricted. Let me be clear: what we are witnessing today in Afghanistan is the institutionalised, systematic oppression of women. Limiting women’s freedom of movement negatively impacts almost all aspects of their lives, including the ability of women and their children to access and to participate in health services, livelihood and humanitarian aid.”
AVA, High Fuel Prices in Kabul, 14 June 2022
“The price of fuel, and also the price of taxi fares, have surged, causing a strain for many who are struggling to make ends meet amid an economic crisis. […] The taxi drivers said that the price of one liter of diesel is 100 Afs, which caused a surge in the taxi fare as well.”
AVA, PM Shehbaz Sharif approves new transit visa policy for Afghans, 13 June 2022
“Pakistan’s Prime Minister has approved a new on arrival visa policy for Afghan nationals going abroad via Pakistan. Afghan Voice Agency(AVA)_Monitoring, Salman Sufi, head of the Prime Minister’s Strategic Reforms Initiatives, said that under the new policy a transit visa of 30 days would be issued within 24 hours by the Pakistan government to Afghan nationals, Dawn newspaper reported. The official said that upon the receipt of such a request from the host embassy in Pakistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) would immediately process the request for transit visa of up to 30 days. “Thereafter, upon the receipt of the immigration approval, embassy of the host country will intimate (MoFA) and the ministry will forward the case to the interior ministry for clearance within 24 hours,” he said. Sharif meanwhile said on Sunday the new Afghan visa policy is part of the Pakistani
government’s efforts to continue helping “our Afghan brothers in their hour of need.” “Grant of transit visa will help them complete paperwork for onward travel. International community should also lend a helping hand to people of Afghanistan,” Sharif said on Twitter.”
Gandhara, Taliban Accused of Forced Evictions As Fighting Intensifies In Northern Afghanistan, 7 June 2022 "PARWAN, Afghanistan -- Armed Taliban fighters stopped at Ahmad’s home last week, ordering his family of six to immediately leave their village in Afghanistan’s northern province of Baghlan.
“They didn’t even allow us to take any of our belongings,” Ahmad, who did not reveal his real name for fear of retribution, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. He said the Taliban fighters forced his family into a military vehicle in the Pol-e Hesar district and dropped them off in another area of the province.
Ahmad and his family are among the hundreds of civilians that have been forcibly evicted from their homes in recent weeks in Baghlan, the scene of intensifying clashes between the Taliban and resistance forces, residents and activists say.
The recent surge in fighting in Baghlan and the neighboring province of Panjshir has prompted allegations of widespread Taliban abuses, including extrajudicial killings of civilians, torture, and forced displacement."
" Zabihullah Farahmand, an activist in Baghlan, said the Taliban has forcibly evicted at least 50 families from their homes in the districts of Pol-e Hesar, Deh Salah, and Andarab in recent weeks. The districts comprise the long, narrow Andarab Valley. "They have been forcibly relocated by the Taliban and no assistance has been provided to these refugees,” says Farahmand. “These families find refuge in other northern provinces with a lot of hardship. They need help and care."
AREU, Afghanistan Covid-19 Poverty Report, 1 June 2022
"Access to health facilities is widely reported, though treatment costs and transportation disruptions have had an impact on people seeking treatment. Many respondents sought treatment, though most emphasised the effect of the costs of these treatments on their households’ economic security, as well as lost time in employment and day labour. One respondent reported avoiding treatment due to misinformation about the dangers of attending a health facility for Covid-19."
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 notes that, since August 2021, armed hostilities in most parts of the country ceased and there was a consequent reduction in conflict-related casualties. This also resulted in increased access in the country for Afghans and humanitarian agencies, and more predictability especially in rural communities, although women’s freedom of movement has been progressively restricted.”
UNOCHA, Afghanistan: Humanitarian Access Severity Overview (April 2022), 26 May 2022
“Key Findings (as of March 2022)
Consolidating access severity scores across all humanitarian partner groups – UN Agencies, International NGOs and National NGOs – reveals that from the 401 districts across Afghanistan, the level of access constraints were found to be:
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High in 19 districts (representing 5 per cent of all districts).
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Moderate in 93 districts (23 per cent).
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Lower in 289 districts (72 per cent).
Interferences by the de facto Taliban authorities are the most common impediments faced by all humanitarian partners, including for those ranked with lower access constraints. 82 per cent of the districts across Afghanistan face high (32) and medium (297) priority of needs, 26 per cent of which are also perceived to have high (14) and moderate (70) access constraints. Findings in this document thus reveal that while physical access has markedly improved since August 2021 - mainly due to the significant reduction in armed conflict - various access constraints nevertheless persist, with varying impact on humanitarian actors ability to implement programmes and deliver assistance and services. Note that 1) the mere existence of an access impediment according to the criteria - such as the establishment of a checkpoint - does not necessarily slow down or hinder the response; and 2) the perception of quality of access is informed by severity and the magnitude of the potential impact on affected people and humanitarian staff, and not just by frequency (which speaks to the low perception of access constraints compared to the high number of impediments reported).”
US DOS, 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Afghanistan, 12 April 2022
“The pre-August 15 government’s law provided for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation. The pre-August 15 government generally respected these rights. The Taliban generally respected these rights for citizens with sufficient identity documentation, including passports, but they prevented certain political figures associated with previous administrations from travelling abroad. Restrictions were also placed on women’s in-country movements. […] After the Taliban takeover in August, intercity travel was generally
unobstructed. On December 26, the Taliban announced that women could not engage in long-distance travel without a mahram. Within populated areas, women could move more freely, although there were increasingly frequent reports of women without a mahram being stopped and questioned.”
Ariana News, Afghanistan, Pakistan to establish cross-border bus services, 12 March 2022
“Afghanistan’s Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation said on Saturday that passenger bus services between Afghanistan and Pakistan will be rolled out in the near future and will initially run between Kandahar and Quetta; and Nangarhar and Peshawar. According to officials, private bus companies from both countries will provide the services. Five Afghan and five Pakistani companies will provide services for passengers. We want to expand such transit and transport services with other neighboring countries,” said Amamudin Ahmadi, spokesman for the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation.Members of the Afghanistan transport companies association welcomed the move but said government needs to establish similar services to other neighboring countries.”
Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2022 - Afghanistan, 28 February 2022
“The Taliban impose few direct restrictions on freedom of movement within the country. However, intrusive checkpoints, designed to ensnare suspected opponents and enforce Taliban codes, can make movement hazardous. Freedom of movement for women is restricted, with the MVV restricting how far they can travel unaccompanied. Women who do not wear clothing that abides by the ministry’s guidance can be prohibited from entering vehicles.”