On October 5, the International Criminal Court (ICC) unsealed arrest warrants for four senior Taliban officials. They include Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Education Minister Habibullah Agha, and Higher Education Minister Neda Mohammad Nadim. The warrants were issued in July 2025 but had remained sealed. The ICC says there are […]
Afghan Women Are Restricted, But They Cannot Be Silenced. They Continue to Be Agents of Change in Afghanistan.
Afghan women have been living under one of the most repressive systems in the world, as the Taliban continue to impose restrictive edicts – over 160 in total to date. These orders restrict their ability to work, attend school, move freely and even leave their homes without a male guardian. Yet despite the barriers the […]
Five Years Later, Girls in Afghanistan Are Still Waiting For School Doors To Open
For five years, girls above sixth grade have been barred from classrooms, making Afghanistan the only country in the world where girls are banned from secondary and higher education. The ban was initially said to be a temporary measure but has now defined half a decade of life for millions of Afghan girls. For them, […]
Nepal’s Floods Are Putting Women and Girls at Greater Risk
As devastating floods continue to affect communities across Nepal, women and girls are facing increased risks of hunger, violence, exploitation, and displacement. On August 26, a devastating flash flood struck Nepal, destroying homes, roads, bridges and critical infrastructure across several regions near the Nepal-Tibet border. More than 500 people have been killed, nearly 1,000 remain […]
No Girls and women in Classrooms. No Women in Health Clinics. Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis Deepens by the Day.
It has been five years since women and girls in Afghanistan have been among the primary targets of the Taliban regime. Their rights to go to school, go to work, and even leave their homes have been taken away. A direct consequence of these restrictions is a crumbling health system, under pressure from a lack […]
Support Is Growing in the Push to Recognize Gender Apartheid as a Crime Against Humanity
The movement for the rights and freedom of Afghan women and girls is picking up momentum in the halls of the United Nations. Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) and other feminist civil society leaders and activists are currently engaged in the historic process of negotiations for a crimes against humanity treaty, which will provide a formal […]
UN Experts: Five Years On, the World Must Not Normalize Taliban Rule
Five years is a short period in a country’s history. For a child, it’s a lifetime. That’s the framing more than two dozen UN human rights experts used in a joint statement marking five years since the Taliban’s return to power. For Afghan women and girls, it’s the clearest measure of what’s been lost – […]
The Secret Classrooms of Afghanistan Demand Our Support
Imagine, for one second, you are achieving new milestones, engaging in relevant conversations with peers, and even learning a new language. And then one day, all of that is instantly stripped away. You are now fearful at every corner you turn, scared someone may be right behind you, as you make the life-threatening journey to […]
The EU Cannot Champion Human Rights While Welcoming the Taliban
The European Union has long positioned itself as a global champion of human rights, democracy, gender equality, and the rule of law. These principles have shaped its foreign policy and underpinned its criticism of governments and non-state actors that violate fundamental freedoms. Reports that the EU recently invited Taliban representatives to Brussels and issued visas […]
Women in Afghanistan Face Mounting Barriers to Healthcare Under Taliban Rule
“I begged them, my daughter was dying.” These words were a plea from a mother, Zarin Gul, whose pregnant daughter, Nasrin, was suffering excruciating pains that required immediate attention from a health facility. However, on their way to the health center, they were stopped by a Taliban checkpoint due to a lack of a male […]
Taliban Dress Code Crackdown in Afghanistan Sparks Protests, Arrests, and Condemnation
On June 6 and 7, officials from the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, commonly known as the morality police, detained dozens of women in western Afghanistan’s Herat Province for alleged dress code violations. Witnesses and residents reported that many of the women arrested were already fully covered and complied […]
Child Marriage Surges as Gaza’s Humanitarian Crisis Deepens
Desperate times can call for desperate measures, like in war-torn Gaza, where suffering is rampant amongst the ruins of buildings and lives. This suffering may look like extreme hunger or flooded tents once called home, or entire families killed and maimed in the constant bombings and airstrikes by the Israeli government. According to a detailed […]
New Report Details Systematic Violations of Women’s Rights Under Taliban Rule, Urges Global Accountability
A new report released by the Tufts University’s Feinstein International Center is intensifying calls for international accountability, concluding that the Taliban’s governance in Afghanistan is in direct and systematic violation of global legal obligations to protect women and girls. The report, Legal Commitments, Systemic Violations: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Taliban and CEDAW Obligations in […]
New Taliban Law Legalizes Child Marriage and Further Restricts Women’s Rights
A newly published Taliban family law regulation is further institutionalizing discrimination and oppression against Afghan women and girls by codifying unequal rights in marriage, divorce, and family matters. The law also effectively removes Afghanistan’s previous minimum marriage age for girls by linking eligibility for marriage to puberty, which can begin as early as age nine. […]
Uncertainty and Pressure: Afghans Who Aided the U.S. Fear Return to Afghanistan or Congo
Afghan refugees who have helped U.S. officials living at a former U.S. military base in Qatar have been left with an incredibly difficult decision: go back to Afghanistan under the Taliban or relocate to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The New York Times reported that the Trump Administration has been participating in talks with the […]
UN Experts: Ban on Afghan Women Working With the UN Undermines Aid and Women’s Survival
UN experts are calling for the immediate reversal of Taliban policies that prevent Afghan women from working at or even entering United Nations offices as they warn that the ban is not only a violation of women’s rights but is also worsening Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis. According to UN experts, Afghan women, including UN staff, contractors, […]
Afghanistan Faces Growing Crises as Aid Cuts, Regional Conflict, and Diplomatic Uncertainty Deepen Civilian Suffering
Afghanistan is being pulled deeper into crisis, not by a single event but by a convergence of decisions and conflicts that continue to narrow the space for survival and accountability. In recent weeks, developments at the United Nations, renewed cross-border violence with Pakistan, and escalating conflict across the Middle East have combined to place extraordinary […]
UN Report: Taliban Policies Are Driving a Health and Human Rights Crisis for Women in Afghanistan
A new report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, warns that Taliban policies targeting women and girls are pushing the country toward a worsening health and human rights crisis. The report presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council focuses on the right to health and […]
Taliban Criminal Code Authorizes Beating of Wives as Long as It Does Not “Break Bones”
The Taliban recently enacted a sweeping new penal code that explicitly permits husbands to physically punish their wives and children, as long as the abuse does not result in broken bones or open wounds The provision is embedded in a sweeping 119-article decree signed in January by Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and circulated to courts […]
Taliban Order Gender Segregation in Hospital Operating Rooms Across Afghanistan
The Taliban have issued a new directive ordering teaching hospitals across Afghanistan to fully segregate male and female medical staff in operating rooms, a move that health professionals warn will further weaken an already strained healthcare system. The Taliban enforced the same policy when they were in power in the late 1990s until they were […]