The United Nations has once again condemned the Taliban’s systematic repression of Afghan women and girls, labeling it a form of gender-based persecution. UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif, urged the international community to adopt stronger measures—through dialogue, incentives, and accountability mechanisms—to compel the Taliban to respect human rights, particularly those of women.
Speaking at a session of the Human Rights Council, Al-Nashif expressed deep alarm over the worsening human rights crisis in Afghanistan. She underscored that bans on women’s education, employment, and participation in political, social, and civic life have devastated nearly every dimension of Afghan women’s existence.
She highlighted that barring women from medical education has stripped them not only of career opportunities but also of the ability to provide essential health and reproductive care, robbing Afghan society of desperately needed services.
The Deputy High Commissioner further criticized the Taliban’s notorious “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” law, which entrenches systemic gender discrimination at both family and community levels. She called for an urgent reversal of these oppressive policies.
Al-Nashif emphasized that accountability for Taliban abuses must be comprehensive and multidimensional. Beyond criminal justice, she said, transitional justice approaches; including the search for truth, reparations for victims, and guarantees against repetition, are essential.
She urged UN member states to devise effective ways of engaging with the Taliban that would bind the group to international obligations, while supporting independent investigations into human rights violations in Afghanistan.
Recently, the Taliban’s Supreme Leader went even further, banning women and girls from religious education; an unprecedented move in Afghan history, as no cultural or religious tradition in the country had ever objected to women learning about their faith. This ban came alongside other repressive measures, including expelling Afghan women from UN compounds, prohibiting them from humanitarian and relief work during the recent earthquake, and further tightening restrictions on their participation in public life.
