In a report, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan said that there has been widespread and systematic discrimination against women and girls in Afghanistan since the Taliban took power in 2021.
However, despite all restrictions, the report highlighted the resilience and strength of Afghan women in the face of such repressive conditions and to continue to exercise their rights through creative, peaceful initiatives.
The report expressed concern that gender persecution is occurring in Afghanistan under the Taliban which constitutes a war crime.
It added that the Taliban are severely depriving women and girls of their fundamental rights, including their rights to substantive equality, quality education, equal participation in economic, social, and political life, equality before the law, freedom from torture and other inhumane acts, freedom from discrimination and freedom of movement, peaceful assembly, and of association and expression.
It also emphasised that the Taliban is punishing those who transgress its rights-violating edicts, enforcing severe deprivation of fundamental rights through acts or crimes of violence, such as arbitrary detention, torture, or inhuman or degrading treatment.
It stressed that the Taliban had physically and sexually tortured activists protesting discrimination and exclusion of women after their arrest.
The ban on higher education and work in the first months of Taliban rule sparked protests by women in different cities in Afghanistan. By resorting to violence, however, the Taliban was able to stop the spread of women's protests.
Bennett in his report said, "Women protesters were brutally beaten. These victims were subjected to gender-based violence, including sexual violence, and torture."
Female activists were later released but did not continue their protests or leave the country despite the Taliban's increasing discrimination and violence against women.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights said women protesters were released from Taliban prisons on condition that they "give up their protest activities and remain silent about how [the Taliban] treated them as well as the payment of [the group's] money."
The report did not elaborate on the "payment" issue.
Men who protested the Taliban's policies on the streets along with women were also mistreated by the Taliban, the report said.
The report referred to the systematic discrimination against women and girls in Afghanistan by citing the relentless issuance of at least 50 edicts, decrees, declarations and directives restricting their rights.
It added that every aspect of a woman’s life is being restricted under the guise of morality and through the instrumentalisation of religion.
The report asked the Taliban to rescind all discriminatory edicts and instructions issued against women and girls since August 2021, including education and work rights and ensure equal representation and meaningful participation of women and girls.
It also urged the group to desist from committing threats of or acts of violence, including arbitrary detention, sexual abuse, or any form of torture, ill-treatment or punishment against women and girls for allegedly violating the edicts or for protesting peacefully and investigate cases of violence against women.
The report urged United Nations to maintain a commitment to the secure employment of female Afghan staff and ensure ethnic diversity; ensure women’s equal and meaningful participation in different forms of dialogue with the Taliban and continue to take concrete steps towards supporting protection from and accountability for the grave and systematic violations of women’s and girls’ human rights.
The report added women have been excluded from the Taliban's "male, mainly Pashtun" rule. “Taliban have established an entirely masculine and predominantly Pashtun government in Afghanistan and has largely driven women out of the state and society structure,” it stated.
This was while in the last government, women held 27 percent of seats in parliament, 22 percent of seats in the Senate, and 30 percent of civil service seats, and in the executive branch, independent commissions and judiciary played key roles.
It also asked other international players to ensure that the situation of human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan is central to all policy decisions and engagement with the Taliban while ensuring that there is equal and meaningful participation of Afghan women in all deliberations. It also added that stated should grant support and protection to all Afghan women and girls who are outside Afghanistan, and take measures to ensure their long-term security, including by granting them refugee, protective or regular status, facilitating their safe resettlement, and expanding the provision of educational scholarships and mental health services.
