Afghan women’s rights activists on Tuesday submitted a shadow report to a United Nations committee, documenting what they called systematic discrimination and repression of women and girls under Taliban rule.
The report was delivered to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) during a session attended by Afghanistan’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, human-rights organisations and members of the committee.
Fawzia Koofi, a former deputy speaker of Afghanistan’s parliament and one of the delegates, told Afghanistan International the report assesses women’s political participation, access to education and healthcare, and other basic rights. She said the document was reviewed in detail and will now be circulated to CEDAW states parties for comment.
Koofi urged Germany, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands to accelerate efforts to refer the Taliban to the International Court of Justice, warning that the human-rights situation is deteriorating. The four governments have signalled they will file a case unless conditions for Afghan women improve.
Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, women have been barred from most public, educational, political and economic spheres, measures Koofi said violate Articles 7 and 8 of CEDAW, which guarantee women’s full participation in public life.
Participants in Tuesday’s meeting voiced deep concern over ongoing, organised rights violations and called for coordinated international pressure on the Taliban to meet its treaty obligations.
Afghanistan acceded to CEDAW in 2003, committing to align domestic laws with the convention and to file periodic progress reports. The former Afghan government submitted reports in 2011 and 2019. With no internationally recognised government now in place, a coalition of women activists compiled and presented this year’s assessment on Afghanistan’s behalf.
