Taliban Criminal Code Allows Child Abuse, Slavery & Executions, Says Rights Group

In separate statements issued on Wednesday, the court said the punishments were carried out in the districts of Jaghori and Deh Yak. The individuals received between 10 and 35 lashes and were sentenced to prison terms ranging from six months to one year.

According to the statements, the punishments were implemented by Taliban primary courts in Jaghori and Deh Yak after approval by the Supreme Court, and were carried out in the presence of local officials, court staff and visitors, security personnel and members of the public.

Over the past 10 days, the Taliban have publicly flogged at least 37 people across Afghanistan on various charges, according to official statements.

Despite repeated condemnation by international organisations of corporal punishment and the torture of detainees, the Taliban have continued to carry out public floggings. The group describes such punishments as the implementation of “Islamic sharia”.

The Taliban Supreme Court has previously said that in 2025 it executed at least six people and flogged 1,118 others. Human rights groups say the Taliban justice system lacks basic fair trial guarantees, including access to legal representation and independent courts.

According to the court, 1,163 individuals were jailed in the last three months. Taliban military courts handle cases involving personnel serving in military roles within the Taliban administration.

The figures were published in a report by the security and executive directorate of the Taliban Supreme Court. The report did not specify the alleged crimes, charges, length of sentences, identities of those imprisoned or the locations where they are being held.

The report said Taliban military courts also issued thousands of summonses, with some individuals reportedly contacted by telephone and ordered to appear before Taliban military and judicial authorities.

Taliban military courts have jurisdiction over cases involving employees of the ministries of defence, interior and intelligence.

In previous years, Taliban courts have tried cases involving allegations such as kidnapping, document forgery, murder and abuse of authority. In many cases, however, the Taliban have released little information about defendants, their positions, judicial proceedings or the rulings issued.

The country’s representative argued that the measure overlooks progress made under Taliban rule and lacks balance.

Speaking in Geneva on Monday, China’s representative said the resolution ignored Afghanistan’s positive developments and failed to take an impartial approach. Beijing contended that creating a new investigative body runs counter to the Council’s reform goals of improving efficiency and was adopted without its consent.

The Chinese envoy said Afghanistan had taken various measures to promote stability, drive economic growth, and improve people’s livelihoods, and that such progress should be recognized and encouraged by the international community.

At the same time, he acknowledged that Afghanistan continues to face significant challenges, including a worsening humanitarian crisis, persistent terrorist threats, and restrictions on women’s and girls’ rights.

China’s representative expressed hope that the Taliban authorities would strengthen protections for women and other vulnerable groups while calling on the international community to engage constructively rather than impose external pressure.

The report, released Monday, said the Taliban recruit children through coercion and deception, including false promises. It noted that groups such as ISIS-Khorasan and the National Resistance Front use child soldiers in direct combat, bomb-making, weapons transport, espionage and guarding bases.

According to the report, both the Taliban and ISIS-K forcibly use children for military purposes and imprison those linked to rival armed groups. Some of these children are also victims of human trafficking. The Taliban reportedly recruit boys from schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, sending them to madrassas for religious and military training. Local Taliban officials have falsified ages on identity documents to enlist underage boys

The report added that Taliban ministries and agencies under their control have taken no steps to prevent trafficking or other abuses. Instead, Taliban leaders encourage loyal families to send their sons to join the group. Armed factions in Afghanistan reportedly recruit child soldiers mostly from impoverished, rural and displaced populations.

The State Department said Taliban-run prisons often hold child trafficking victims alongside adults, exposing them to sexual abuse, forced labour and torture. Taliban police have also detained children accused of begging without investigating possible trafficking.

Bacha Bazi

The report highlighted the ongoing practice of bacha bazi, in which boys are sexually exploited by powerful men. Cases have been documented among Taliban officials and nearly all armed groups. Survivors said local commanders and elites are now the main perpetrators, though before the Taliban’s 2021 takeover, military commanders, police and government officials were also deeply involved.

Human Trafficking

The report noted that domestic trafficking in Afghanistan is more widespread than cross-border trafficking. Traffickers often indebt families, forcing women, children and men to work in industries such as brickmaking and carpet weaving. Some families, facing drug debts, sell children to traffickers, who then force them into labour or arrange marriages for underage girls.

The country’s economic collapse, climate disasters, forced deportations from neighbouring states and food insecurity have worsened vulnerability to trafficking. Many Afghans take on heavy debts to pay for migration routes through smugglers, further exposing them to exploitation.

Most trafficking victims in Afghanistan are children, forced into sectors including carpet weaving, brickmaking, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation (including bacha bazi), herding, farming, construction, poppy cultivation, salt mining, petty crime and drug trafficking.

Women and Girls

The Taliban’s restrictions on women and girls have dramatically increased their vulnerability to trafficking, child marriage and forced marriage. Widowed or female-headed households are particularly at risk. Victims of domestic violence, pushed back into unsafe family settings after the Taliban closed women’s shelters, face heightened risks.

The report also documented cases of Taliban detaining women, especially from minority groups, for not following their dress code. Some of those women later disappeared after detention.

Migrants and Refugees

Afghans seeking work abroad have been exploited by traffickers and abusive employers in Iran, Pakistan, Turkiye, the Gulf and Europe. Afghan women and girls “sold” in Afghanistan, Iran, India and Pakistan have been forced into sexual exploitation or domestic servitude by new husbands. Afghan men and boys have been subjected to forced labour in agriculture and construction, while migrant Afghan children in Europe have been abused in bacha bazi.

The report stressed that the Taliban’s return to power has heightened Afghans’ vulnerability to trafficking while simultaneously dismantling victim support networks.

Increased Vulnerability of Women and Girls

According to the report, Taliban restrictions on Afghan women and girls have sharply increased their vulnerability to trafficking, significantly heightening the risk of forced and underage marriages. Families headed by women especially widows are among the most at risk.

The report stated that women who were victims of domestic violence were forced to leave safe houses and return to their families after the Taliban’s return to power, a situation that has led to a rise in domestic abuse.

The State Department also said that the Taliban have detained women and girls from certain ethnic minority groups under the pretext of not adhering to the group’s dress code. According to the report, some women arrested for violating Taliban decrees subsequently disappeared.

The report added that members of ethnic and religious minorities including Hazara Shia, Ahmadi Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Bahais and Christians are increasingly at risk of exploitation due to threats and dangers from both the Taliban and other groups such as ISIS-Khorasan.

Exploitation of Afghan Migrants

The State Department report said some Afghan women and men pay intermediaries to help them find work in Iran, Pakistan and Europe. However, according to the report, some brokers and employers then force Afghans into labour or sex trafficking.

The report alleged that some Afghan women and girls sold in Afghanistan, India, Iran and Pakistan are exploited by their new husbands for purposes such as sex trafficking and domestic servitude.

It also noted that some women and girls have been forced into marriage as a means to escape Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

According to the report, Afghan boys and men are exploited in forced labour and debt bondage in agriculture and construction, mainly in Iran, Pakistan, Greece, Turkiye and the Gulf states.

The report further addressed the abuse and mistreatment of Afghan migrants in Iran, stating that smuggling networks transport Afghan migrants residing in Iran to Europe and then coerce them into sex trafficking or forced labour in restaurants to pay off smuggling-related debts. The report also said some Afghan traffickers exploit Afghan boys in Germany, Hungary, North Macedonia and Serbia for bacha bazi.

In a statement on Saturday the court said the pair were sentenced to three months in prison and 35 lashes each. The punishment was carried out in Pul-e-Khumri district of Baghlan province in the presence of the district court chief, clerics, officials, staff and local residents.

On the same day, the Taliban said another man and woman were flogged in public in Jaghatu district of Ghazni province on charges of “moral corruption” and also sentenced to three months’ imprisonment.

Public flogging is one of the Taliban’s standard punishments for those convicted in its courts. The lack of an independent judicial system under Taliban rule, along with the growing use of corporal punishments, has drawn widespread criticism from human rights groups.

Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, has condemned flogging as a violation of international law. He warned that cases of corporal punishment have risen sharply in 2025 and urged the Taliban to end the practice immediately.