Afghanistan Women’s Rights Watch, in cooperation with the Türkiye-based ARSA Association, says it documented 411 cases of rights violations against women and girls in Afghanistan in 2025, according to the group’s annual report.
As part of the research, the organisation recorded around 300 cases described as “direct violence against women” attributed to the Taliban.
The report, titled From Marginalisation to Erasure, was launched on Saturday, 14 February, in Kayseri, Türkiye, during an event attended by academics, civil society representatives, and Afghan and Turkish women’s rights activists.
The organisation said the findings were compiled from victims’ testimonies as well as multiple credible international documents.
According to the report, at least 76 cases of what it described as “intentional killings” of women and girls were recorded in 2025, though it did not provide details about the perpetrators. The highest number of killings, 16 cases, was reported in Nangarhar province.
The research also documented more than 30 cases of suicide and self-immolation among women and girls over the past year.
At least three cases of sexual violence in Taliban detention centres were recorded, two of them in Balkh province, the report said.
Zakera Hekmat, head of Afghanistan Women’s Rights Watch, said during the event that addressing systematic violence against Afghan women is not only a domestic issue but a global responsibility.
She criticised what she described as the silence and inaction of the international community in response to continuing violations of the fundamental rights of women and girls during four years of Taliban rule, warning that such inaction risks reinforcing policies that exclude women from Afghanistan’s social, educational and political life.
Bulut Reyhanoglu, a Turkish filmmaker and global solidarity ambassador advocating for Afghan women, said the systematic exclusion of Afghan women from public life has created a gender crisis extending beyond Afghanistan’s borders.
He called on the international community to take practical steps beyond diplomatic engagement to protect the fundamental rights of Afghan women, warning that continued silence risks normalising gender-based oppression and discrimination.
