The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect says the arrests in Herat took place in the context of institutionalised discrimination and repression of women and girls and could amount to crimes against humanity.
The centre warned that Taliban restrictions on women and girls, as well as escalating border tensions, pose risks to civilians.
The organisation also called on countries to provide political and financial support for UNAMA’s mandate amid a worsening civilian protection crisis in Afghanistan.
The international organisation added that the situation of women and continuing border tensions in Afghanistan have created risks for civilians.
The UN Security Council on 15 June, extended UNAMA’s mandate for another year. The resolution was introduced by China and adopted with 15 votes in favour.
In a statement, the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect warned of growing and multidimensional concerns about the protection of civilians across Afghanistan.
Referring to public protests in Herat and the arrest of women by the Taliban, the centre said Taliban forces used force during the events and, in some cases, opened fire on crowds.
The statement said: “The arrests and protests took place against the backdrop of the Taliban’s institutionalized discrimination and repression imposed on women and girls, likely amounting to gender persecution, a crime against humanity.”
The organisation also cited the new law on the separation of husbands and wives, severe restrictions on civic space and border tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban as other serious concerns.
According to a UNAMA report, from 1 January to 31 March, more than 750 civilians were killed or wounded as a result of border clashes between Taliban forces and the Pakistani army.
The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect called on the Taliban to end restrictive policies against women and girls and respect the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.
Maxime Prévot, Belgium’s foreign minister has opposed the EU’s decision to invite Taliban representatives to Brussels, saying he would not accept Belgium inviting them in its own name, Reuters reported.
According to Reuters, a spokesperson for Belgium’s Foreign Ministry said Prévot, the country’s foreign minister, “would never accept that the Belgian government, in its own name, invite these individuals for discussions in Belgium.”
The spokesperson for Belgium’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that the ministry had received visa applications from five members of the Taliban delegation. He did not provide details about the exact date of the meeting.
Reuters quoted the spokesperson as saying that members of the Taliban delegation would undergo security checks.
It is still unclear when Belgium will be able to issue visas for them.
The spokesperson for Belgium’s Foreign Ministry said the country’s foreign minister did not support the invitation.
The European Commission and the Swedish government, which are jointly hosting the Taliban delegation, said the meeting was purely technical in nature and did not amount to recognition of the Taliban administration.
Last month, the European Commission invited Taliban officials to travel to Brussels for talks on the deportation of Afghan asylum seekers, a move that prompted warnings from human rights groups, who said such engagement could put Afghans at risk and contradict the EU’s fundamental values.
According to a letter seen by Reuters and addressed to Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesperson, the visit is scheduled for 22 and 23 June and will focus on “the return and readmission of Afghan nationals without a right to stay in the European Union.”
Earlier, Belgium’s Foreign Ministry told Afghanistan International, in response to calls for the Taliban invitation to Brussels to be cancelled, that decisions on holding meetings and inviting delegations are made by European institutions.
At the same time, dozens of Afghan and international human rights and civil society organisations issued a joint letter to senior EU officials warning about the consequences of normalising relations with the Taliban administration and calling for an immediate halt to deportations of Afghan asylum seekers.
As the European Commission prepares to meet the Taliban delegation, the European Parliament on Wednesday approved sweeping reforms to the EU’s migration policy aimed at speeding up deportations and allowing member states to establish detention centres outside EU territory. Critics describe the move as a harsh system that weakens legal protections for asylum seekers.
Reuters wrote that the decision reflects rising anti-immigration sentiment across the European Union over the past decade, a trend that has increased public support for far-right parties.
The text, which still needs final formal approval from the 27 EU member states, marks a significant tightening of the bloc’s migration policy, shaped after the arrival of more than one million refugees and migrants in 2015 and 2016.
In a letter to member states on Tuesday, ahead of an EU leaders’ meeting in Brussels, the president of the European Commission said: “The Return Regulation will provide the necessary tools to make returns more efficient, with faster and more effective procedures.”
EU member states say they face difficulties ensuring the departure of asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected or people who have overstayed their visas in Europe.
Critics, however, argue that the EU’s migration policy is too focused on deterrence and deportation and pays insufficient attention to the root causes of migration, including armed conflict, poverty and political repression.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights earlier told a session of the UN Human Rights Council that “the dehumanisation of migrants and refugees, including in the UK, US, and many EU countries, is appalling, often leading also to the denial of their rights.”
Informed sources tell Afghanistan International that a vehicle which recently hit a group of girls in Kabul belongs to a Taliban official. Some sources say the driver was the son of the Taliban’s Islam Qala customs chief.
Informed sources, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said the vehicle was government-owned and belonged to Maulawi Ehsanullah Ehsan, the Taliban official in charge of Islam Qala customs.
It is not yet clear whether the Taliban official was in the vehicle at the time of the incident. A white Land Cruiser hit a group of young women who were walking along a street in Kabul on Sunday, 7 June.
Khalid Zadran, the Taliban police spokesman in Kabul, said nearly four days after the incident that the vehicle had hit the girls in the capital’s sixth police district, leaving at least three girls injured.
On 15 June, Zadran announced that the person responsible for the incident had been arrested. He added that the individual was being questioned and that the case was still under investigation.
In images released by the Taliban of the detained individual, his face is blurred and he is shown in the compound of Kabul’s sixth police district. The accused is standing in front of a vehicle with his hands untied.
Nine days after the widely publicised incident, Taliban spokespersons have still not provided details about the identity of the person responsible.
The Taliban police spokesperson in Kabul had said the injured were taken to hospital and that their condition was satisfactory. However, sources say two of the injured are in critical condition.
Informed sources told Afghanistan International that the vehicle involved had no license plate and had tinted windows. Images published from the incident confirm the sources’ information.
Eight days following the incident, the Taliban announced the arrest of the person responsible. The Taliban has still not explained the identity of the detained person or whether the incident was intentional or a traffic offence, leaving questions unanswered.
Vehicle in Taliban Official's Residence
Sources said that after the incident, officials from the Taliban’s sixth police district reviewed CCTV footage.
They said a review of city security cameras showed that the vehicle fled after the incident and later entered the house of a Taliban official. According to the sources, the house belongs to the Islam Qala customs chief.
Sources told Afghanistan International that the driver of the vehicle is currently being held at Kabul’s sixth police district.
Case Referred to Military Court
According to information from sources, the Taliban has suspended the Islam Qala customs chief from his post over the incident and referred his case to a military court. Taliban officials, however, have not yet commented officially on the matter.
The possible motive behind the incident is unclear, but its timing, coinciding with the suppression of women in Herat, has led to the perception that it may have been rooted in opposition by some Taliban elements to any social presence of women.
According to the sources, officials from the Taliban’s sixth police district initially avoided pursuing the matter because of the involvement of a senior Taliban official.
Informed sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said individuals acting on behalf of the Taliban contacted the girls’ families and asked them not to publicise the incident in the media.
The vehicle attack on a group of women took place at the same time as mass arrests of women in Herat. A video of the incident was widely shared by media outlets and social media activists.
Pressure on the Girls’ Families
Sources say the girls’ families have come under pressure since the video of the incident was published.
According to the information, individuals acting on behalf of the Taliban promised the girls’ families that compensation would be paid and asked them to remain silent about the incident.
The Taliban usually tie the hands of suspects after arresting them, but images show the accused man in Taliban custody with his hands untied.
Based on CCTV footage obtained by Afghanistan International, six women were walking on the street when they were hit by the vehicle.
Sources say a group of girls in Kabul were deliberately targeted by a vehicle after attending a seminar. Afghanistan International has not yet independently verified the nature of the incident. The Taliban has so far not responded to a request for comment.
The Taliban says it monitors the situation in Kabul through security cameras and does not allow vehicles without license plates to move around the city.
Dozens of Afghan and international rights and civil society groups have warned EU leaders against normalising ties with the Taliban and urged an immediate halt to deportations of Afghan asylum seekers.
In the letter, published on Thursday, 18 June, the organisations stressed that any cooperation with the Taliban would lead to the direct or indirect legitimisation of the group’s administration and would endanger the rights and security of Afghans.
The European Union has invited Taliban officials to travel to Brussels for talks on the deportation of Afghan asylum seekers, a move that has prompted a wave of criticism and strong reactions from European lawmakers and human rights organisations.
The letter was issued by 47 civil society and human rights organisations and addressed to Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission; António Costa, president of the European Council; Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief; and Magnus Brunner, the EU commissioner for internal affairs and migration.
The authors of the letter stressed that any cooperation with the Taliban on migration management and the return of asylum seekers raises serious human rights and protection concerns.
The signatories criticised the approach of some EU member states, including Germany, which describe their engagement with the Taliban as being at a “technical-level”, saying this approach conceals the harmful consequences of such contacts.
They stressed that this approach effectively legitimises the Taliban administration, whose officials are accused of widespread and systematic human rights violations and “crimes against humanity, including gender persecution”.
They described a recent initiative by 20 European countries to prioritise the return of undocumented Afghans as “dangerous precedent”, saying vague references to “security risks” fuel the labelling and criminalisation of Afghan asylum seekers and conflict with the principle of non-refoulement in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The letter said some European policymakers have based their actions on discriminatory narratives against Afghan men, an approach the organisations said fuels the spread of hate speech.
In another part of the letter, the civil society organisations objected to the handover of Afghan consulates in Germany and Norway to Taliban representatives and warned of the security risks this poses to Afghan asylum seekers.
According to the organisations, many Afghan asylum seekers, particularly former government employees and human rights defenders, fear that their sensitive information could be handed to the Taliban, putting their own lives and those of their families in Afghanistan at risk.
The letter said Afghan victims, particularly women and girls, have for years been denied meaningful participation in high-level talks on Afghanistan’s humanitarian and human rights crisis and the international community’s response.
The letter also said that facilitating travel by Taliban members to Europe by countries such as Belgium contradicts the European countries’ declared human rights commitments.
Earlier, Belgium’s Foreign Ministry told Afghanistan International, in response to calls for the Taliban’s invitation to Brussels to be withdrawn, that decisions on holding meetings and inviting delegations rest with European institutions.
Laurens Soenen, spokesperson for Belgium’s Foreign Ministry, said European institutions decide which meetings to hold and whom to invite.
Soenen stressed that some of these meetings may include representatives of institutions or regimes that Belgium does not recognise, but their presence in Brussels does not amount to recognition by Belgium or a direct invitation from the country.
The human rights groups stressed that Afghanistan remains unsafe and that its citizens face extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture, the systematic repression of women and girls, and a widespread humanitarian crisis. They called for an immediate halt to deportations of Afghan asylum seekers.
They urged the European Union to adhere to the position of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees against returning Afghans and to stop cooperation with the Taliban.
Afghanistan Watch, the Afghanistan Democracy and Development Organisation, the Afghan LGBT Organisation, Rawadari, AsyLex, France terre d’asile, Justice for Iran, Femena, the Civil Society and Human Rights Network, and the Afghan Refugee Experts Network in Europe are among the signatories of the letter.
Recently, Afghans and civil activists in 14 cities around the world voiced support for women’s rights in Afghanistan under the slogan “Education, Work and Freedom” and called for an end to repression and restrictions.
The protesters called on the international community to support Afghan women and demanded an end to the normalisation of relations with the Taliban.
The organisations’ letter said increasing deportations and restrictive policies have left many Afghans stranded in unsafe conditions in third countries. It added that measures in Europe, the United Kingdom and beyond, including visa bans and other travel restrictions, have had severe effects on women and girls, including blocking their access to education.
Local sources say the Taliban has strengthened its military presence in Panjshir by setting up new security checkpoints and tightening night-time movement restrictions.
In recent weeks, two videos have been published showing activities by Taliban opponents in Panjshir. On 25 May, the Afghanistan Green Trend, a group affiliated with former Vice President Amrullah Saleh said it had targeted a vehicle carrying Taliban forces in Panjshir’s Abdullah Khel valley.
The group released a video claiming the military vehicle was transporting Taliban forces to a base in a village in Panjshir.
In another video, said to be linked to a senior anti-Taliban commander, a number of armed men are seen slaughtering a sheep during Eid al-Adha. The location where the video was recorded is unclear.
Sources say the Taliban decided to increase the number of its security checkpoints in Panjshir after the videos were released.
According to the sources, the Taliban has deployed its forces to key areas of the province.
The sources also say the Taliban has resumed search operations in the foothills of Panjshir and has carried out several inspections in recent days.
According to the sources, the Taliban has informed residents of Panjshir that movement restrictions will be in place after 6pm and that no one should leave their homes.
Following the takeover of power by the Taliban on August 15, 2021, Panjshir became one of the most important centres of armed resistance against the group and subsequently faced a heavy Taliban military presence and security pressure.
The presence of National Resistance Front forces in the province has prompted the Taliban to deploy large numbers of fighters, set up security checkpoints, carry out house-to-house search operations, make widespread arrests and impose restrictions on people’s movement.
Reports by international human rights organisations show that residents of Panjshir have repeatedly faced arbitrary arrests, torture, ill-treatment, movement restrictions and collective punishments in recent years.
The European Union says lasting peace, stability and prosperity in Afghanistan can only be achieved through an inclusive, national and Afghan-led political process with meaningful participation by women.
The European Union warned on Wednesday, 17 June, at a session of the UN Human Rights Council reviewing the annual report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, that the Taliban’s treatment of women and systematic violations of their rights could amount to “gender persecution” and a “crime against humanity” under the Rome Statute.
Criticism of the Taliban Leader’s New Decrees
In the statement, the European Union explicitly described two recent decrees by the Taliban leader, including Decree No. 12 on the criminal procedure regulation for courts and Decree No. 18 on the law on separation of couples, as a cause of serious concern and a factor worsening the situation further.
According to the EU, the decrees severely undermine fundamental principles such as equality before the law, the right to a fair trial, freedom of religion or belief, and protection for women and children.
Another part of the statement, referring to Afghanistan’s membership of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, said the Taliban’s treatment of women could be prosecuted as a crime against humanity.
The European Union called on the Taliban to immediately revoke all its restrictive policies and align its laws with Afghanistan’s international obligations, particularly the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
The statement emphasised that victims and survivors of human rights violations in Afghanistan deserve justice, describing the funding and activation of an “independent investigative mechanism for Afghanistan” as a decisive process in this regard.
The independent investigative mechanism for Afghanistan is a transnational body responsible for collecting, documenting and preserving evidence related to war crimes and human rights violations for future international courts.
Support for Minorities
In the statement, the European Union stressed the need to protect the rights of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, particularly the Hazara community. The international body called for respect for the rule of law, freedom of expression and media freedom in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
At the end of the statement, the EU underlined the need for unhindered access to humanitarian assistance across the country, saying women must be allowed to work and deliver aid to people without any restrictions.
The European Union once again said lasting peace, stability and prosperity in Afghanistan would only be achieved when an Afghan-led political process takes shape with the participation of all sections of society and the meaningful involvement of women.
This is not the first time Western countries have called on the Taliban to form an inclusive government and respect human rights. The Taliban has rejected both demands, describing them as interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs and contrary to its interpretation of Islamic rules.
European countries have repeatedly criticised the Taliban’s human rights record at meetings of the UN Security Council and the Human Rights Council. By contrast, some of the Taliban’s regional partners, including Russia and China, have defended the group against some of these criticisms and emphasised engagement with the Taliban.