Human Rights Crisis Deepens Under Taliban Rule, Says Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch has stated that five years after the Taliban’s return to power, Afghanistan faces one of the world’s most severe human rights crises—a crisis that has been exacerbated by widespread impunity for perpetrators of abuses and a lack of accountability.

On Monday, August 3, the organization issued a statement urging governments to move beyond expressions of concern and support international efforts to secure justice, including investigating crimes against humanity such as gender-based persecution. Human Rights Watch also emphasized the urgent need to halt the forced return of Afghan migrants.

The statement details that over the past five years, the Taliban administration has imposed extensive and systematic restrictions on women and girls—from banning girls above sixth grade from education to limiting their employment, movement, and participation in public life. According to the organization, the ‘Promotion of Virtue’ forces have expanded these restrictions by patrolling public areas, raiding workplaces, and detaining women accused of dress code violations. Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls are denied access to secondary education.

Human Rights Watch has also identified new Taliban-enacted laws as factors intensifying repression. The ‘Principles of Criminal Procedure’ law, by exclusively recognizing the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence, facilitates religious discrimination, while the ‘Proselytizers’ law restricts religious freedoms for other faiths. Additionally, the new law defines domestic violence narrowly as only “severe beating,” excluding many women victims of other forms of abuse from access to justice.

The removal of minimum marriage age for girls in the ‘Divorce of Couples’ decree raises the risk of increased child marriages. Furthermore, media personnel, journalists, women’s rights activists, and critics are subjected to arbitrary arrests, torture, and other inhumane treatment.

Simultaneously, Human Rights Watch warned of an escalating humanitarian crisis, highlighting that cuts in international aid coupled with Taliban-imposed restrictions on female aid workers have hindered millions of Afghans from receiving vital assistance. The report estimates that nearly 40 percent of Afghanistan’s population urgently needs aid.