Open Letter; 90 Afghan and Global Organizations Urge Action to Protect Girls’ Rights Under Taliban Rule
Tawazon – In a powerful joint appeal, 73 Afghan civil society organizations and 17 international human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Forum-Asia, the International Commission of Jurists, the World Organization Against Torture, and the International Women’s Association for Peace and Freedom, have sent an open letter to members and observer states of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) urging urgent and concrete action to restore Afghan girls’ fundamental rights.
The letter stresses that since the Taliban’s return to power, Afghan women and girls have been subjected to the severe restrictions on life and liberty: the ban on girls’ education, denial of women’s right to work, severe movement restrictions, and the systematic erasure of women from public and social life.
“Afghan women and girls are not asking the world for privileges beyond their fundamental rights. They only demand guarantees for their right to education, to work, to freedom of movement, and to live as equals,” the statement reads.
Amnesty International, in a separate statement, described Taliban policies against Afghan women and girls as “one of the most severe human rights crises in modern history,” warning thatsilence from the international community risks legitimizing ongoing violations.
Since 15 August 2021, when the Taliban seized power, Afghan women have borne the brunt of systemic oppression: first barred from secondary schools, then banned from universities, stripped of jobs in both government and non-government sectors, and subjected to suffocating restrictions on public life. Civil society organizations warn that Afghanistan has become “the most dangerous country in the world for women.”
The signatories warn that if the world continues to ignore the situation, Afghanistan faces the risk of a “complete generational wipeout” of girls’ education and future. They urge the establishment of an independent internationl accountability mechanism to address human rights violations in Afghanistan and call for immediate global action to end the crisis.
