UN condemns Taliban directive barring women from medical education
The United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) on Thursday condemned a new Taliban directive barring Afghan women and girls from attending classes at medical institutions, warning that it will have devastating consequences for the country’s healthcare system. OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani stated: “The measure is profoundly discriminatory, short-sighted and puts the lives of women and [...]
In the latest in a series of decrees, Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban have banned women from hearing other women’s voices. The Telegraph reported that the minister for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice, Khalid Hanafi, said: “Even when an adult female prays and another female passes by, she must not pray loudly enough for [...]
Former Afghanistan president calls on Taliban to allow education for girls
The former president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, called Sunday for the Taliban regime to allow education for girls and women. Posting on X to commemorate the 105th anniversary of Afghanistan’s independence, Karzai urged the people of the nation to collaborate in order to learn and progress. Since their takeover in 2021, the Taliban have been [...]
'Now I Often Sit in a Burqa, Hiding my Face, and Begging' — A Grim Glimpse Into Taliban Rule
Nearly three years after the Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan, the regime’s oppressive actions against women continue unabated. In a recent broadcast reminiscent of ISIS tactics, the Taliban’s leader communicated a chilling message: a declaration of war against women’s rights and human dignity, effectively shattering any remaining hopes for Afghan women’s liberation under their rule. I [...]
UN report: Taliban restrictions limit women's rights in Afghanistan
A United Nations report published Friday indicated that the Taliban’s restrictions on women’s attire and its requirement that women have a male guardian are limiting Afghan women’s freedom of movement and access to education, employment, health care and other basic rights. The report states that many Afghan women are not leaving their homes alone due [...]
Taliban arrests women for 'bad hijab' in first dress code crackdown since returning to power
The Taliban have arrested women in Afghanistan for wearing “bad hijab” for the first time since coming to power, according to voice notes received Thursday by the AP from a spokesperson from the Taliban government’s Vice and Virtue Ministry. A year after they took power in 2021, the Taliban issued a strict dress code. Spokesperson [...]
Persuading the Taliban to Guarantee Education for Afghan Girls and Women
Since gaining power in August 2021, the Afghan Taliban, following a unique normative mixture of Pashtun culture and Islamic law, have closed universities, colleges, and secondary and primary schools to deny education to women and girls. In banning women from higher education, the Taliban education minister argued that female college students do not adhere to [...]
“t kind of makes you think people hate you because of the way you dress” an excerpt from an interview recorded in the article by Chris Allen titled, “‘People hate you because of the way you dress’: Understanding the invisible experience of veiled British Muslim women victims of Islamophobia.” Thomas Hammarberg, the Former Commissioner for [...]
On September 16, 2022, Iran’s Basij Resistance Force, a volunteer paramilitary organization that operates under the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, arrested Mahsa Amini for her refusal to comply with the country’s headscarf requirement, an alleged breach of its public morality code. Reports surfaced that the Basij severely beat Amini for resisting an officer’s insults, after which Amini [...]
UN expert, Amnesty International condemn Taliban crackdown on women's rights protest
UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan Richard Bennett and Amnesty International Saturday condemned the Taliban’s crackdown on the women’s rights protest in Kabul that day. Around 40 female protesters marched in front of the Afghan Ministry of Education to mark the one-year anniversary of the Taliban’s takeover of the country. The protesters [...]
