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Silenced: The Taliban’s Systemic Attack on Women’s Rights & Avenues for International Accountability

Since the Taliban took control of Kabul, Afghanistan in 2021, they have established a de facto government where women and girls’ human rights have deteriorated significantly.[1] During peace negotiations, the Taliban pledged to respect women’s rights within an Islamic framework,[2] but many Afghans were skeptical of the Taliban’s promises due to their penchant for violence.[3]

This patriarchal perversion of Islamic law gives different rights and opportunities to men and women in the public sphere.[4] The Taliban had not ruled over Afghanistan since 2001, but when they took control in 2021, they gradually rolled back over 20 years of human rights progress for women and girls.[5] In December 2021, the Taliban closed the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and repurposed the space to house the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.[6] Among their decrees, they have restricted women’s movement, forcing women to remain at home. Moreover, harassment, arbitrary arrests, and beatings are common,[7] as mahrams, male chaperones, must always accompany a woman in public.[8] These limitations are further compounded by restrictions on clothing.[9] Women are required to cover their entire bodies and faces from men and in public.[10] Women’s voices, including in a song, hymn, or recital, should be concealed.[11] The decree outlined an “enforcer’s” duties, including preventing the sound of a woman’s voice emanating from any gathering or from the home and women not covering themselves properly.[12] Enforcers have broad discretion to choose the punishment they deem appropriate, including extortion, a fine, time in public prison, or any other punishment that is not outlawed.[13]

These laws constitute a crime against humanity for gender persecution under Article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.[14]  It is any persecution against any identifiable group on gender grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law.[15] The Taliban is launching a widespread and systematic attack on women’s day-to-day lives by restricting their freedom of movement, clothing, access to education, and access to work.[16] Afghanistan is a state party to the ICC; support and cooperation with ICC investigations should be a priority for states.[17] If the Taliban is the de facto government in Afghanistan,[18] and the United States no longer maintains an active military presence,[19] the UN member states and the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights need to launch an investigation into these alleged international law crimes committed here. These abhorrent restrictions on women need to desist and the UN and ICC are in the best position to hold the de facto government accountable.  

The United States needs to expand the amount of asylum applications it approves from Afghanistan. The United States can renew temporary protected status (TPS) designations for people from Afghanistan, in order to support those who are fleeing this persecution.[20] There are currently at least 250,000 individuals that were born in Afghanistan or reported Afghan ancestry in the United States.[21] A country is given designated TPS status, which gives its affected citizens a pathway to citizenship.[22] But these designations are made for six, twelve, or eighteen months at a time. There is a possibility for a country to be redesignated for TP status and Afghanistan has been re-designated multiple times, but after a person is granted TPS, there is no pathway to permanent status.[23] A person with TPS status that entered the United States without inspection and eligibility for other immigration benefits, would no longer have status in the United States and would become subject to removal.[24] Asylum is the only permanent option available for a majority of refugees fleeing to the United States.[25] Afghan women fleeing gender-based violence likely fit within the eligibility requirements if they have the means to leave.  The United States will become a more dynamic and resilient society if we welcome people fleeing persecution who are in search for a better life.

Alleyah Ally is a staff member of Fordham International Law Journal Volume XLVIII.


[1] See U.N. Secretary-General, The Situation in Afghanistan and Its Implications for International Peace and Security, ¶¶ 4, 16–18, 22–24, 40, U.N. Doc. A/76/328-S/2021/759 (Sept. 2, 2021).

[2] See Stephanie Findlay, Taliban Pledges to Respect Women’s Rights ‘Within Framework of Islam’, Fin. Times (Aug. 17, 2021), https://www.ft.com/content/7f03429a-8d61-43df-9cd8-c9d9e9ba18c8

[3] Id

[4] Epata Puji Astuti & Fernisya Abellya, Challenging Patriarchal Culture of Taliban Regime: A Woman Struggles in Qaderi’s Dancing in the Mosque, 24 JOLL 302, 303 (2024).

[5] Findlay, supra note 2.

[6] See Alasdair Pal, Taliban Replaces Women’s Ministry with Ministry of Virtue and Vice, Reuters (Sept. 17, 2021 12:43PM), https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-replaces-womens-ministry-with-ministry-virtue-vice-2021-09-17/.

[7] See The Taliban’s War on Women: The Crime Against Humanity of Gender Persecution in Afghanistan, Amnesty Int’l (May 25, 2023), https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa11/6789/2023/en/.

[8] Id. at 10.

[9] Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Ministry of Justice, The Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Law, Afghan Analysts Network (July 31, 2024) https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Law-on-Virtue-and-Vice-Basic.pdf (last visited October 6, 2024).

[10] Id. at 10.

[11] Id. at 10.

[12] Id. at 14.

[13] Id. at 16

[14] See generally Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, part 2., July 1, 2002, 2187 U.N.T.S. 3  https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/2024-05/Rome-Statute-eng.pdf.

[15] Id. at 4.

[16] Amnesty International, supra note 8 at 34.

[17] Id. at 51.

[18]U.N. Secretary-General, supra note 1.

[19] Id.

[20] Temporary Protected Status Designated Country: Afghanistan, United States Citizenship and Immigr. Serv., https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status/temporary-protected-status-designated-country-afghanistan (last visited Sept. 24, 2024).

[21] Julian Montalvo & Jeanne Batalova, Afghan Immigrants in the United States, Migration Pol’y Inst., https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/afghan-immigrants-united-states-2022#:~:text=The%20Afghan%20diaspora%20in%20the,U.S.%20Census%20Bureau%202022%20ACS (last visited Feb. 15, 2024).

[22] Temporary Protected Status: An Overview, Am. Immigr. Council, https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/temporary-protected-status-overview (last visited July 12, 2024).

[23] Id at 4.

[24] Id at 4.

[25] Asylum, United States Citizenship and Immigr. Serv., https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/asylum (last visited Sept. 4, 2024).

This is a student blog post and in no way represents the views of the Fordham International Law Journal.

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