A new report reveals hundreds of cases of gender-based violence (GBV), including a prevalence of femicide committed against women and girls in Afghanistan under the Taliban rule as the regime marked the third anniversary of its return to power with a military show.
Between January 2022 and June 2024 alone, 700 claims involving 840 women and girls were subjected to gender-based violence in the country, including cases of femicide, abuse, sexual assault or rape, arrest and torture, and enforced disappearances, Afghan Witness, a project by the Center of Information Resilience, said in a report published today.
Afghan Witness investigators recorded at least 322 cases of femicide, defined as intentionally killing a woman or girl because they are female. Other forms of violence against women and girls included at least 287 cases of arrest, detention, abduction, enforced disappearances, and at least 75 cases of sexual assault or rape.
“GBV claims are widespread across the country and occur frequently, being reported every week since January 2022, on average 23.3 times per month,” the report indicated while acknowledging that violence against women and girls is often underreported.
The report, which used open-source investigation, stated that more than half of the cases were carried out by members of the ruling Taliban. These reportedly involved incidents of sexual violence, killings, harassment, hostage-taking, and threats, among other things.
Other perpetrators involved victims’ family members, including husbands, parents, siblings, and other family members.
The report’s analysis shows that women and girls are significantly exposed to violence in public and private spaces due to the Taliban’s restrictions. Gendered hate speech, disinformation, and harassment have also increased online, further limiting their participation in digital space.
The report indicates that women and girls are blocked from seeking justice because the Taliban’s judicial system contributes to the further victimization of female survivors of GBV.
“Although violence against women is not a new issue in Afghanistan, under the previous administration, mechanisms for recourse existed; under the Taliban, these mechanisms have all but disappeared, further reducing the space for women and girls to access justice,” the report said.
Since their return to power, the Taliban have steadily imposed repressive measures against women and girls in Afghanistan. Under their rule, women are prohibited from working in the public sector and for NGOs, pursuing secondary and university education, traveling long distances without male relatives, and accessing parks, public baths, and gyms.
UN experts, legal scholars, and activists all say that the Taliban’s oppression of women and girls amounts to a system of apartheid, designed to deliberately subjugate them based solely on their gender.
In a report released last year, UN Women revealed that the Taliban’s harsh measures imposed on women have exacerbated the mental health of women and girls across the country. Nearly 70% of them reported feelings of anxiety, isolation, and depression.
According to the report, the women are experiencing psychological issues such as insomnia, loss of hope and motivation, fear, aggression, isolation, increasingly isolated behavior, and suicidal thoughts.
The Afghan Witness report warns about a precarious environment for women and girls under the Taliban with serious human rights abuses.
“With restrictions on access to education, work, freedom of movement, and access to justice, the majority of Afghan women live in precarious circumstances,” the report said, “In an environment where serious human rights abuses, including gender-based violence and femicide, are on the rise, often occurring in the shadows with impunity,”
