KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The United Nations has announced a meeting to address the worsening crisis of women’s rights in Afghanistan as the Taliban’s increasingly repressive policies continue to provoke international outrage.
Scheduled for Monday, September 16, the event will focus on the systemic oppression of women under Taliban rule.
The meeting will provide a platform for women’s rights activists, international advocates, and UN representatives to discuss urgent global intervention. Key topics will include establishing parameters for human rights-based engagement with the Taliban, reviewing a draft treaty on preventing crimes against humanity, and formulating a coherent international policy to prioritize the protection of women and girls in Afghanistan.
This session comes amid mounting international concern over the Taliban’s treatment of women, which has deteriorated further with the introduction of new morality laws. The UN has condemned the law as violation of human dignity and international law.
Since taking control of Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have imposed harsh restrictions on women, barring them from public life, including education, employment, and even basic freedoms such as movement without a male guardian. The recently enacted morality laws have intensified these limitations, with experts warning that they will lead to further repression.
On September 9, during its 57th session, the UN Human Rights Council addressed Afghanistan’s human rights situation. Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, delivered a grim assessment, detailing escalating repression, particularly against women and girls. He called for urgent international action.
Bennett highlighted the Taliban’s recent empowerment of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which has institutionalized gender discrimination and segregation. The new law requires women to travel with a male guardian, restricts their freedom of movement and speech, and enforces severe punishments, further institutionalizing the Taliban’s oppressive rule.
UN officials have stressed the devastating impact of these policies, particularly on female-led households. The ban on women’s education and work has compounded the suffering of families.
The upcoming UN event will focus on potential solutions, including exploring legal frameworks to hold the Taliban accountable. UN representatives emphasized that without a unified global response, women and girls will continue to endure the Taliban’s systematic oppression.
