KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A new report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) highlights a continued and systematic deterioration of women’s rights and broader human rights conditions across Afghanistan between October and December 2025.
According to UNAMA, Afghan women remain almost entirely excluded from public life. For more than 115 consecutive days, women have been barred from entering United Nations premises nationwide, including female UN staff, contractors, and visitors. Afghan women working with the UN have been forced to operate from home or under restrictive alternative arrangements, as advocacy to lift the ban continues without success.
Access to education for women and girls remains severely restricted. In November, authorities held national medical graduation examinations but prohibited all women from participating. Women and girls have been banned from higher education since December 2022, and from studying at medical institutes since December 2024, further deepening Afghanistan’s gender-based exclusion from professional and academic life.
UNAMA also reports increasing enforcement of restrictive dress codes and limitations on women’s freedom of movement. In Herat, officials from the Department for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice carried out campaigns compelling women to wear specific clothing, briefly detaining women deemed non-compliant and denying them access to public transport, markets, healthcare facilities, and government offices. Although the requirement to wear burqas was later eased, authorities continue to prevent women without approved attire from accessing basic services.
Restrictions on women’s mobility were documented across multiple provinces. Women were barred from public spaces, prevented from exercising outdoors, and denied transportation unless accompanied by a male guardian. In some cases, officials reportedly fired guns into the air to disperse women gathered in public areas, reinforcing an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.
Access to healthcare has also been significantly affected. UNAMA documented repeated visits by morality officials to hospitals and clinics in Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces, instructing staff not to admit women patients or allow female healthcare workers to work unless accompanied by a male guardian. These measures have further limited women’s access to essential medical services.
The report notes continued enforcement of the nationwide ban on beauty salons operated by women. Authorities carried out arrests and issued threats against women running salons and, in some cases, their male relatives. The ban, in effect since July 2023, has removed one of the last remaining sources of income for many Afghan women.
Gender-based violence remains a serious concern. While authorities claim to have resolved hundreds of women’s rights-related cases, UNAMA documented numerous incidents of forced marriage, including cases involving girls under 18. In one reported incident, a girl was detained by police on the order of a court after refusing a forced marriage and remains in detention, in violation of existing decrees prohibiting such practices.
UNAMA further reported the continued use of public corporal punishment affecting women and girls. Between October and December, at least 30 women and one girl were subjected to public floggings, often alongside prison sentences, for charges including so-called moral crimes and alleged unlawful relationships.
Overall, UNAMA warns that the cumulative impact of these measures reflects an entrenched pattern of gender-based discrimination and serious human rights violations. The mission emphasizes that Afghan women and girls are being systematically denied education, work, healthcare, freedom of movement, and protection from violence, raising grave concerns about Afghanistan’s compliance with international human rights obligations.
