KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The European Parliament on Thursday adopted a resolution urging EU member states to maintain non-recognition and non-normalization of the Taliban, citing widespread and systematic human rights violations, particularly against women and girls.
The resolution passed overwhelmingly with 480 votes in favor, 5 against, and 83 abstentions. It also expressed regret over the EU’s decision to invite the Taliban to Brussels for talks.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) strongly condemned the Taliban’s newly adopted Criminal Procedure Code for Courts, describing it as a measure that further institutionalizes gender apartheid, slavery, corporal punishment, and the systematic persecution of women and girls.
They demanded the immediate repeal of the code and an end to public floggings, executions, and all restrictions imposed on women and girls, as well as on LGBTQ+ persons, religious minorities, and other vulnerable groups.
The resolution urged the EU to take concrete actions, including seeking International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants for Taliban leaders responsible for human rights abuses, imposing expanded targeted sanctions, and increasing humanitarian assistance to address famine and support Afghan women’s rights defenders, judges, lawyers, journalists, activists, and women-led organizations.
The EU lawmakers also called on the European Commission and EU member states to formally recognize slavery, gender apartheid, and forced child marriages as crimes against humanity.
The resolution on Afghanistan was adopted alongside two separate resolutions addressing human rights situations in Iran and Indonesia.
The vote comes amid growing controversy over European engagement with the Taliban. Over the past two years, several EU countries — including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, and the Netherlands — have held meetings with Taliban delegations, often justified as necessary to facilitate the deportation of Afghan migrants. Germany has conducted multiple chartered deportation flights to Kabul in recent months, sending back dozens of Afghans convicted of crimes.
Separately, the European Commission is reportedly preparing to host Taliban representatives for technical talks in Brussels on migration and deportation arrangements, although no date has been announced. This planned engagement has drawn sharp criticism from EU parliamentarians, United Nations experts, human rights organizations, media watchdogs, Afghan women’s groups, and activists, who argue that such engagement risks normalizing a regime accused of severe human rights and women’s rights violations.
