KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Civil society organizations called on Australia, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands to press ahead with legal proceedings against the Taliban under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), marking two years since the four countries launched the initiative.
In a joint statement on Friday, the groups, including the London-based Afghan rights organization Rawadari, said that two years after the announcement of the ICJ-CEDAW process on Afghanistan, Afghan women are seeking renewed action, greater transparency and continued consultation.
On September 25, 2024, Australia, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands committed to holding the Taliban accountable for systemic violations of women’s and girls’ rights under CEDAW, a step that could lead to proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
CEDAW was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1979 with the aim of eliminating discrimination against women and promoting gender equality. Afghanistan is one of 189 countries that have signed and ratified the convention.
“Today, as we mark the second anniversary of this announcement, we continue to witness a catastrophic deterioration in the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan,” the organizations said. “The Taliban have intensified their war against women to further entrench their institutionalized regime of gender apartheid.”
The groups said the Taliban continue to issue new repressive laws and decrees that normalize oppression and criminalize dissent. They highlighted the newly introduced Criminal Procedure Code and the Decree on Separation of Spouses, stating that these measures grant impunity for gender-based violations, implicitly legalize child marriage and strip women of fundamental agency in marital relationships.
They also pointed to the pervasive enforcement of the “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” law, which has resulted in a harsher crackdown on women and girls. The statement cited an alarming surge in arbitrary detentions, including the imprisonment of dozens of women in Herat province in June 2026.
According to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), at least 30 women were arrested in Herat on June 6 and 7 over alleged violations of dress-code instructions. The women were later released, while a subsequent protest over the detentions was met with force by Taliban security personnel.
“Despite grave risks to women’s lives in Afghanistan, they continue to resist the Taliban’s oppression in courageous and creative ways, including through clandestine classrooms and grassroots networks,” the groups said. “Their testimonies before the People’s Tribunal for Women of Afghanistan further illuminate their resilience and resistance against the Taliban’s brutal campaign to silence them and dismantle their fundamental rights.”
The organizations described the CEDAW initiative as an important opportunity to affirm that systematic violations of women’s and girls’ rights carry consequences under international law. “Yet nearly two years into the Article 29 process, there is no publicly visible indication that negotiations are moving the dispute toward resolution,” they said.
They called on Australia, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands to proceed to formal arbitration under Article 29 of CEDAW if negotiations do not resolve the dispute.
“Doing so would sustain the momentum and credibility of this historic initiative and demonstrate that the commitments made in 2024 are being pursued with the urgency, transparency and meaningful consultation the situation demands,” the organizations said.
Over the past five years of Taliban rule, Afghanistan has become one of the most restrictive countries in the world for women and girls. The authorities have imposed severe restrictions on women’s movement, education, employment, social mobility and other basic freedoms. Rights groups, U.N. experts, activists and Afghan women have described the Taliban’s treatment of women and girls as “gender apartheid” and urged the international community and the United Nations to recognize it as such.
The CEDAW process is separate from proceedings before the International Criminal Court (ICC), which in July 2025 issued arrest warrants for Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani over the alleged crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds. The warrants remain pending before the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber II.
