Human Rights in Afghanistan at the 58th Human Rights Council Session

Introduction

During the 58th Human Rights Council session, Richard Bennett, UN Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan, presented his new report on the human rights situation in the country. Next to his report, he also launched the study on the so-called ‘Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice’. Both the report and the study paint a comprehensive picture of the deteriorating situation of human rights in the country, and were discussed extensively also during various side events.

Report and Study of the Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan

The latest report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan presents a dire picture of the country’s human rights situation, with a particular focus on the worsening conditions for women and girls, the shrinking civic space, and the oppression of minorities. Covering the period from August to December 2024, the report highlights the Taliban’s continued systematic gender-based oppression, including the enforcement of the recently enacted law on the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice, which imposes severe restrictions on women’s movement, employment, and education. Girls remain banned from attending school beyond the sixth grade, increasing risks of child marriage, child labour, and exploitation. The report also warns of the long-term health consequences of the Taliban’s ban on women’s medical education, which could lead to a severe shortage of female healthcare workers.

The report details how civic space in Afghanistan has been all but eliminated. Journalists, human rights defenders, activists, and academics face arbitrary detention, violence, and censorship. The Taliban’s increasing surveillance, including digital monitoring and informants, has instilled a climate of fear, leading to widespread self-censorship. Media outlets have been shut down, and women’s voices are being erased from public discourse. Many Afghan-run media organisations now operate from exile, but those inside the country who are suspected of collaborating with them are targeted. The repression extends to civil society organisations, which are now largely restricted to humanitarian work, with women-led initiatives facing additional barriers.

Religious and ethnic minorities face increasing discrimination and violence, with little protection from the Taliban. The report highlights a series of deadly attacks on the Hazara and Sufi communities, primarily carried out by the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP). While the Taliban have condemned these attacks, they have failed to address the targeting of religious minorities. Discrimination in government appointments, education, and language policies also disproportionately affects non-Pashtun communities. The forced displacement of minority groups from their homes and land has further exacerbated tensions, with reports of land confiscation and forced evictions.

Despite these alarming trends, the report notes some progress in international accountability efforts. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for two senior Taliban leaders on charges of gender persecution, and discussions continue about referring Afghanistan’s treatment of women to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). However, the international response remains fragmented, and humanitarian aid is declining, leaving millions of Afghans vulnerable. The Special Rapporteur warns that without a coordinated and rights-based international approach, normalisation of engagement with the Taliban risks legitimising their oppressive regime. He urges the global community to take concrete action, including ensuring Afghan women’s meaningful participation in decision-making and recognising gender apartheid as a crime against humanity.

Next to the report, the Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan has also published a study analysing the Taliban’s recently enacted ‘Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice’ (PVPV law). The study concludes that this law consolidates and institutionalises the Taliban’s oppressive policies, effectively creating a system of systematic gender-based discrimination, religious persecution, and suppression of civil liberties. The law, which mirrors the group’s repressive rule from 1996 to 2001, grants broad and arbitrary enforcement powers to the Taliban’s ’moral police’, enabling them to dictate nearly every aspect of public and private life in Afghanistan. The Special Rapporteur warns that the law is a key component of an escalating strategy of oppression that may amount to crimes against humanity, particularly gender persecution and the crime of apartheid.

The study details the sweeping restrictions imposed by the law, including the mandatory wearing of the Taliban’s version of the hijab for women, a near-total ban on their freedom of movement without a male guardian (mahram), and the prohibition of women’s voices from being heard in public. It also mandates strict gender segregation in public spaces, workplaces, and transportation. The law further criminalises same-sex relationships, restricts religious freedom by enforcing the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islam, and bans cultural traditions such as Nowruz and Yalda, undermining Afghanistan’s rich cultural and ethnic diversity. Additionally, the law imposes a complete ban on music and images of living beings, significantly affecting artistic expression, education, and independent journalism.

The study further highlights how enforcement of the law has led to widespread fear and self-censorship. Taliban moral enforcers, or muhtasibs, have been given unchecked powers to arrest, detain, and punish individuals based on their own interpretations of ‘virtue’ and ‘vice’ without any legal safeguards or accountability mechanisms. Reports indicate that muhtasibs have been patrolling markets, public transportation, and even private homes, conducting searches, confiscating personal belongings, and subjecting individuals, especially women, to public humiliation, fines, and physical punishment. The Special Rapporteur also expresses concern over the increasing involvement of family and community members in enforcing these restrictions, further eroding personal freedoms and deepening societal divisions.

Beyond its human rights violations, the study warns of the far-reaching consequences of the law on Afghanistan’s social, economic, and political landscape. By marginalising women from public life and education, the Taliban are not only institutionalising gender-based oppression but also ensuring long-term economic stagnation and humanitarian suffering. The law also risks exacerbating ethnic and religious tensions, further isolating Afghanistan on the global stage. The Special Rapporteur calls on the international community to take urgent action, including refusing to recognise the Taliban’s regime, increasing support for Afghan civil society, and ensuring accountability for crimes committed under the PVPV law. He further urges Muslim-majority countries and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to intensify pressure on the Taliban to reverse its discriminatory policies.

Discussions at Side Events

The human rights situation in Afghanistan was also the topic of discussion during multiple side events at the 58th Human Rights Council session. One side event concerned the situation of prisoners in Afghanistan and the conditions in detention. During this side event, UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett emphasised his team’s findings of arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and systematic torture, with human rights defenders, women, and ethnic and religious minorities being particularly targeted. 

According to reports and testimonies received by the Special Rapporteur, the Taliban’s detention practices involve severe beatings, sexual violence, and other inhuman treatment designed to instil fear and suppress resistance. Bennett stresses that these abuses constitute crimes demanding accountability and urges continued support for UNAMA’s work in monitoring and documenting violations. However, he underscores that accountability alone is insufficient and that survivors urgently require psychosocial, medical, legal, and other assistance.

A new research report presented during the side event sheds further light on the deteriorating conditions in Afghanistan’s prisons since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021. The study, based on qualitative interviews, reveals a rigid and unaccountable legal system where detainees, around 70 percent of which are arrested arbitrarily by intelligence services, are denied legal counsel and a fair trial. Testimonies indicate widespread use of torture, including beatings, electric shocks, waterboarding, suffocation, and sexual harassment, particularly against female detainees. Prison conditions are equally alarming, with overcrowding, malnutrition, lack of medical care, religious discrimination against Shia Muslims, and forced confessions. Detainees have no means to complain or appeal, and their families often face reprisals. The absence of independent prison monitoring exacerbates these abuses.

The testimony of a former Afghan human rights defender and criminal investigator provided a personal account of Taliban repression during the side event. She was arrested, beaten, and tortured without any official charges levied against her, subjected to solitary confinement, and denied food and water. Upon release, she was threatened into silence, lived in hiding, and ultimately fled to Pakistan, where she faced further neglect and the threat of deportation. According to the human rights defender, women protestors have also been brutally suppressed, with some filmed naked as a means of blackmail. These tactics inflict serious trauma beyond individuals to their families, who also face repression.

All panellists called for comprehensive accountability mechanisms to ensure justice, truth, and reparations for victims. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Subcommittee on Torture is set to visit Afghanistan this year, which forms a crucial step toward addressing these violations. However, it was also emphasised that the international community must do more to hold the Taliban accountable and provide urgent support to survivors. 

Another side event during the 58th Human Rights Council session discussed specifically Afghan women’s demands for accountability and justice. The all-female panel highlighted that the international community must take concrete steps to hold the Taliban accountable for their systematic violations of women’s rights in Afghanistan. Women in the country are not merely passive victims of oppression, but they are active drivers of change, resisting the Taliban’s relentless efforts to erase them from public life. However, their struggle is met with increasing repression as the Taliban continue to impose laws and decrees that effectively deny women’s existence as equal human beings.

They also discussed the new report by the Special Rapporteur, presented above. They welcomed that it details the extent of the violations of the rights of women, including gender persecution, which amounts to crimes against humanity. They further stressed that under the Taliban’s new law, women must be accompanied by a male guardian in public, face strict policing of their dress codes by men, and are forbidden from having their voices heard outside their homes. These measures, according to the panellists,  are designed to confine women to the private sphere, effectively banning them from public life altogether. The arbitrary detention of women who fail to comply with these oppressive laws further highlights the Taliban’s war on women’s autonomy and its targeted crackdown on women’s rights movements.

To combat this gender apartheid, Afghan women, therefore, demand that the international community utilise all available legal and diplomatic mechanisms. The ICC has already issued arrest warrants for Taliban officials involved in sexual crimes, setting a precedent for accountability. Diplomatic, political, and economic pressures must also be intensified to ensure that the Taliban face consequences for their actions. Here, the Special Rapporteur highlighted that while sanctions fall beyond the scope of the Human Rights Council, they can be pursued through the UN Security Council and the General Assembly. The Human Rights Council, despite ongoing budgetary constraints, can establish accountability mechanisms that can pave the way for justice.

The side event concluded that global feminist foreign policy movements must stand in solidarity with Afghan women, amplifying their voices and pushing for decisive action. The world cannot remain silent as the Taliban continues to strip women of their fundamental rights. Concrete measures, sustained international pressure, and unwavering support for Afghan women’s resistance are essential to challenging this system of oppression and ensuring justice for the countless women suffering under Taliban rule.