Version imprimableWOMEN’S REGIONAL NETWORK
STATEMENT Condemns Taliban’s Ban of Female Students from Universities in Afghanistan
On December 20, 2022, the Taliban announced a new edict banning girls from higher education. Women’s Regional Network (WRN) condemn the ban of female students from University Education. This decision of the Taliban against girls and women in Afghanistan demonstrates that the regime deliberately and systematically erases women by implementing gender-apartheid policies. While the Taliban deprive girls and women of their fundamental right to education, most leaders educate their daughters in foreign educational institutions.
Some of the Taliban’s significant policies against the women of Afghanistan so far include; banning teenage girls from secondary education, banning women from travelling without a "mahram" or a blood relative family member, abolishing laws on curbing violence against women and disbanding legal entities dealing with persecuting cases of violence against women, dissolving the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, enforcing of all-enveloping Burqa as Taliban’s version of Hijab especially on female journalists, barring women from public spaces such as parks and public baths.
In response to the Taliban’s increasing oppression of women in Afghanistan, we call on the international community to do the following:
- The Afghan legal system has collapsed, and the ICC (International Criminal Court), as "the court of last resort", should exercise its power to hold the Taliban accountable for their heinous crimes against Afghan women.
- The OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) and its Member States must use their leverage to stop the Taliban from misinterpreting and misrepresenting the principles of Islam by denying female students their fundamental human rights.
- International community engagement has been counterproductive; the Taliban takes the world’s engagement with them for granted as a security pre-requisite; we suggest any further engagement with the Taliban must be based on tangible progress on human rights, representative government, and respect for women’s rights.
- Targeted sanctions should be imposed on Taliban leaders and their financial supporters inside and outside Afghanistan, including restricting funding humanitarian aid through the Taliban.
- Impose a travel ban on all Taliban leaders with no exceptions.
- Support Afghan communities as they fight for girls’ & women’s rights
- Stand by Afghans under threat for defending the Right to Education.
Women’s Regional Network (WRN)
December 20, 2022
