Five years after the Taliban seized power, women and girls in Afghanistan have been systematically stripped of their rights, UN agencies said on Wednesday. De facto authorities have issued more than 100 decrees curbing education, work and freedom of movement – restrictions now compounded by deep cuts to aid on the ground.

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/56823374

It is now five years since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan – the second time they seized power in the country. Since August 2021, the de facto authorities (DFA) have issued more than 100 decrees affecting women and girls, stripping them of their rights and institutionalizing discrimination against them.

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Half of Afghan women interviewed leave home only once or twice a month because of the severe restrictions on their movement and access to public spaces, according to UN Women.

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As of 2026, an estimated 2.4 million girls remain excluded from secondary education, with restrictions reversing two decades of progress in expanding access to education.

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“Afghanistan is the only country in the world to formally prohibit access to education for girls and women beyond the primary level,” UNESCO said in a statement.

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Barred from secondary school and university and excluded from most paid work, women also face legal barriers to protect them against all forms of violence, UNESCO said.

“Women have been erased from public life,” the UN agency said. “As a new generation of girls grows without an education, their future becomes increasingly dark.”

UNESCO called for the full restoration of the right to education for Afghan girls and women, echoing entreaties from many UN agencies and leaders to protect and promote their human rights.

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Key 2026 Taliban decrees restricting the rights and equality of women and girls

  • Decree No. 12 removes equality between men and women before the law, placing husbands in a position of legal authority over their wives and limiting women’s access to justice. It only criminalizes violence within marriage when it causes severe and visible physical injuries.
  • Decree No. 18 makes it significantly harder for women to leave a marriage while preserving men’s unilateral right to divorce. It also implicitly permits child marriage, further eroding the rights of women and girls.
  • Enforcement of these and other restrictions has intensified under the Law for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (PVPV), with thousands of officials granted broad powers of detention and surveillance.

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Increased risk of violence and less access to justice

Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, economic hardship, restrictions on girls’ education, and the dismantling of laws and services to prevent and respond to violence have increased the risk of violence against women and girls.

At the same time, women in Afghanistan are nearly four times less likely than men to have access to formal justice mechanisms, highlighting a widening justice gap that is leaving many women without safe avenues to assert their rights, seek protection, or challenge abuse.

Rates of early, forced, and child marriage remain high – and are rising. In 2023, nearly 30 per cent of Afghan girls under 18 were married, including 10 per cent under the age of 15. Some families, facing poverty, marry off daughters as a survival strategy. Image

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Worsening maternal health

Growing shortages of women health workers, global aid cuts, and limited access to essential medicines are contributing to preventable maternal and neonatal deaths. Afghanistan already has one of the world’s highest maternal mortality rates, with an estimated 638 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2024 – the seventh highest globally.

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