Afghanistan

In the latest crackdown on women’s rights in Afghanistan, the Taliban have announced they will no longer allow any national or foreign NGOs that employ women to operate in the country. 

[…] His long-awaited testimony comes months after House Republicans issued a scathing report on their investigation into the withdrawal, blaming the disastrous end on Biden's administration. 

[…] From the Taliban takeover on August 15, 2021, to September 30 of this year, the Taliban have detained journalists 256 times and 130 cases of torture and poor treatment have been documented, according to the report published Tuesday by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA.

Opium cultivation in Afghanistan spiked by 19 per cent in 2024, covering an estimated 12,800 hectares despite a ban imposed by the Taliban, a report released on Wednesday by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has revealed.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that gender and nationality alone are “sufficient” for a country to grant asylum to Afghan women. The ECJ ruled on Friday that discriminatory measures adopted by the Taliban towards women “constitute acts of persecution” justifying the recognition of refugee status.

The United States has reassigned its special representative for Afghanistan, leaving vacant a key position in its efforts to engage with the Taliban-ruled country. 

Afghanistan’s Taliban government faces multinational legal action that could land it in the UN’s top court over its “contempt” for the rights of women and girls, government officials said.

Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban confirmed Wednesday that they have formally sought to join the upcoming Russia-hosted summit of the BRICS intergovernmental group of major emerging economies.

Concerns for women and the overall state of humanitarian rights in Afghanistan are growing following further legal clampdowns by the Taliban, the UN Security Council heard on Wednesday. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, said the country’s de facto rulers who have imposed their own interpretation of strict Islamic law have “delivered a period of stability not seen in decades” in Afghanistan, yet the population is at risk of a worsened humanitarian and development crisis as international funding declines.

The United Nations will continue engaging with all stakeholders in Afghanistan, advocating for human rights and equality, the global body’s Spokesperson said on Friday, amid the Taliban’s reported rejection of criticism by UN officials of a strict morality law.