From Treaty to Action: Building a Global Alliance in Support of Afghanistan Women

Press Release: Geneva, 23rd June, 2025

Women and Children Research and Advocacy Network (WCRAN) is a women-led nonprofit organization founded in May 2023 and based in Canada. Since its inception, WCRAN has been steadfastly dedicated to advocating for the rights and well-being of Afghanistan women and girls globally. By collaborating cl

osely with Member States, the international community, women, and youth, WCRAN amplifies the voices of women and girls, striving to ensure their concerns are heard on the global stage.

On June 23, 2025, WCRAN launched a major new report: “The Impact of Taliban’s Edict on Women and Girls in Afghanistan,” during a side event held at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The event, titled “From Treaty to Action: Building a Global Alliance in Support of Afghanistan Women,”. The event was timed to take place just before the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) commenced its review of Afghanistan’s fourth periodic report at its 91st session, on June 24, 2025.

The findings of the new WCRAN report illustrate the importance of the CEDAW review and the need for the CEDAW Committee to help push the international community to do far more to respond to the crisis women and girls face in Afghanistan—a situation that is already the most serious women’s rights crisis in the world and is worsening every day.

The WCRAN research was conducted from October 2024 to March 2025. Its primary objective was to document and analyses the systemic human rights violations inflicted against Afghanistan women and girls by the Taliban, for the purpose of informing and strengthening calls for accountability and justice for these crimes and violations of international law. The study was conducted in ten provinces across Afghanistan–Kabul, Balkh, Badakhshan, Herat, Nangarhar, Wardak, Ghazni, Ghor, Logar, and Bamiyan–this providing a broad and representative overview of the situation on the ground.

Employing a rigorous mixed-methods approach, the research combined quantitative surveys of 600 women and girls with in-depth interviews involving 10 directors of women-led organizations inside Afghanistan, 10 women politicians and activists based abroad, and 6 international women’s rights experts.

The findings paint a picture of widespread and devastating impacts on the social, political, cultural, mental, physical, and economic well-being of Afghanistan women and girls. The report looks at five key areas: gender-based violence, access to education, employment and economic participation, political and public engagement, and social life. In each area we found harsh restrictions and hardships imposed by the Taliban’s policies, and deep resulting harm to women and girls, underscoring the need for urgent action.

Main Findings:

• 7% of respondents reported personally experiencing violence, while more than half (56.4%) had witnessed it.
• Psychological violence was the most common form (68%), followed by economic violence (61.4%), verbal abuse (47.9%), physical violence (47.1%), and sexual violence and harassment (17.1%).
• The primary cause of GBV was overwhelmingly attributed to Taliban edicts (77.8%), alongside socioeconomic factors such as unemployment (50%), poverty (49%), family issues (34.3%), and harmful customs (32.2%).
• Victims often remain silent due to a lack of legal protections (63.9%), absence of support institutions (49.3%), fear of escalating violence (44.7%), concerns about family dignity (41.3%), and insufficient community or family support (35.9%).
• The vast majority (94.1%) reported educational deprivation affecting one or more family members, with only 5.9% indicating no school-aged girls in their families.
• Despite restrictions, 80.8% confirmed that girls pursued alternative education.
• 5% of respondents supported girls’ education, strongly contradicting the Taliban’s claims of cultural justifications for banning female education.
• After the Taliban takeover, only 9.8% retained their jobs, while 90.2% lost employment.
• Currently, 91.6% have no job opportunities, reflecting a bleak economic future.
• Job loss has led to severe negative consequences: 74.4% reported economic hardship, 57.4% psychological distress, 35.4% social repercussions, and 27.7% a loss of decision-making power within families.
• Political participation for women has been severely restricted, with 66% reporting increased violence linked to the ban on women’s political involvement.
• Over half (53.3%) noted a lack of representation in decision-making, 49.5% lost voting rights and eligibility for office, 41.5% observed absence from political leadership, and 38.8% experienced diminished family decision-making rights.
• Public and social restrictions have further isolated women. Nearly all respondents (95.2%) reported bans on traveling without a male guardian and using public transport. Other prohibitions include attendinguniversity (73%), visiting parks (61.2%), going to offices (60.4%), clubs (53.5%), hotels (33.5%), and even visiting doctors without male accompaniment (31.2%). Shopping restrictions affected 19.5%.
• These constraints have had profound impacts: 65.8% experienced negative psychological effects, 63.1% noted increased poverty, 57% felt life had become more difficult or hopeless, 47.8% lost hope, 43% felt marginalized, and 33.8% reported a rise in domestic violence.

 Recommendations:

The report’s key recommendations to the international community include that all states and multilateral bodies, including the UN, should:

1. Support the codification of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity in the international law, including in the draft treaties on crimes against humanity.
2. All states should support the effort to bring a case before the International Court of Justice regarding Taliban violations of CEDAW;
3. Cooperate with the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute crimes against women and girls in Afghanistan.
4. Ensure that Afghan women are full, safe, equal and meaningful participants in all discussions about Afghanistan’s future.
5. Intensify diplomatic efforts and apply targeted pressure on the Taliban to rescind all restrictions they have imposed on women particularly the PVPV decree.
6. Adopt principles ensuring that aid delivery fully considers barriers faced by women and girls and prioritizes their access to assistance.
7. Support localization and women’s leadership by supporting and funding of women-led organizations delivering women-focused initiatives for Afghanistan.
8. Provide opportunities for online and in-person scholarship and fellowship for women and girls inside and outside Afghanistan at a scale sufficient to meet the need.
9. Hold the Taliban accountable for violations of women’s rights and for the misuse of Islamic principles to justify repression, while promoting dialogue that underscores the protection of human rights and the preservation of Islamic values.
10. Foster engagement with Afghanistan women’s activists and leaders by providing diplomatic support and platforms for their voices, thereby strengthening their global advocacy efforts for justice, equality, and human dignity.