GENEVA - As Taliban rule in Afghanistan continues, UN experts* warned that normalisation of the de facto authorities continues, despite increasing restrictions imposed on the population, including women and girls, over the past year. They urged States to accelerate steps towards accountability.
"Five years may be a short period in the life of a country, but it is a long one in a child's life," the experts said. "A generation of girls has now been denied secondary education. A girl who was in grade six when the ban began is reaching adulthood without another day in school."
An Afghan girl cited by the experts said, "It has been five years since I was deprived of my education. It is deeply depressing to feel that you cannot move forward but are stuck where you were five years ago."
Over the past year, the Taliban have further entrenched their institutionalised gender-based repression. The experts reiterated that the Taliban's intentional and targeted gender-based deprivation of fundamental rights amounts to the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds. As this repression forms part of an institutionalised system of gender-based discrimination, oppression and domination, the experts said it can also be characterised as gender apartheid. They urged States to actively support the codification of gender apartheid as a distinct crime against humanity.
The Taliban have continued to impose repressive measures on the population, including the decree on criminal rules of courts that allows violence against women unless it "breaks bones" or "leaves obvious bruises," and the decree on separation of spouses that implicitly allows child marriage and makes it very difficult for women and girls to escape abusive and forced marriages. These decrees also discriminate against religious minorities.
Enforcement measures, some involving cruel and inhuman punishment, have also intensified, the experts said. In 2025 alone, more people were publicly flogged than in all the previous years of Taliban rule combined.
"Women have been turned away from hospitals on account of their attire or for lacking a male guardian, denying them their right to access health care. In June 2026, at least 30 women and girls were jailed in Herat for allegedly violating the Taliban's dress code. When residents protested, security forces opened fire, killing at least two people, including a boy."
They called for strengthened support for the International Criminal Court, warning that "the newly mandated Independent Investigative Mechanism for Afghanistan must not remain only an achievement on paper; it must also be properly and swiftly resourced."
The experts also decried the deepening humanitarian crisis, which remains one of the world's most severe and neglected, driven by the loss of humanitarian funding, a faltering economy, drought and mass returns from neighbouring countries.
More than 17 million Afghans - over a third of the population - faced acute food insecurity during the past winter, with nearly 4 million children acutely malnourished. The experts urged States to restore humanitarian funding and ensure that women - disproportionately harmed and largely barred from public life - can both deliver and receive assistance.
"Afghanistan is not a safe country: mass returns and forced deportations in violation of the obligation of non-refoulement must stop, particularly for those who face heightened protection risks, including religious or ethnic minorities and LGBT persons," the experts said.
Cross-border hostilities with Pakistan have claimed the lives of about 500 civilians since October 2025, including 269 patients killed in airstrikes on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul in March 2026. The experts called on Pakistan and the Taliban to exercise restraint, protect civilians and investigate potential war crimes and gross human rights violations.
"There should be no moves to normalise the Taliban de facto authorities, including by accepting diplomats or holding meetings in capitals, without demonstrated, measurable progress against human rights benchmarks, particularly for women and girls," the experts said. "For five years, Afghans' human rights have been systematically violated, yet many continue to strive bravely and against the odds to restore them. The international community must not let them down again."
