62nd SESSION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Item 3 - Annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women, Part I
Joint Statement on the Situation of Women and Girls in Afghanistan, on behalf of
Afghanistan, Malta, Cyprus, Uruguay, Paraguay, Monaco and Tajikistan.
24 June, 2026
Mr. President,
On behalf of Afghanistan, and supported by a cross-regional group of States, we bring to this Council’s attention the ongoing, grave and deteriorating situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, who continue to be subjected to a system of oppression, exclusion, and gender- based discrimination, in clear violation of international human rights law.
Women are systematically and progressively being excluded from education for the fifth consecutive academic year, from employment, essential services including healthcare and digital access, public life, and humanitarian spaces, with disproportionate effects for women who are already marginalized. Their human rights and fundamental freedoms have been further curtailed with pervasive restrictions on movement, censorship, surveillance, morality policing, detention, and through so-called laws that seek to subordinate them.
Domestic violence is also normalised through the misogynistic Decree No. 12, which permits corporal punishment, and contains provisions that legitimise violence against women and children. More recently, Decree No. 18, the so-called “Code on Judicial Separation of Spouses”, enables child marriages, treats a girl’s silence after puberty as consent, and restricts women and girls from challenging or leaving such unions.
The recent arrests of women in Herat for alleged dress-code violations, and the extensive use of force against protesters causing deaths and injuries, are some of the latest devastating instances of an ever-worsening situation for Afghanistan’s women and girls.
Mr. President,
This crisis is structural, systemic and gendered in intent and effects, with generational and already irreversible consequences; undermining the autonomy and dignity of women and girls in Afghanistan, and institutionalising a systematic and multi-sectoral campaign of gender persecution under international law.
We urge this Council and the international community to act immediately with a higher level of seriousness: continue support for the Special Rapporteur on
Afghanistan and the operationalisation of the IIM-A; advance accountability effort; and increase support for women-led civil society initiatives and women most at risk.
We ask, what concrete steps can be taken to facilitate an effective, coordinated response that places the full, equal, safe and meaningful participation and leadership of Afghanistan’s women and girls at their centre?