Destitute Afghan women arrested for begging under draconian new Taliban laws have spoken of “brutal” rapes and beatings in detention.

Over the past few months, many women said they had been targeted by Taliban officials and detained under anti-begging laws passed this year. While in prison, they claim they were subjected to sexual abuse, torture and forced labour, and witnessed children being beaten and abused.

In September Australia, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands formally called upon Afghanistan to cease what the countries say are violations of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This begins the process for the four countries to file a case with the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ). 

For most of the three years since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, their erasure of women’s rights appeared to be setting them on course for near-total isolation in the world.

Western and Islamic countries alike condemned the group’s most extreme strictures, particularly on girls’ education. Messages by Taliban officials that their government was eager to engage with the world were ignored. To this day, no country officially recognizes the Taliban as the lawful authorities in Afghanistan.

But in recent months, the political winds have begun to shift in the Taliban’s favor.

As we sit here today, Afghan women and girls are experiencing renewed gender persecution, including gender and sexual-based violence. The Taliban has issued more than 80 archaic edicts: Curtailing freedom of speech. Barring girls over the age of 12 from pursuing an education. Implementing so-called “morality laws” that effectively erase women from public life.

This institutional oppression is an attack on human rights and a threat to Afghanistan’s security, stability, and economy. And those who raise their voice in protest risk harassment, detention, and violence.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Friday that gender and nationality alone were sufficient for a country to grant asylum to women from Afghanistan, where the ruling Taliban have sharply curtailed women’s rights.

Authorities in Austria refused refugee status to two Afghan women after they applied for asylum in 2015 and 2020. They challenged the refusal before the Austrian Supreme Administrative Court, which in turn requested a ruling from the ECJ, the top European Union court.

Feridun Sinirlioğlu, the United Nations’ special coordinator for Afghan affairs, said last week that “good progress had been made in Afghanistan, especially in the field of security,” and that “stability has been established,” at a meeting with Maulvi Abdul Salam Hanafi, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for administrative affairs.

He said there is a “misunderstanding” between the international community and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which needs resolving. It is unclear what this “misunderstanding” entails. If gender apartheid is a misunderstanding, then it should be immediately recognized by the United Nations so the Taliban can be held accountable for their actions against Afghan women and girls. 

August 15 marks the second anniversary of the U.S. military’s hasty exit from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s usurp of power. Since then, the Taliban has chiseled away the basic rights of women and girls in a multitude of ways, from denying them access to education to banning them from public parks. 

The Taliban’s latest crackdown on women’s freedom came on June 24 when all beauty salons were ordered to shut down. The situation in Afghanistan right now, according to Human Rights Watch, is “the most serious women’s rights crisis in the world. [Any] assessment of the international approach to the crisis in Afghanistan should prioritize human rights, especially the rights of women and girls.”

On June 25, the Taliban issued a statement declaring Afghan women are given a “comfortable and prosperous life” under their regime, despite the government’s ban against women’s education after sixth grade and involvement in public life and work. Most recently, the Taliban banned beauty salons, which allowed women to join the workforce and form social communities.

The statement was released before one of the biggest Muslim holidays, Eid al-Adha, and was given by the Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, who is rarely seen outside of Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province. According to the Associated Press, he “surrounds himself with other religious scholars and allies who oppose education and work for women.” 

A weeklong special U.N. mission on human rights in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan has found an unprecedented level of “systemic gender-based” discrimination that severely threatens the impoverished country’s future.

The United Nations released preliminary findings of the two-member mission Friday, saying the study concluded Thursday and took place amid a long-standing humanitarian crisis and profound turmoil caused by the latest Taliban edict banning Afghan women from working for the U.N. and local NGOs.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned this week that Afghanistan continues to face the largest humanitarian crisis in the world today, with a two-day summit in Doha ending without formal recognition of the Taliban government that has ruled the country since August 2021. Since their return to power, the Taliban have cracked down on women’s rights, including restricting access to education and banning women from working with international aid groups. Poverty has skyrocketed in Afghanistan as years of conflict, corruption and international sanctions have battered the economy. We speak with Farzana Elham Kochai, a women’s rights activist who was elected to the Afghan Parliament in 2019 before fleeing the country for safety, and Jumana Abo Oxa, who works with the Greek refugee project Elpida Home helping Afghan women lawmakers find refuge in other countries.