December 11, 2025
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE: In a landmark assertion of civil society justice, the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) for Women of Afghanistan on Thursday delivered its final judgment in The Hague, holding the leadership of the Taliban government in Kabul responsible for the crime against humanity of gender persecution.
The verdict, announced at the International Institute of Social Studies at The Hague in the Netherlands, followed three harrowing days of public hearings in Madrid in October 2025, where survivors and witnesses from inside and outside Afghanistan presented overwhelming evidence of a deliberate, coordinated, and institutionalized campaign to erase women from public life. The tribunal issued urgent calls for justice and restoration of rights for Afghan women and girls.
The tribunal, convened after years of systematic erasure of women from public life in Afghanistan, heard harrowing testimonies from witnesses and examined extensive documentation of violations occurring since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021. The judgment represents a significant moral and legal reckoning for a regime that has imposed what experts describe as the world’s most severe women’s rights crisis.
Gender persecution as crime against humanity
The tribunal found that Taliban policies and practices constitute crimes against humanity under Article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute, particularly the crime of gender persecution. This determination follows evidence of a “coordinated, state-level campaign of gender persecution, carried out with the intent to erase women from public life and to restructure Afghan society around male supremacy,” according to the indictment.
The accused include ten individual Taliban leaders: Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, Defense Minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar, Minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs Noor Mohammad Saqib, Minister for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Sheikh Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, Chief Justice Sheikh Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Minister of Higher Education Neda Mohammad Nadeem, Minister of Education Habibullah Agha, and Director of the General Directorate of Intelligence Abdul Haq Wasiq. The Taliban as a group and the State of Afghanistan were also held responsible.
The tribunal determined that through approximately 157 decrees and edicts targeting women and girls, the Taliban have created an “institutionalized system of discrimination, oppression, and domination” that meets the legal threshold for gender persecution as a crime against humanity.
Education: dreams destroyed
Perhaps no violation has been more devastating than the denial of education. Since taking power, the Taliban have systematically excluded girls from secondary schools and universities, affecting millions of young women whose futures have been stolen.
The tribunal documented how educational access expanded dramatically after 2001, with girls’ primary school enrollment rising from nearly zero to 2.5 million by 2021, and female university students increasing from 5,000 to over 100,000. All of this progress has been reversed.
“The hope, plans, and decisions we had made for our future were destroyed. They gave us no opportunity,” testified one young woman who tried to register for a Master’s degree at Nangarhar University. She was turned away with the chilling words: “Who gave women so much rights? Seven or eight years of education is enough for you.”
Another witness, a former teacher, recounted heartbreaking conversations with female students: “Crying, they would say, ‘Dear teacher, what is our sin? What should we do? What crime have we committed besides pursuing education?'”
Healthcare: a crisis of access
Women’s access to healthcare has collapsed under Taliban rule. Female doctors and medical students have been banned from working and studying, creating a severe shortage of healthcare providers for women who cannot see male doctors under Taliban restrictions.
“Women are forced to give birth at home, like a century ago. They might survive the birth or die during it, leading to a significant increase in maternal mortality,” one witness testified. Maternal mortality has increased by 19 percent, with an estimated 620 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by April 2025.
The mental health crisis is equally severe. Witnesses described widespread depression, anxiety, and alarming increases in suicide attempts among women and girls. “Self-harm and suicide among women have increased alarmingly, especially since the Taliban’s return to power,” testified a psychotherapist from Mazar-e-Sharif.
Employment: economic devastation
The systematic exclusion of women from employment has pushed millions into poverty. Women have been banned from working in government institutions, NGOs, international organizations, and most private sector jobs. Beauty salons—which provided income for approximately 60,000 women—have been shuttered.
“I graduated from the judiciary and prosecutor’s office, and I completed a legal clinic. However, with the arrival of the Taliban, my dreams were shattered,” testified one woman who was forced to abandon her career and eventually flee the country.
UN Women estimates that only one in four women are now working or seeking work, compared to 90 percent of men. The economic impact extends beyond individuals to entire families, with women-headed households facing particular destitution.
Freedom of Movement: imprisoned in their homes
The requirement that women travel with a male guardian (mahram) has effectively imprisoned women in their homes. Even emergency travel is restricted, with one witness describing how a bus driver was beaten at a checkpoint for transporting her alone with her children during a medical emergency.
“Even visiting a doctor is a challenge, because taxi drivers often refuse to pick up unaccompanied women, fearing punishment from the Taliban,” one witness explained. The restrictions disproportionately affect women with disabilities and those from families without male relatives.
Silencing women’s voices
The Taliban have systematically suppressed freedom of expression and assembly. Women journalists have been forced from their professions—from approximately 700 before 2021 to fewer than 100 today. Women’s voices have been banned from radio in some provinces, and women are prohibited from appearing on television dramas.
Those who dared to protest peacefully have faced brutal consequences. Multiple witnesses described being beaten, detained without warrants, tortured, and forced to sign confessions. “While in prison, I suffered both physical and psychological torture. I was repeatedly insulted, humiliated, and threatened by the Taliban guards. At that time, I was two months pregnant… Because of the torture, I suffered severe bleeding and miscarried my child,” one activist testified.
Taliban violating binding international treaties
Beyond gender persecution, the tribunal found the Taliban guilty of violating Afghanistan’s binding obligations under numerous international human rights treaties, including:
– The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
– The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
– The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
– The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
– The Convention Against Torture (CAT)
– The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
The tribunal emphasized that these obligations remain binding regardless of regime change, and the Taliban as the de facto governing authority is legally obligated to uphold these commitments.
The question of “Gender Apartheid”
While the prosecution argued that the Taliban’s systematic discrimination constitutes “gender apartheid,” the tribunal determined that this crime is not yet codified in international law. However, judges acknowledged that “the situation in Afghanistan meets the constitutive elements of an apartheid-like system, an institutionalized regime of segregation, exclusion, and domination.”
The tribunal called for the development of this concept through international jurisprudence and potential codification to address the normative gap in international law.
Afghan women facing multiple forms of discrimination
The tribunal paid particular attention to women and girls facing multiple forms of discrimination, including ethnic and religious minorities (particularly Hazara, Tajiks, and Uzbeks) and women with disabilities. “All the opportunities that once existed for persons with disabilities have disappeared. There are no support programs, no educational opportunities, and no safe spaces left for us,” testified one young woman with a disability who had dreamed of Paralympic competition before the Taliban takeover ended her athletic career.
Women with disabilities face compounded barriers: denied education, employment, accessible healthcare, and even the ability to move in public while wearing the mandatory full-body covering that the Taliban requires.
Distorting religious law
A critical aspect of the tribunal’s findings addressed the Taliban’s claimed justification for their policies through their interpretation of Shari’a law. Expert testimony demonstrated that the Taliban’s positions “reflect cultural extremism, not Shari’a, and deviate significantly from all major fiqh traditions.”
Leading Islamic scholars worldwide have rejected the Taliban’s restrictions. The Islamabad Declaration of 2025, endorsed by senior ulama and fiqh councils, affirms that girls’ education is a religious obligation (fard) grounded in Shari’a. Al-Azhar University in Egypt and the Muslim World League have both condemned the Taliban’s education ban as contrary to Islamic principles.
“The Taliban’s approach elevates one narrow reading to the level of unquestionable law, concentrates power without accountability, and results in harm and injustice, conditions that the Shari’a law explicitly rejects,” the judgment states.
The psychological and social impact
The tribunal documented devastating psychological consequences extending across generations. Witnesses described pervasive fear, insomnia, nightmares, depression, and suicidal ideation. Afghanistan has become one of very few countries worldwide where more women than men die by suicide.
A 2023 survey found that 70 percent of Afghan women describe their mental health as “poor” or “very poor,” and 80 percent reported suicide attempts. The trauma extends to children who have witnessed their mothers’ arrests and abuse, creating intergenerational psychological damage.
The social fabric of Afghanistan has been fundamentally damaged. “If this trend continues, Afghanistan will quickly head towards misery. Women are an integral part of society,” one witness warned.
Recommendations: a roadmap for justice
The tribunal issued comprehensive recommendations to multiple stakeholders.
To the Taliban: The tribunal called for immediate revocation of all discriminatory decrees, reopening of schools and universities to girls and women without conditions, restoration of women’s employment rights across all sectors, and guarantee of freedom of movement, expression, and assembly. The Taliban must ensure women’s equal access to justice and publicly affirm women’s equal legal status.
To Islamic Countries and Institutions: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Islamic countries, and scholars were urged to issue authoritative fatwas publicly rejecting the Taliban’s restrictions as having no basis in Shari’a and to call for immediate reversal of all policies restricting women’s human rights.
To the United Nations: The tribunal recommended that the UN formally recognize the Taliban’s policies as gender persecution, swiftly operationalize the recently established independent investigative mechanism for Afghanistan with adequate resources and Afghan expertise, and support codification of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity in international law.
To the International Criminal Court: The ICC was urged to expedite investigations into crimes against humanity on gender grounds in Afghanistan. In July 2025, the ICC issued arrest warrants for two senior Taliban leaders—Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani—for persecution as a crime against humanity. The tribunal called for additional accountability measures.
To Member States: Governments were called upon to avoid any action that legitimizes or normalizes the Taliban’s gender-based persecution. The tribunal emphasized that protection of women’s rights must be a non-negotiable condition for diplomatic or economic engagement.
Four countries—Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, and Australia—announced in September 2024 their intention to pursue a case against Afghanistan under CEDAW before the International Court of Justice. The tribunal urged these states to advance proceedings transparently and expeditiously.
Warning against normalisation
The tribunal expressed grave concern about growing international normalisation of Taliban rule despite ongoing atrocities. China has accepted Taliban diplomatic envoys, Germany has accepted Taliban-appointed diplomats, and India hosted the Taliban foreign minister for high-level talks.
“When States overlook the Taliban’s gender-based repression, they enable the group to demand and enforce gender segregation, not just domestically, but even within sovereign and democratic countries,” the judgment warns. “Normalization will weaken mechanisms such as the ICC and the ICJ that took the international community decades to build and that Afghan women have spent years struggling to secure.”
Dr. Gianni Tognoni, Secretary General of the Permanent People’s Tribunal, emphasized the broader significance: “The current situation in Afghanistan is the product of a long history, during which the country has been at the crossroads of the interests, wars, promises and betrayals of some of the major powers that have been in conflict with each other for geopolitical control of the wider region for the last four decades.”
He noted that Afghan women, through their courage and resilience, are challenging “the legitimacy and credibility of an international community that is fully aware of the situation yet appears unable to address and stop a process that violates the fundamental principles of international law.”
The tribunal’s president, Judge Rashida Manjoo of South Africa, stated in the preliminary findings: “The denial of human rights are not isolated incidents but form part of a State-organized structure of institutionalized discrimination and oppression that seeks to erase women as active participants in society.”
The tribunal concluded with words that capture both the gravity of the situation and the imperative for action: “Depriving us women of these rights means depriving all of Afghanistan of justice and a bright future.”
The organizations, Rawadari, Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization (AHRDO), Organization for Policy Research and Development Studies (DROPS), and Human Rights Defenders Plus had petitioned the tribunal for the hearing. The international panel of judges comprised Rashida Manjoo, Araceli García Del Soto, Elisenda Calvet Martínez, Emilio Ramírez Matos, Ghizal Haress, Kalpana Sharma, Mai El-Sadany, and Marina Forti