The Afghanistan Women’s Rights Watch (AWRW) has published its analytical and legal report on the human rights situation of women and girls in Afghanistan during the first half of 2026.

Titled “Gender Invisibility: The Engineering of Exclusion and Systematic Violence Against Women in Afghanistan,” the report documents and analyzes violations of the rights of women and girls during the period from January to June 2026.

According to the report, AWRW documented 225 cases of physical, psychological, and structural violence against women and girls during the first six months of 2026. These cases include killings and attempted killings, domestic violence, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and documented cases of suicide among women and girls. The report notes that restrictions on access to information, censorship, fear, and underreporting mean that the documented cases should not be understood as representing the full scale of violations during this period.

The report also examines the implications of Decree No. 12 (Criminal Rules of Courts) and Decree No. 18 (Code of Principles on Separation of Spouses) for women’s rights. It addresses issues including domestic violence, women’s access to justice, child marriage, women’s rights in divorce proceedings, and restrictions affecting family life.

Another section examines the detention of women in Herat, the protests in Jibril, and the authorities’ response to the demonstrations. The report also reviews restrictions on smartphone use, women’s and girls’ access to education and livelihoods, healthcare and reproductive health services, and mental health.

In its final section, the report examines Afghanistan’s international obligations and relevant international human rights instruments, including CEDAW and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It assesses the legal implications of restrictions imposed on women and girls and presents a series of recommendations for international actors, Islamic institutions and scholars, humanitarian organizations, and donors.

AWRW hopes that the report will contribute to documentation, research, awareness-raising, and efforts to protect and promote the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.

The full six-month report is available on this link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/3/folders/1U4EN60HUiOVhPm_R0zzMhmhYO7B7H7A_