Statement by the Afghan Women's Rights Watch in response to the "Criminal Code of Taliban Courts"

The Afghanistan Women’s Rights Watch expresses deep concern and strongly condemns the content known as the “Penal Principles of Taliban Courts,” considering it a document that manifestly violates fundamental human rights—particularly the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.

This set of principles not only stands in direct conflict with international human rights standards, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, but also, by institutionalizing gender discrimination, violence, and arbitrary punishments, creates a quasi-legal framework for the systematic repression of women.

The Afghanistan Women’s Rights Watch emphasizes that the disregard for basic fair-trial guarantees—such as the presumption of innocence, the right of access to legal counsel, the right to remain silent, the prohibition of torture, and the prohibition of arbitrary arrest and punishment—renders women, girls, and other at-risk groups particularly vulnerable to widespread abuse and complete impunity.

By deliberately remaining silent on various forms of physical, psychological, and sexual violence against women; implicitly legitimizing the punishment of women within the family; and criminalizing behaviors directly related to women’s individual freedoms and human dignity, these principles seriously heighten the risk of the escalation and institutionalization of gender-based violence.

Furthermore, the segregation of citizens based on religion and social status; the granting of unlimited authority to judicial bodies and ordinary individuals to impose punishment; and the authorization of killing under the pretext of “public interest” constitute flagrant violations of the principle of equality and the right to life, with devastating consequences for the safety and lives of women.

The Afghanistan Women’s Rights Watch warns that the implementation of these principles, in the absence of any independent and effective oversight mechanisms, will lead to the spread of lawlessness, an increase in systematic human rights violations, and the complete removal of women from any form of legal protection.

The Afghanistan Women’s Rights Watch calls for the immediate suspension of the implementation of these principles and urges the United Nations, Special Rapporteurs, international human rights organizations, and governments to employ all available legal, political, and international tools to prevent the enforcement of this document and to provide effective protection for the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. Silence by the international community in the face of such a document would amount to the normalization of discrimination, violence, and injustice against Afghan women.