To mark the third anniversary of Afghanistan’s fall to the Taliban, Afghan Witness has released a report titled “Erasure of Women,” exposing the gender-based violence under Taliban governance. According to the organization, women are suffering from a “systematic erasure” from public life.
The report reveals that three years into the Taliban’s rule over Afghanistan, an analysis by the Afghan Witness project for the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) has documented ongoing gender-based violence and 332 cases of femicide as part of a broader trend of “systematic removal of women from public life in Afghanistan.”
Afghan Witness found that allegations of various forms of gender-based violence are “widespread and occurring frequently.” The organization reported that 840 women and girls have been subjected to gender-based violence over a two-and-a-half-year period (January 1, 2022, to June 30, 2024).
The organization also noted that open-source researchers collected 700 online reports from Afghan social media and news sites, with some reports mentioning multiple victims, including cases of femicide, sexual and domestic violence, forced marriages, arrests, torture, and disappearances. According to the organization, most reports (422) claimed that Taliban officials were responsible for these acts of violence, but visual evidence limits the ability to verify these reports.
Afghan Witness’s analysis of open-source reports on gender-based violence by the Taliban shows 115 cases including forced marriages, sexual slavery, and sexual assault, 73 cases of non-sexual violence and torture, and 113 cases of women being detained for protesting against the Taliban or disregarding the regime’s policies against women and girls.
The report indicates that gender-based violence is part of a broader trend where women’s rights have been severely restricted, with the Taliban issuing numerous repressive orders since their takeover until August 2022.
David Osborn, head of the Afghan Witness project, stated, “Days after the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, we saw photos of women with paint thrown on them and mannequins covered in Kabul streets. Three years after the Taliban’s takeover, this report shows how the Taliban have systematically removed women from Afghan society, depriving half of the population of education, work, media, government, and public presence and activities.”
Afghan Witness emphasized that gender-based violence occurs daily across Afghanistan, with the organization’s data indicating that these acts of violence claim 28 female victims each month, with a prevailing culture of impunity.
The report states: “What we have gathered is just a sample – when women and girls are targeted with violence, media restrictions, political repression, and online threats make it harder for Afghan women to raise their voices and document instances of gender-based violence and the impact of Taliban rule on women and girls.”
Afghan Witness noted that many women and girls have tried to raise their voices in protest, but some women’s rights activists who bravely took to the streets were arrested, and some even fled Afghanistan. According to the report, those protesting against the Taliban from within Afghanistan primarily do so with covered faces from inside their homes and online due to fear of Taliban retaliation.
The report indicates that open-source data collected by Afghan Witness shows that street protests by girls and women have significantly decreased over the past three years, with activists filming and posting their home-based protests online to avoid arrest and violence against themselves.
Afghan Witness added that 88% of women’s protests in 2021 were held outdoors, but this figure halved in 2022 and sharply declined at the beginning of 2023, with 94% of protests now conducted online and often in concealed locations and identities.
According to Afghan Witness, the Taliban have intensified their restrictions on women over the past year. The report mentions that Afghan Witness has verified a January 2024 video from Kabul showing women being detained in groups for not adhering to the Taliban’s dress code.
Findings show that female presenters on Afghan television have been gradually removed from the screens. The organization refers to a May 2022 Taliban directive mandating women to cover their faces on television, which has led to their removal from the media. According to the organization, female presenters have been entirely removed from some media outlets in 2024.
Afghan Witness noted that this analysis, based on open-source information including images and videos posted online, media reports, and claims on social media, has been systematically and regularly collected. The organization added that the Center for Information Resilience (CIR) is a UK-based non-profit that uses open-source techniques to investigate human rights abuses, war crimes, and misinformation in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Myanmar, and Sudan.
You can read the Persian version of this daily report here:
