The Taliban, which completely banned girls' education after primary school, has now also made slavery official.
January30,2026
The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has permanently banned women and girls from attending school, effectively and explicitly eliminating girls' right to education. As will be recalled, after coming to power in August 2021, the Taliban effectively banned girls from attending school after primary school, decreeing that they could attend school after “Islamic law and Afghan culture-appropriate” conditions were created.
According to UNESCO data, 2.2 million girls have been deprived of post-primary education due to the bans imposed after the Taliban came to power. A few days ago, the Taliban announced that these bans would be made permanent. The rights denied to women by the Taliban are not limited to education. Since coming to power, the Taliban has banned women from working, receiving vocational training, traveling without a male escort, going out on the street, going to gyms or beauty salons, looking out of their windows, and almost breathing. It also imposes very strict restrictions on women's clothing and behavior.
The Taliban regime's inhumane prohibitions and practices are not a matter of governance preference or national/cultural choice. The Taliban has completely excluded women from public life and established a system that subjects women to male guardianship. What is happening is a systematic, deliberate, and institutionalized state policy of the religiously-based totalitarian Taliban regime against women and girls, which is defined in international law as a crime against humanity: gender-based persecution.
Women's and human rights organizations, including the Women's Platform for Equality, Türkiye, have been stating since 2021 that the Taliban has established a gender apartheid regime in Afghanistan that completely erases women from the public sphere and confines them to their homes, and they are fighting for this to be clearly recognized as a crime against humanity.
The vital importance of this struggle and the fact that viewing women as second-class citizens, even normalizing their enslavement, is a threat to everyone is even more evident in the Taliban's latest penal regulations.
In a regulation sent to courts on January 4, 2026, regarding the implementation of the Penal Code, the Taliban categorizes people as “free” and “slaves” and divides society into four categories: “Scholars,” ‘Notables’ (Nobles), “Middle Class,” and “Lower Class.” By introducing punishment based on class and status, far removed from equality, the Taliban regime has clearly demonstrated that it has no connection to human dignity and the human rights framework that builds upon it.
According to a statement made by the Rawadari Human Rights Organization on January 22, political opposition and “insulting Taliban leaders” are considered crimes. It is clear that these regulations, which refer to the destruction of “corrupt places” that cause “moral decay” and are based on a general interpretation of the concept of “corruption,” will be applied to many places and workplaces, including those gathered for the secret education of girls.
The regulation states that every Muslim has the authority to punish sinners when they see them committing sins, giving Taliban supporters, civilians, religious officials, and morality police the authority to use violence and torture. Violence against women and children is legitimized. With these regulations sent by the Taliban to the courts, legal security and the right to a fair trial have been completely eliminated, and the law has been turned into an instrument of obedience, oppression, and control.
Once again, we see that the systematic exclusion of women from education, employment, and the public sphere solely because of their gender, that is, the rejection of the principles of equality and secularism, is a major threat to everyone, especially women. This is not an internal matter for Afghanistan; it is an international issue. We know that the forces that brought the Taliban to power in Afghanistan are the same forces that are now staining the Middle East with blood for their own interests. And we know that this darkness feeds on the exploitation of women's freedom, rights, and lives.
As the Women's Platform for Equality, we emphasize once again:
We do not consider these practices against women and girls in Afghanistan to be legitimate, and we do not recognize them. We also DO NOT RECOGNIZE those who try to justify these practices, those who consider them legitimate, and those who recognize the Taliban!
We reiterate that the Taliban regime's policies against women should be considered crimes against humanity and recognized as “gender apartheid.”
We call on the international community to end all “normalization” policies with the Taliban and to abandon all diplomatic and political stances that legitimize this regime, either directly or indirectly.
We reiterate that equality and secularism are the foundation of a democratic social order and the guarantee of women's and girls' lives and most fundamental rights. Any concession made on equality and secularism will first affect women, then everyone.
The Taliban, which completely banned girls' education after primary school, has now also made slavery official.
The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has permanently banned women and girls from attending school, effectively and explicitly eliminating girls' right to education. As will be recalled, after coming to power in August 2021, the Taliban effectively banned girls from attending school after primary school, decreeing that they could attend school after “Islamic law and Afghan culture-appropriate” conditions were created.
According to UNESCO data, 2.2 million girls have been deprived of post-primary education due to the bans imposed after the Taliban came to power. A few days ago, the Taliban announced that these bans would be made permanent. The rights denied to women by the Taliban are not limited to education. Since coming to power, the Taliban has banned women from working, receiving vocational training, traveling without a male escort, going out on the street, going to gyms or beauty salons, looking out of their windows, and almost breathing. It also imposes very strict restrictions on women's clothing and behavior.
The Taliban regime's inhumane prohibitions and practices are not a matter of governance preference or national/cultural choice. The Taliban has completely excluded women from public life and established a system that subjects women to male guardianship. What is happening is a systematic, deliberate, and institutionalized state policy of the religiously-based totalitarian Taliban regime against women and girls, which is defined in international law as a crime against humanity: gender-based persecution.
Women's and human rights organizations, including the Women's Platform for Equality, Türkiye, have been stating since 2021 that the Taliban has established a gender apartheid regime in Afghanistan that completely erases women from the public sphere and confines them to their homes, and they are fighting for this to be clearly recognized as a crime against humanity.
The vital importance of this struggle and the fact that viewing women as second-class citizens, even normalizing their enslavement, is a threat to everyone is even more evident in the Taliban's latest penal regulations.
In a regulation sent to courts on January 4, 2026, regarding the implementation of the Penal Code, the Taliban categorizes people as “free” and “slaves” and divides society into four categories: “Scholars,” ‘Notables’ (Nobles), “Middle Class,” and “Lower Class.” By introducing punishment based on class and status, far removed from equality, the Taliban regime has clearly demonstrated that it has no connection to human dignity and the human rights framework that builds upon it.
According to a statement made by the Rawadari Human Rights Organization on January 22, political opposition and “insulting Taliban leaders” are considered crimes. It is clear that these regulations, which refer to the destruction of “corrupt places” that cause “moral decay” and are based on a general interpretation of the concept of “corruption,” will be applied to many places and workplaces, including those gathered for the secret education of girls.
The regulation states that every Muslim has the authority to punish sinners when they see them committing sins, giving Taliban supporters, civilians, religious officials, and morality police the authority to use violence and torture. Violence against women and children is legitimized. With these regulations sent by the Taliban to the courts, legal security and the right to a fair trial have been completely eliminated, and the law has been turned into an instrument of obedience, oppression, and control.
Once again, we see that the systematic exclusion of women from education, employment, and the public sphere solely because of their gender, that is, the rejection of the principles of equality and secularism, is a major threat to everyone, especially women. This is not an internal matter for Afghanistan; it is an international issue. We know that the forces that brought the Taliban to power in Afghanistan are the same forces that are now staining the Middle East with blood for their own interests. And we know that this darkness feeds on the exploitation of women's freedom, rights, and lives.
As the Women's Platform for Equality, we emphasize once again:
We do not consider these practices against women and girls in Afghanistan to be legitimate, and we do not recognize them. We also DO NOT RECOGNIZE those who try to justify these practices, those who consider them legitimate, and those who recognize the Taliban!
We reiterate that the Taliban regime's policies against women should be considered crimes against humanity and recognized as “gender apartheid.”
We call on the international community to end all “normalization” policies with the Taliban and to abandon all diplomatic and political stances that legitimize this regime, either directly or indirectly.
We reiterate that equality and secularism are the foundation of a democratic social order and the guarantee of women's and girls' lives and most fundamental rights. Any concession made on equality and secularism will first affect women, then everyone.
#SlaveryIsACrimeAgainstHumanity
#TheRightToEducationCannotBeDenied
#GenderApartheid
#NoToTalibanYesToWomensRights
January 30, 2026
The Women's Platform for Equality (EŞİK)
www.esik.org.tr / iletisim@esikplatform.net