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 When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'.Artali

writing on the wall standing up for women’s rights
Amu - April 2, 2026 - by Siyar Sirat
{UN review finds Taliban policies violate women’s rights convention
A comprehensive UN legal review has found that a sweeping set of policies imposed by the Taliban since 2021 violate Afghanistan’s obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, one of the core international human rights treaties. The report, published jointly by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN Women, examines 16 key Taliban directives and laws affecting women and girls and concludes that many constitute direct and systemic discrimination under international law. The analysis maps each measure — introduced between 2021 and 2025 — against specific provisions of the convention, known as CEDAW, which Afghanistan ratified in 2003 without reservations. The review says the country remains bound by those obligations regardless of the current governing authority.
Sixteen measures under scrutiny
The report identifies and analyzes 16 Taliban policies and edicts, including:
A ban on women using parks, gyms and public baths (Nov. 10, 2022)
Restrictions on women traveling beyond 78 kilometers without a male guardian (Dec. 31, 2021)
A nationwide hijab directive mandating dress and face covering (May 7, 2022)
A sweeping “law on the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice” (Aug. 21, 2024)
A ban on girls’ education beyond sixth grade (March 23, 2022)
A ban on higher education for women (Dec. 20, 2022)
A ban on women attending medical institutes (Dec. 2, 2024)
A prohibition on most women civil servants returning to work (Aug. 24, 2021)
A ban on women working with nongovernmental organizations and the United Nations (Dec. 24, 2022; extended April 2023)
The closure of women’s beauty salons (June 25, 2023)
A directive standardizing women civil servants’ salaries at the lowest level (June 2, 2024)
Additional decrees affecting legal procedures, marriage practices and women’s participation in public life
Across these measures, the report finds consistent violations of core CEDAW principles, including non-discrimination, equality before the law and the obligation of states to eliminate discriminatory practices.
Education as a ‘gateway right’
Among the most consequential findings are those related to education. The Taliban’s ban on girls’ schooling beyond sixth grade and exclusion of women from universities are described as clear violations that “nullify” the right to education. The report emphasizes that education is a “gateway right,” meaning its denial has cascading effects — limiting employment, economic independence and participation in public life. The prohibition on women attending medical institutes, introduced in 2024, is singled out for its long-term impact. The review warns that restricting women’s medical training could reduce the number of female health professionals, undermining access to care and increasing risks such as maternal mortality.
Restrictions across work and public life
The report documents extensive limits on women’s employment, including bans on working in the civil service, nongovernmental organizations and international agencies. These measures, it says, violate women’s right to work and economic participation, while also reducing access to services that depend on female staff, particularly in health care and humanitarian assistance. The closure of women’s beauty salons and the reduction of salaries for female civil servants are cited as further examples of economic exclusion. In some cases, Taliban officials have framed restrictions as protective. The review rejects that justification, stating that it shifts responsibility for safety onto women rather than addressing structural risks.
Movement, expression and daily life
The analysis also details restrictions on movement and personal freedoms, including requirements for women to travel with a male guardian and bans on accessing public spaces. Dress codes and behavior rules are described as particularly intrusive. A 2022 hijab directive mandates face covering and allows enforcement through male family members, while a 2024 morality law expands restrictions to include limits on women’s voices in public. The report concludes that such measures violate rights to freedom of movement, expression and participation in public life, while reinforcing gender stereotypes and limiting women’s autonomy.
A system of institutionalized discrimination
Taken together, the 16 measures form what the report describes as a system of institutionalized discrimination. Restrictions in one area reinforce others, creating a “continuum” of rights violations. Limits on education, for example, reduce employment prospects, which in turn restrict economic independence and access to health care. CEDAW requires states to eliminate discrimination across political, economic, social and cultural life and to ensure equality before the law. The review concludes that many Taliban policies are incompatible with these obligations and, in some cases, have been codified into law, further entrenching discrimination.
A baseline for accountability
UN officials said the review is intended as a resource for governments and international actors assessing Afghanistan’s compliance with international law. It establishes a baseline for measuring future progress — or deterioration — particularly as diplomatic engagement with the Taliban continues. The Taliban have consistently defended their policies as aligned with their interpretation of Islamic law.} Source: https://amu.tv/233311/


The Kabul Slaughter
Zan Times - April 2, 2026 - by Zahra Nader
{The Kabul Slaughter
This story is published in collaboration with Equator, a new magazine of politics and culture.
When the explosion struck, Ahmad was in the camp yard, performing his ablutions in preparation for the nightly prayer. He does not know what was hit first. What he remembers is a thundering sound, flames moving faster than thought, trying to run – and heat scorching his right hand. As parts of the rehabilitation centre collapsed, Ahmad’s fellow patients tried to rush outside, but the spreading fire made escape impossible. Surrounded by heat and smoke, people were soon piling up on one another. Eventually, a man in white clothing – whom Ahmad assumed was a doctor – pulled him out of the crowd, led him outside the compound and put him in an ambulance, which then took him to a public hospital. Not everyone was so lucky. On 16 March, around 9 PM, the Pakistani air force flew over eastern Kabul and struck the Omid Drug Rehabilitation Centre, a 2,000-bed facility that has been operating on the site of a former NATO base, Camp Phoenix, since 2016. One bomb hit the main hall, and two others struck shipping containers where patients were housed. According to Human Rights Watch, which described the attack as a possible war crime, 143 people were killed and 250 were injured. Pakistan has shamelessly defended the strike. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the Pakistani military spokesman, claimed that the planes in fact hit a nearby “ammunition depot” belonging to terror groups. He denied that the rehab centre even existed. “That was a military containerised structure,” he told the television broadcaster Geo News. “If [the Taliban] claim that there were drug addicts at the site, then this is an old habit of theirs where they use drug addicts as suicide bombers.” The strikes were part of Operation Ghazab lil-Haq (meaning “Righteous Fury”), a coordinated ground and air offensive against Taliban positions that Pakistan launched in February, apparently in response to cross-border raids. So far 289 Afghan civilians have been killed or injured in the operation. In the aftermath of the attack, the international media has understandably focused on Pakistan’s escalatory aggressions and the apparent sense of impunity that undergirds this new operation. But the devastation at Omid was not caused by the blast alone. In the past weeks, three of my colleagues at Zan Times have conducted extensive investigations at the site of the attack and across Kabul. They discovered that the Taliban regime bears a large share of the responsibility for the death toll. Their central finding was that patients at the camp were effectively prisoners, held in treatment wards against their will. While the Pakistani airstrike started the fire, it was Taliban policies that turned it into a mass murder. “The doors had been locked to stop patients from fleeing,” Shamsuddin, a retired lawyer whose 26-year-old son died in the attack, told my colleagues. Shamsuddin was praying at his home five kilometres from the camp when he heard the blast and saw flames. By the time he reached the camp gates, a crowd had already gathered. “Mothers were crying,” he said – but Taliban officials did not allow them inside.  Hafiz Mozamel, the director of Omid, told BBC Dari that around 50 Taliban soldiers were stationed to guard the facility “because some of the patients want to flee”. Two of his staffers confirmed as much to my colleagues. On the night of the strike, the soldiers made no attempt to go inside and help people escape. Instead, they fired bullets into the air to deter the patients from leaving. The tragedy at Omid is a logical, if extreme, consequence of the Taliban’s broader drug policy. Since returning to power in 2021, the regime has launched a brutal war against addiction, sweeping up tens of thousands of drug users – from under bridges and off pavements on the urban peripheries where they sleep in the open – and locking them up in rehabilitation camps. State propaganda outlets have described the campaign as a great success; apparently, thousands have been “treated”. But investigations by Zan Times and others have revealed a more sordid reality inside these camps: cold water and shaved heads, hunger and forced withdrawal, confinement and beatings. The Taliban’s drug war distills their general approach to governance. Supposedly armed with the true knowledge of God’s teachings, the mullahs in power believe they have the divine right to rule over and make decisions for all Afghans, with or without consent. Their abiding aim is to lead people away from the temptations of vice. To achieve this, any means is justified. Sharia is now the law of land in Afghanistan. Women have been largely erased from public life; men are expected to conform visibly, by growing beards, wearing traditional dress and generally avoiding anything deemed to be imitative of the West. The Taliban has imposed God’s word through a mix of coercion and intimidation. Religious police patrol the streets and arrest transgressors, including women without burqas or face covering. Corporal punishment and public flogging have returned. According to the human rights organisation Rawadari, Taliban authorities arbitrarily detained at least 2,559 people in 2025, more than twice as many as in the previous year. Most arrests were linked to alleged violations of morality laws and codes around clothes, beards and public behaviour. The drug war, which has largely been overlooked by the international media, is one front in this larger crusade. It is a direct rebuke to the period of Western-backed republican rule between 2001 and 2021, during which the number of drug users grew significantly. Large communities of addicts formed in abandoned lots and under bridges in many major cities. Among the most infamous sites was Pul-e-Sokhta, a neighbourhood in western Kabul where thousands camped under a large overpass. The rise in addiction was a result of deeper structural crises: war, displacement, unemployment, and the long-term psychological effects that follow all those things. Many of the victims were young men who had migrated in search of work to Iran, where they took to drugs while labouring in industrial cities. The Taliban vilified them as the “burnt generation of the occupation years” in its state propaganda, and took dramatic steps to address this perceived social problem. For instance, Pul-e-Sokhta (“the scorched bridge”) was cleared, repainted and renamed Pol-e-Khoshbakhti – “the bridge of good fortune”. Ahmad’s story is not unusual. At 18, he left in search of work to Iran, where he picked up a heroin addiction. This January, when construction work dried up there, he borrowed money from relatives so he could return home. But Taliban forces arrested him in Char Asiab, about 11 kilometres south of Kabul, because they suspected he was an addict. Inside the rehab centre he was sent to, there was little that resembled treatment. “In the first month, as I went through withdrawal, I asked for drugs,” he told my colleagues. “Instead, they threw cold water at me. There was no doctor or medicine, only cold water.” The Taliban’s stated goal is rehabilitation, but its effect has also been to remove addicts from public view. A 2023 investigation by Zan Times cast a light on the obscure fate of many detainees. In Herat, former drug users described being beaten and sent to work in a salt mine, where they were paid below market rate, if at all, and held in captivity until their contracts ended. When family members tried to secure a relative’s release, they were often turned away. Omid (meaning ‘hope’) was one of the more notorious rehabilitation centres. About three years ago, when the Taliban intensified its crackdown on drug addicts, about 5,000 people were crammed in there – more than twice its proper capacity. Some patients lived in containers, others in wooded dormitories. In January 2023, regime-friendly YouTubers visited the site and filmed videos intended to draw attention to the wonderful treatment taking place there. It makes for difficult viewing. Men in thin clothes lie under torn blankets in the dead of winter, in slippers or barefoot, some visibly wounded. Several complain of hunger. A few eat fresh snow out of desperation. 
Several former patients were retained at Omid as unpaid “volunteers”. One of them was Mohammad, a 29-year-old who was “admitted” there in 2023 and now does guard duty. “We were on patrol when a plane circled overhead,” he recalled of the 16 March attack. “Then the sound of bombs started.” Mohammad first rushed to the containers. But “when I looked inside, there was no one left,” he said. “All of them were burned.” Then he went to the main hall, where he could hear voices under the rubble. For hours, he and the other volunteers were pulling out bodies. “Until around 4am, we were taking out the dead,” he said. “I carried out around seven injured people. The rest were all dead.” He remembers one voice in particular: it belonged to a man who was pinned beneath the debris, alive but fading. “Take me home,” he said. “Take me home.” Counsellors and staff remained on site for days, pulling more bodies from the wreckage and trying to account for the survivors, sorting those who could still walk from those who could not. Around 350 patients were transferred to a different hospital in the same compound. More than 500 were sent to Aghosh camp, another large rehabilitation centre in Kabul. Relatives went from one hospital to another, trying to find the living, then the dead. It took Rahim two days to find his brother Nasim, a military veteran of the republic who had fallen on hard times after the Taliban came to power. He had struggled to find work, started taking pills, became irritable, was bad-tempered around his wife and children, and generally seemed lost. Rahim had admitted him to Omid on the very morning of the attack. “His body was completely burned,” Rahim said. “Blackened, with the flesh gone and almost nothing left but bone. Only one eye remained.” The Taliban has not offered the family any assistance, or even contacted them.  At the state forensic centre in Kabul, experts struggled to identify the dead. A doctor involved in handling the bodies described the procedure as follows: take a photograph, label the body bag, refrigerate those corpses that can be identified, and store the fragmented remains separately. Families were shown images via a projector and asked if they saw someone they knew. Because there was no equipment to perform DNA testing, many of the victims were buried in mass graves. The Taliban’s public response was thin and contemptuous. In an Eid address that lasted more than 40 minutes, Hibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader, failed to mention the attack on Omid. At a public funeral, Sirajuddin Haqqani, the interior minister, referred to the dead as “poudari” – a slur, closer in tone to “junkie” than “patient”. He went so far as to suggest that Pakistan had favoured the drug addicts by murdering them and thus elevating them to martyrdom. “These were people who used to die under Pul-e-Sokhta in such a way that they would not even receive a burial or a shroud,” he said. “God granted them such dignity that we now take pride in them. Shame on those who disgraced themselves by killing poudari.” This military confrontation between Afghanistan and Pakistan looks set to continue. Mullah Yaqoob, the Taliban defence minister, recently said in a TV interview that an attack on Kabul would be met with a retaliatory strike against Islamabad. Whether or not he carries through with that threat, it seems certain that, in the coming months, more civilians from both countries will end up “martyred” like the patients at Omid. * Names have been changed to protect identity.} Source: https://zantimes.com/2026/04/02/the-kabul-slaughter/

Amu - April 1, 2026 - by Siyar Sirat
{US House panel approves bill targeting Taliban restrictions on women
The US House Foreign Affairs Committee has approved a bipartisan bill aimed at addressing the Taliban’s sweeping restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan, advancing the measure to the full House of Representatives for consideration. The legislation, known as the “Rejecting the Erasure of Afghan Women and Girls Act,” was introduced in February 2026 by Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove, a Democrat of California. It cleared the committee in March with support from both Democrats and Republicans, reflecting growing concern in Washington over the Taliban’s treatment of women since returning to power in 2021. “I am grateful that my bill, the Rejecting the Erasure of Afghan Women and Girls Act, passed US House Foreign Affairs Committee with bipartisan support,” Kamlager-Dove said on X. “It was an honor to share this moment with Afghan girls who are pursuing the education they were denied by the Taliban here in the US.! If enacted, the bill would require the State Department to submit a comprehensive report to Congress within 180 days documenting Taliban policies affecting women and girls. The report would examine restrictions on education, employment, freedom of movement and participation in public life. It would also assess whether those policies meet legal thresholds under international law, including crimes against humanity, gender persecution, torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment — a step that could lay the groundwork for future accountability efforts. “This bill holds the Taliban accountable at a time when Afghan women and girls are facing increased suffering,” Representative Brian Mast, the Republican chairman of the committee, said. Representative Randy Fine, a Republican from Florida, described the Taliban as an “evil and violent regime,” pointing to its treatment of women and girls. The legislation does not impose sanctions or penalties. Instead, it is designed to formalize documentation of abuses and inform future US policy, including potential diplomatic or multilateral action. Supporters say the measure elevates the issue beyond general human rights concerns by seeking a formal legal assessment of Taliban policies, which could influence international mechanisms, including efforts at the United Nations. Since reclaiming power, the Taliban have imposed extensive restrictions on women and girls, including banning education beyond the sixth grade, limiting employment and enforcing strict rules on dress and movement. Human rights organizations have widely condemned the measures as systemic discrimination. The bill’s passage through committee comes amid sustained international pressure on the Taliban, though prospects for swift policy changes remain uncertain. The measure now awaits consideration by the full House.} Source: https://amu.tv/233192/

Amu - April 1, 2026 - by Siyar Sirat
{UN experts seek immediate end to Taliban ban on women in UN offices
UN human rights experts, including Richard Bennett, called for the immediate lifting of a Taliban ban preventing Afghan women from entering UN offices, warning that the policy is unlawful and is undermining humanitarian operations across the country. The experts said the restriction — in place since September 2025 — bars Afghan women, including UN staff, contractors and visitors, from accessing UN premises nationwide. “Barring women from UN offices is a direct attack on women’s rights, including their right to work,” the experts said. “There can be no cultural, religious or administrative justification for this policy.” They described enforcement measures as severe, noting that armed Taliban personnel have been stationed at UN compounds to prevent women from entering. The ban is part of a broader set of restrictions imposed since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, which have systematically excluded women from public life, including employment, education and civil society activities. The experts said the consequences were immediate and far-reaching, particularly in a country where humanitarian needs are acute. “In a society where it is imperative that women deliver services to women, life-saving aid … is being compromised, and women and girls are the primary casualties,” the statement said. Afghanistan remains one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, with millions relying on assistance. Aid organizations have repeatedly warned that restrictions on female staff limit access to vulnerable populations, especially women and children in conservative areas. The experts called for a unified international response, urging all UN agencies to adopt a common and principled position. They also called on the UN secretary-general to lead a coordinated effort and on member states to apply sustained diplomatic pressure. “The UN cannot operate effectively — or in accordance with its values and Charter — when women are deliberately and systematically excluded,” they said. They emphasized that Afghan women continue to serve their communities despite mounting restrictions and risks, and called for stronger international support. “Standing with Afghan women … is essential to preserving humanitarian action, defending human rights, and safeguarding Afghanistan’s future,” the experts said. Taliban have not publicly responded to the latest statement, but have previously defended restrictions on women as consistent with their interpretation of Islamic law. The experts, who serve in an independent capacity, said reversing the ban was essential to restoring basic rights and ensuring the delivery of aid.} Source: https://amu.tv/233188/


Taliban Deprive Women of Their Rights
Jinhagency - Womens News Agency - April 1, 2026
{UN Report: Taliban Deprive Women of Their Rights and Impose Extensive Restrictions on Freedoms.
The United Nations Human Rights Office has revealed that a series of laws issued by the Afghan authorities have had devastating effects on the population, as pressures escalate on women, journalists, and various groups, while executions continue unabated.
News Center — Since the Taliban took control of governance in Afghanistan, the authorities have issued numerous laws that restricted women's movement, prevented them from participating in public life, and ultimately deprived them of their right to education. The United Nations Human Rights Office has issued a deeply concerning report on the situation in Afghanistan, warning that the lives of ordinary people—particularly women—have deteriorated significantly under the de facto rule of the Taliban. The report, covering the period from August 2025 to January 2026, was presented at a meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that a series of laws issued by the ruling authorities since 2021 have had a "devastating impact" on the population, especially women. The report showed that women have been almost completely excluded from public life: they have been prevented from continuing their education beyond the sixth grade and deprived of higher education, and have been subjected to extensive restrictions on employment and movement in public spaces. At the same time, female government employees—who had been forced to remain in their homes since the Taliban takeover in August 2021 and received reduced salaries of no more than 5,000 Afghanis per month—were informed that, as of January 2026, their salaries would be suspended entirely, effectively dismissing them from service. In another restriction on knowledge and freedom of expression, the report noted that the Taliban removed books authored by women from library shelves, including university libraries in some provinces, regardless of the subject or the author's nationality. The teaching of human rights and gender studies has also been explicitly prohibited. The report stated that this measure was implemented with minimal transparency, without due process, and without any compensatory measures. It added that punishments such as public executions and flogging continue, with at least 12 public executions having been carried out in Afghanistan since 2021. According to the organization, restrictions on the media are also ongoing, with journalists facing arbitrary arrests and limitations on their activities. It confirmed that approximately 21.9 million people in Afghanistan are in need of humanitarian assistance—a situation exacerbated by drought, reduced international aid, and the large‑scale return of refugees. Describing the current situation, the UN official said, "Afghanistan has become a graveyard for human rights." The UN Human Rights Office called on the authorities to repeal all discriminatory decrees, restore women's right to education and work, and halt the implementation of the death penalty.} Source: https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/1-38869


Taliban Deprive Women of Their Rights
Amu - March 31, 2026 - by Siyar Sirat
{UN says human rights in Afghanistan are ‘deteriorating dramatically’
The United Nations human rights office warned on Monday that conditions in Afghanistan are continuing to deteriorate sharply, with women and girls facing increasingly severe restrictions and millions of people pushed deeper into poverty. The assessment, presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, covers the period from August 2025 to January 2026 and describes a country grappling with overlapping humanitarian, economic and human rights crises. About 21.9 million people — roughly 45 percent of Afghanistan’s population — are expected to need humanitarian assistance this year, the report said. It cited cuts to international aid, the return of nearly three million Afghans from neighboring countries in 2025 and ongoing drought as key factors worsening the situation. “The cascade of edicts and laws announced by the de facto authorities since coming to power in 2021 is having a crushing impact on the Afghan people, particularly women and girls,” said Volker Turk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights. The report describes an expanding set of restrictions that have effectively removed women and girls from public life. Since September 2025, Afghan women — including UN staff — have been barred from entering United Nations offices, significantly limiting the organization’s ability to operate. In January, women civil servants who had been told to stay home since the Taliban takeover were informed that their salaries — previously about 5,000 afghanis (around $70) per month — would be terminated altogether, effectively ending their employment. Girls remain banned from education beyond sixth grade, and women have been excluded from universities since late 2022. In November 2025, medical graduation exams were held without female students for a second consecutive year. Additional measures have restricted women’s movement, dress and participation in public life. Women who do not comply with prescribed dress codes have been denied access to transportation, markets and services, the report said. Books authored by women have been removed from some libraries, and the teaching of human rights and gender studies has been banned. “The de facto authorities have, in effect, criminalized the presence of women and girls in public life,” the UN human rights chief said. Beyond gender-based restrictions, the report details a range of other abuses, including public executions and corporal punishment. Since 2021, Taliban have carried out 12 public executions, including two during the reporting period, often in stadiums. Floggings are carried out regularly in public, the report said. Freedom of expression has also come under increasing pressure. Journalists face arbitrary arrests, political talk shows have been banned, and cultural programming — including music and drama — has largely disappeared from broadcast media. In late September 2025, Taliban imposed a nationwide shutdown of internet and telecommunications services for 48 hours, disrupting healthcare, banking and emergency services. The report said the blackout had “severe, and in some cases life-threatening, impacts.” The report also highlighted the toll of regional instability. The United Nations documented 70 civilian deaths and 478 injuries attributed to Pakistani military actions during cross-border incidents in the final three months of 2025 — a sharp increase compared with previous years. Turk described the broader situation in stark terms. “Afghanistan is a graveyard for human rights,” he said, pointing to widespread deprivation and the erosion of basic freedoms. The United Nations called on the Taliban to reverse policies restricting women’s rights, halt executions, end arbitrary detentions and ensure access to education and employment. It also urged countries to stop forced returns of Afghans, warning that deportees may face persecution or harm. The report further called for international support for a new investigative mechanism to document alleged crimes and preserve evidence for potential accountability. “Women and girls are the present and the future,” Turk said. “The country cannot thrive without them.”} Source: https://amu.tv/233010/


Malala Youssafhai
Jinhagency - Womens News Agency - March 13, 2026
{Malala Youssafzi supports Iran protests, Urges Listening to the people’s Vioces.
Pakistani Activist Malala Youssafzi backed Iran’s protests,saying they result from decades of repression against women and that the country’s future must be shaped by its people, led by women.
News Center — Iran has been witnessing a widespread wave of popular protests for the past seventeen days, fueled by public anger over repressive policies and deteriorating economic conditions. The protests have spread to several cities, marking one of the country’s most significant protest movements in recent years.
Pakistani activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Youssafzai called for listening to the voices of protesters in Iran who are demanding their right to determine their political future, affirming her support for the ongoing demonstrations. She stressed that these movements cannot be separated from decades-long restrictions imposed on the freedoms of girls and women, which have affected all aspects of public life, including education. She added that Iranian girls, like girls everywhere, are calling for their right to live with dignity. Malala noted that the Iranian people have long warned of the dangers of this repression despite facing serious risks, yet their voices have remained suppressed for decades. She pointed out that these restrictions are not isolated measures, but part of a broader system aimed at enforcing gender control through segregation, surveillance, and punishment. She emphasized that this system restricts freedom, choice, and safety, extending far beyond the educational sphere to encompass all aspects of life. “They are demanding that their voices be heard and that they have the right to determine their political future. This future must be shaped by the Iranian people themselves and must include the leadership of Iranian women and girls—not foreign powers or repressive regimes. I stand with the people of Iran and the daughters of this land in thier demand for freedom and dignity.They deserve to decide their own future.} Video - Source: https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/malala-youssafzi-supports-iran-protests-urges-listening-to-the-people-s-vioces-38349?page=1


Anne Hathaway and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai-Photo/Evan Schneider
UN - March 9, 2025 By Vibhu Mishra
{At UN, Malala, Anne Hathaway call for action on women’s rights
A Nobel laureate who survived an assassination attempt, a Hollywood actor turned UN advocate and a young Afghan musician whose voice defied repression took the stage at the United Nations on International Women’s Day, delivering a powerful message: justice for women and girls cannot wait. The event blended reflection, celebration and urgency, highlighting both the progress made in advancing women’s rights and the growing challenges many women and girls face worldwide. The gathering in the General Assembly Hall brought together diplomats, advocates and activists, with speakers reminding the audience that progress on women’s rights has never come automatically – it has always been driven by those willing to insist on change. The day began with a similar message of empowerment as Grammy Award‑winning singer and Broadway performer Michelle Williams took the stage to deliver “We Are Fearless,” a powerful tribute to the strength and resilience of women and girls everywhere.
A call to action
UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous described International Women’s Day as both a celebration and a call to action. “It is about appreciation of the talents and energies of women and girls everywhere. Their courage, their resilience, their contributions, and their leadership,” she said. But she warned that pushback against gender equality is growing. “In its face, we do not back down. We redouble our efforts. We rise higher.”
Determined to succeed
Actor and UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Anne Hathaway reflected on the tension between celebrating progress and confronting ongoing inequality. “It’s hard to bear the knowledge that the distance between the promise of equality and the experience of it are yet still so far apart, for so many,” she said. Still, she insisted that celebration itself is an act of defiance. “Yes, we absolutely do,” she said, stressing the day should still be celebrated amid ongoing injustice. “Our celebration today affirms our determination to outlast it.”
Justice cannot be selective
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai delivered a sobering address, warning that justice cannot be applied selectively. “You will be hearing a lot this week about ‘access to justice,’” she told the audience. “But true justice does not defend the humanity of children in one place and ignore it in another.” Pointing to conflicts and repression around the world, she spoke of girls in Iran, Gaza and Afghanistan and urged governments to confront what she described as systemic discrimination against Afghan women and girls. “This is not culture. It is not religion,” she said. “It is a system of segregation and domination – we must call the regime in Afghanistan by its true name: gender apartheid.”
Girls everywhere are counting on us
The hall also heard from Sumbul Reha, a young Afghan student and musician who spoke about what it means to grow up in a place where girls’ voices are suppressed. “I know what it means when a girl’s voice is silenced. I have lived it,” she said. Despite the hardships faced by women and girls in Afghanistan and elsewhere, she expressed hope in the determination of young people. “We are undaunted. We will not stop. We have hope,” she said, urging world leaders to defend girls’ right to education and women’s right to speak out. “There are millions of girls who stand here in spirit with me – they are counting on all of us and they’re counting on all of you.”} Video - Source: https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/03/1167114

Amu - March 13, 2025 by Siyar Sirat
{Bennett says it is time to recognize ‘gender apartheid’ in Afghanistan
The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan said it is time for the international community to formally recognize and criminalize “gender apartheid” in Afghanistan, adding that existing international legal frameworks do not adequately address the systematic exclusion of women and girls under Taliban rule. Richard Bennett made the remarks during a side event at the UN Commission on the Status of Women titled “Ensuring Access to Justice for Afghan Women and Girls: Documentation, Accountability, Protection, and the Rule of Law.” Bennett said that while international criminal law already prohibits certain gender-based crimes — including gender persecution — it does not sufficiently address institutionalized systems that enforce widespread discrimination against women. “While the international criminal legal framework prohibits certain gender-based crimes, including gender persecution, I consider that it does not sufficiently prohibit institutionalized regimes such as that now holding power in Afghanistan,” Bennett said. “This is why I strongly support efforts to codify the crime of gender apartheid.” He noted that Afghan women have used the term “gender apartheid” since the 1990s to describe their experiences under Taliban rule and said the international community should stand in solidarity with them. “It’s also time we officially name, codify and prohibit the crime,” Bennett said. Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on women and girls, including banning girls from education beyond sixth grade, restricting women’s employment in many sectors and limiting their freedom of movement. Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls are barred from secondary and higher education. Bennett said these policies have not only marginalized women and girls but have also weakened access to justice, pushing many communities to rely increasingly on informal or traditional dispute resolution mechanisms. Such mechanisms have long been part of Afghan society and can sometimes provide quicker solutions to disputes. However, Bennett said they raise serious human rights concerns. “These mechanisms often lack procedural safeguards, transparency and independent oversight,” he said. “They are typically male-dominated and decisions frequently reflect patriarchal norms.” Despite these risks, Bennett said many Afghan women are turning to such mechanisms because formal justice institutions have become inaccessible or unreliable. Women often seek help through local mediation in cases involving domestic or intimate partner violence as well as disputes over property and inheritance — issues that historically have posed challenges for women seeking legal remedies. “For survivors, alternate mechanisms are often the only avenue to mitigate abuse,” Bennett said. He added that in some cases these approaches have produced positive results. Civil society-supported family mediation has persuaded some families to allow girls to return to education, while engagement with religious leaders has helped address forced and child marriage in certain communities. Still, Bennett stressed that such mechanisms should not be viewed as a substitute for a formal justice system grounded in human rights and the rule of law. “In contexts like Afghanistan, where formal justice systems are being weaponized, alternate mechanisms can be an important tool for justice,” he said. “But they are not the long-term solution.” Bennett also criticized what he described as insufficient international action in response to the situation in Afghanistan. “Lack of vision and lack of solidarity among the international community is emboldening the Taliban and their oppressive policies,” he said. While welcoming recent statements of condemnation from governments and international bodies, Bennett said stronger and more coordinated action is needed. He urged policymakers to consider building a new strategy using the independent assessment on Afghanistan presented to the UN Security Council two years ago as a starting point. “The thinking needs to emerge into a plan, followed by concerted and determined action coordinated with Afghans,” he said. Bennett emphasized that meaningful progress will require sustained international engagement and collaboration with Afghan civil society and experts. Afghanistan is currently facing overlapping crises, including economic collapse, humanitarian challenges and widespread restrictions on women’s rights, with aid groups warning that millions of Afghans remain in need of assistance. Bennett said ensuring access to justice for Afghan women and girls must remain central to international efforts to address the country’s broader crisis.} Video - Source: https://amu.tv/230543/


Malala Yousafzai, The Fighter for Free Education for All
Zan Times - February 10, 2026 by Dr. Amna Mehmood
{Education without borders: How Afghan Women are rebuilding knowledge outside institutions
On the International Day of Education for Women and Girls, education is often discussed in terms of access: Who is allowed to enter a classroom, who is denied schooling, who is excluded by law or policy? In the case of Afghanistan, this conversation has been both urgent and necessary. Yet after years of documenting exclusion, a more analytically demanding question now emerges: What happens to education when institutions no longer function,and who carries knowledge forward when formal systems collapse? Afghanistan represents one of the most extreme cases of territorial exclusion from education. Universities are closed to women and secondary schooling is suspended as the Taliban has systematically dismantled the institutional architecture of learning. But education itself has not disappeared. Instead, it has reconfigured, moving beyond classrooms, borders, and state permission. In this transformation, Afghan women are not merely preserving learning; they are actively rebuilding education as a transnational, distributed, and woman-led practice. This is not a story of survival. It is a story of academic labour, intellectual continuity, and the emergence of new educational forms that challenge long-held assumptions about where knowledge resides and who is authorized to produce it.} Read more at Source: https://zantimes.com/2026/02/10/education-without-borders-how-afghan-women-are-rebuilding-knowledge-outside-institutions/

Malala Yousafzai and father Ziauddin Yousafzai
Zan Times - Nov 10, 2025 - by Ziauddin Yousafzai
{Letter from Ziauddin Yousafzai, co-founder of Malala Fund, for Afghan men
To Afghan fathers and brothers,
I have been where you are now. I was once a father watching helplessly as the Taliban tried to erase my daughter’s future. In 2008, they took over our town in Swat Valley and forbade our girls from going to school. My daughter, Malala, risked her life to speak out against this injustice. Over the last four years, your daughters and sisters have been fighting for their dreams and ambitions — learning in secret, expressing themselves through poetry and art, resisting in every way they can. And I have seen your courage too: male students walking out of their classrooms in protest as their female classmates were barred from learning, fathers risking everything to make sure their daughters can continue their education, families and communities opening their homes to support underground schools. You know that every girl deserves an education, and your bravery and love are keeping hope alive.
As Muslim men — whether in safety or in struggle — we are called by our faith to stand with girls and women in defending their right to learn, to work and to move freely. Education is not a Western idea; it is a sacred duty. The Prophet (peace be upon him) taught us that seeking knowledge is an obligation for every Muslim — man and woman alike. Our own history affirms this: Khadija, a successful businesswoman, and Aisha, one of the greatest scholars of Islam, each embodied the power of learning guided by faith. I know these are difficult and dangerous times. To stay silent in the face of injustice can feel safer, but it is to turn away from our faith’s legacy. Speaking against the Taliban’s gender apartheid regime is frightening, but remaining silent is far more terrifying because nothing will change on its own. To speak out is both a father’s duty and a believer’s duty to protect the dignity and future of our daughters. To every brave Afghan father and brother helping girls learn: I salute your courage. Never give up hope, and remember you are not alone. Malala Fund will continue standing with and supporting you. Until Afghanistan is free from gender apartheid, every home must become a secret school, every kitchen a classroom, every living room a place of resistance. You can shift cultural expectations and behaviours in your homes and show that valuing girls’ education is a mark of integrity and strength. You can create an environment where learning is protected, even when the world outside is hostile:
●      Teach reading, math or other skills at home. Even basic lessons, practiced consistently, help girls continue their education.
●      Share resources: Use phones and the internet (where possible) to download books, podcasts or educational videos. Organisations like Begum Organization, Education Bridge for Afghanistan and LEARN Afghan provide courses through radio, satellite television and online.
●      Encourage study circles: Brothers can quietly gather cousins, sisters or neighbours to read and study together, providing companionship and safety.
●      Model respect: Men should praise and encourage girls’ learning, showing boys that supporting their sisters’ education is honourable.
●      Create time and space: Brothers and fathers can take on household chores so girls have time to study.
●      Keep hope alive: Words of encouragement strengthen girls’ resilience in the face of oppression.
Remember that the Taliban can take away girls’ schools, jobs and public spaces, but they cannot take what lives in your heart and mind, nor the knowledge you choose to pass on. Your courage at home today strengthens the fight for girls and women’s freedom everywhere.
In solidarity,
Ziauddin Yousafzai, co-founder of Malala Fund} Source: https://zantimes.com/2025/11/10/letter-from-ziauddin-yousafzai-co-founder-of-malala-fund-for-zan-times/

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