What changed

B100247/2026

European Parliament resolution on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s adoption of the Criminal Procedure Code for Courts

European Parliament resolution on situation of women and girls in Afghanistan following the Taliban's adoption of the Criminal Procedure Code for Courts

(2026/2737(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to Rule 150 ofits theprevious Rulesresolutions ofon Procedure,Afghanistan,

whereas since their 2021 takeover, the Taliban have severely restricted the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Afghan people, particularly women and girls; whereas Afghanistan is the only country world-wide banning girls and women from secondary and university education;

– having regard to Rules 150(5) and 136(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

B. whereas on 4.1.2026, the Taliban imposed the “Criminal Procedure Code for the Courts” codifying systemic repression by entrenching discrimination based on gender, religion, belief, and social status, institutionalising capital punishment, torture, destruction and confiscation of property and introducing slavery, breaching international law;

A. whereas since the Taliban’s illegal seizure of power in 2021, Afghan women and girls have been subjected to systematic persecution through more than 150 edicts, depriving them of education beyond sixth grade, employment, justice, freedom of movement, healthcare and public life;

C. whereas the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Taliban Leaders for crimes against humanity;

B. whereas in 2026, the Taliban adopted the Criminal Procedure Code for Courts (the Code), which criminalises criticism of the authorities and grants judges broad discretionary powers;

D. whereas, in 2024, the European Court of Justice confirmed that women and girls at risk of violence and discrimination, qualify for refugee status based on gender;

C. whereas the Code erodes women’s rights by legalising domestic violence, criminalising women seeking protection from abuse, institutionalising corporal punishment amounting to torture, recognising slavery, prescribing the death penalty without fair trial guarantees, granting husbands discretionary authority to punish wives for disobedience, subjecting women who leave Islam to indefinite imprisonment, and institutionalising discrimination based on gender, religion and social status; whereas it provides no right to legal representation or safeguards against forced confessions, and the removal of women judges, prosecutors and lawyers leaves women without remedies, in violation of Afghanistan’s obligations under the ICCPR, the UNCAT and the Slavery Convention;

E. whereas the Council Conclusions from 15 September 2021 restrict engagement to five narrow benchmarks; whereas the European Commission in cooperation with Sweden plans to invite Taliban representatives to Brussels for discussions on returns of Afghan nationals;

D. whereas the Taliban have significantly increased public floggings and corporal punishments, including against at least 170 women in 2025;

Condemns the Taliban’s systemic discrimination against women and girls and reiterates that their erasure from public life constitutes gender apartheid and may may amount to crimes against humanity;

E. whereas the Taliban regime has institutionalised gender persecution and gender apartheid; whereas the ICC issued arrest warrants against Akhundzada and Haqqani for the crime against humanity of prosecution on gender grounds;

Denounces the imposition of the Criminal Procedure Code for Courts by the Taliban and urges the de facto authorities to immediately revoke the regulation and stop its implementation;

1. Strongly condemns the Code; calls on the Taliban regime to immediately repeal it;

Urges Afghan de facto authorities to halt ongoing widespread and systematic human rights violations against women, girls, and the people at large, fully respect the country’s obligations under international human rights law, and end all discriminatory policies and actions;

2. Declares that the Taliban regime has institutionalised slavery and gender apartheid; calls on the Council and the Commission to call this out in all diplomatic engagements and to support their recognition as crimes against humanity in the proposed Crimes Against Humanity Treaty;

Calls on the EU and Member States to actively support all efforts to hold the Taliban accountable, notably, the UN Independent Investigative Mechanism, the recognition of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity, the CEDAW legal proceedings and the investigations by the ICC;

3. Calls for an immediate end to public floggings, corporal punishment and executions, and for all restrictions on women and girls, LGBTQ+ persons, religious minorities and other vulnerable groups in public life to be lifted;

Calls on the VP/HR to propose additional listing of individuals and entities in Afghanistan responsible for grave human rights abuses under the EU Global Human Rights Sanction Regime, notably the Taliban leadership;

4. Urges the Commission and the Member States to uphold non-recognition and non-normalisation of the Taliban, in line with the Council’s five benchmarks, and to pressure the Taliban to restore human rights, in particular women’s and girls’ rights; reiterates its full support for the ICC arrest warrants and urges the Member States to enforce them;

Recalls the Council’s five benchmarks conditioning EU engagement with the de facto authorities; calls on the European Commission and Member States to discard its plans to invite Taliban representatives to Brussels, which risks granting political visibility, procedural recognition, and bargaining power, while undermining EU human rights commitments; deplores bilateral contacts of certain Member States with the Taliban to facilitate deportations; expresses alarm at reports that Taliban-linked individuals accredited as diplomats have taken effective control of Afghan consular representations in the EU;

5. Urges the EU and its Member States to support the investigative mechanism established by the UN Human Rights Council;

7. Calls on Member States to expedite humanitarian visas and protection pathways for Afghans at risk and immediately and strictly refrain from deportation of Afghan nationals seeking asylum, as due to the current situation in Afghanistan, returns violate non-refoulement and the European Convention on Human Rights;

6. Calls on the Council to extend EU global human rights sanctions to Taliban leaders responsible for the persecution of women and girls, including travel bans and asset freezes;

8. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the EU institutions, the HRVP, the Member States, and Afghanistan.

7. Urges the EU and its Member States to increase humanitarian support for Afghan women human rights defenders, judges, lawyers, journalists, activists and women-led organisations, and ensure aid safely reaches Afghan women and girls;

8. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the VP/HR, the Member States, the UN and the de facto Afghan authorities.