What changed

B100249/2026

B100251/2026

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

(2026/2737(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to Rule 150150(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to its previous human rights resolutions on Afghanistan,

whereas on 5 January 2026, the Taliban leader endorsed the “Criminal Procedure Regulation of the Courts”;

whereas in January 2026 the Taliban authorities adopted a new Criminal Procedure Code for Courts further consolidating their interpretation of Islamic law within the Afghan judicial system;

whereas since their return to power, the Taliban have imposed various restrictions on women, including “vice and virtue” regulations, education bans, dress-code decrees, travel, mobility and employment restrictions, and restrictions on public participation; whereas these measures amount to a systematic exclusion of women and girls from public life, justified by the Taliban’s own interpretation of Islamic law, jurisprudence and traditional Afghan social norms;

whereas the Code codifies and institutionalises discrimination and violence against women by reinforcing male guardianship structures, limiting women’s ability to seek legal remedy independently, and providing broader legal justification for violent punishments and restrictions targeting women’s behaviour and public presence;

whereas the European Court of Justice ruled on 4 October 2024 that gender and nationality suffice to grant Afghan women asylum;

whereas the situation of women in Afghanistan has catastrophically and rapidly deteriorated even further since the Talibans retook power in August 2021 and introduced the strict enforcement of Sharia law;

whereas the European Commission started “exploratory contacts” with the Taliban in 2025, following a call from 19 EU Member States and Norway to coordinate a strategy for returning Afghan nationals; whereas the Commission now plans to invite representatives of the Taliban for talks on returns of Afghans;

whereas in 2025, approximately 100,000 Afghan nationals, predominantly male, have received refugee status in the EU; whereas in 2025, Afghans received the largest number of protection statuses in the EU representing 27% of the total;

Deplores the situation of women in girls in Afghanistan; deplores that the Taliban have denied girls post-primary education, banned women from numerous public places and restricted their employment to healthcare and primary education; considers that these very restrictive norms have a very negative economic and social impact and deliberately push women and girls into dependence and poverty;

whereas Afghan nationals are statistically overrepresented in certain categories of crime in Europe, including cases involving violence against women;

Notes that the criminal procedure code is applied in a system without independent courts and characterised by the absence of due process, the reliance on uncodified jurisprudence and the lack of institutional checks on interpretation or enforcement;

Strongly condemns the new Criminal Procedure Code for Courts institutionalizing violence against women and girls; condemns the systemic denial of women’s and girls’ fundamental rights in Afghanistan, including bans on education, employment and freedom of movement, as well as the mandatory wearing of the burqa; condemns the restrictions against women and girls, which prevent them from accessing essential services;

Notes that the primary function of the criminal procedure code is to regulate the application of discretionary punishment (ta’zir), and that the code expands judicial discretion in areas such as women’s mobility, family disputes or interpersonal conduct;

Recalls that these restrictive measures constitute a strict and direct application of Sharia law, causing a massive regression in women’s rights in Afghanistan and in other parts of the world;

Notes that different elements of the code such as the differentiated application of discretionary punishment based on the condition or status of the offender, reflect long-standing doctrines within classical Hanafi jurisprudence, predating the Taliban by centuries;

Emphasizes that the continued migration from Afghanistan to Europe will lead to the continued importation of Islamist ideologies and behaviours, further undermining the security of women and social cohesion in Europe; recalls that Afghan asylum seekers are overwhelmingly male and are over-represented in crime rates in several European countries, including in violence against women;

Calls on the EU to change its strategy and to find pathways to incentivise the Taliban to introduce reforms, leading to an improvement of girls and women’s rights and their access to education;

Urges Member States to halt the illegal migration of primarily young adult males from Afghanistan to the EU; urges an effective return and readmission of illegal immigrants;

Calls on the EU to engage with the Taliban, and to elaborate diplomatic and technical solutions for structured returns of Afghans;

Notes the Commission’s invitation to the de facto Afghan authorities to receive a delegation in Brussels to discuss the return and readmission of illegal immigrants;

Is concerned about the ECJ’s judgment of 4 October 2024; considers that this judgment will create an additional “pull effect” and lead to unequal access to protection, as a certain group of people can be granted an automatic preference in obtaining asylum; strongly rejects the fact that the EU’s highest court of law determines and changes asylum law in order to promote its views on social justice;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / HighCommission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the UnitedEuropean NationsExternal Secretary-General,Action Service, and the degovernments factoand authoritiesparliaments inof Afghanistan.the Member States.