Event information

30 June 2022, 15:00-16:45

Downloads

Flyer >

The Rights of Women and Girls in Afghanistan

Event

A Girl Looks on Among Afghan Women Lining Up To Receive Relief Assistance, During The Holy Month of Ramadan in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. A Girl Looks on Among Afghan Women Lining Up To Receive Relief Assistance, During The Holy Month of Ramadan in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

Following their takeover, the Taliban promised to uphold the rights of all, including women and girls. Instead, the Taliban institutionalized gender-based discrimination and violence.The exclusion of women from the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural spheres amounts to collective punishment of women and girls and erasure of half of the Afghan society. Risking everything, the women and girls of Afghanistan are asking for their rights to be promoted and protected.

This event – organized by our Geneva Human Rights Platform with the Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, Spain and Switzerland Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva, UN Women, the International Service for Human Rights and the National Center for Dialogue and Progress – aims at raising international awareness on the human rights situation of women and girls in Afghanistan and propose recommendations for effective action by the international community.

Panelists

  • Seven Afghan women will give their contribution to the panel: Fawzia Koofi, Shukria Barakzai, Niloufar Ayoubi, Shah Gul Rezai, Nabila Musleh, Seema Ghani and Aliye Yilmaz
  • Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
  • Melissa Upreti, Chair, UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls
  • Ana Peláez Narváez, Vice-Chair, UN Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

Video

The Rights of Women and Girls in Afghanistan

Watch the video of the event aimed at raising international awareness on the human rights situation of women and girls in Afghanistan and propose recommendations for effective action by the international community.

MORE ON THIS THEMATIC AREA

soldiers News

New Publication Examines the Effects of Private Military and Security Companies

12 March 2025

Our latest research brief examines how Private Military and Security Companies have reshaped warfare, international law, and global stability.

Read more

2024 Geneva Academy Annual Report News

Our 2024 Annual Report

28 July 2025

Our 2024 Annual Report highlights significant achievements in international humanitarian law education and research during a year marked by deepening global humanitarian crises.

Read more

Special Rapporteur Sign Event

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in an Era of Escalating Armed Conflict: Where Can International Human Rights Law Help?

25 September 2025, 18:30-20:00

This evening dialogue will present the publication: International Human Rights Law: A Treatise, Cambridge University Press (2025).

Read more

Training

Human Rights and the Environment: Introducing Legal Regimes and Key Issues

1-8 September 2025

Participants in this training course will be introduced to the major international and regional instruments for the promotion of human rights, as well as international environmental law and its implementation and enforcement mechanisms.

Read more

Town Hall Meeting Training

Localizing International Human Rights

8-10 October 2025

This training course, specifically designed for staff of city and regional governments, will explore the means and mechanisms through which local and regional governments can interact with and integrate the recommendations of international human rights bodies in their concrete work at the local level.

Read more

First annual conference of the Geneva Human Rights Platform Project

The Annual Conference of the Geneva Human Rights Platform

Started in June 2019

Read more

Online folders Project

Digital Human Rights Tracking Tools and Databases

Started in March 2023

This initiative wishes to contribute to better and more coordinated implementation, reporting and follow-up of international human rights recommendations through a global study on digital human rights tracking tools and databases.

Read more

Cover of the 2023 Geneva Academy Annual Report Publication

Annual Report 2024

published on July 2025

Read more