Source: European Parliament
B10‑0415/2025
European Parliament resolution on the situation in Afghanistan: supporting women and communities affected by the recent earthquakes
The European Parliament,
– having regard to Rule 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas the Taliban have implemented their extreme interpretation of Sharia and erased women from public life; whereas this includes barring women from work, access to healthcare without a male relative and education beyond the sixth grade, violently enforcing a dehumanising dress code, negating women’s presence in the public space and dismantling the support system for victims of violence; whereas restrictions on Afghan women’s rights hinder them from obtaining EU visas;
B. whereas the Taliban have broken international norms, resumed repression, particularly of women and girls, ethnic minorities, human rights defenders and LGBTIQ+ people, and isolated Afghanistan, increasing hunger and poverty;
C. whereas the earthquakes that struck eastern Afghanistan in August 2025 caused severe devastation, leaving thousands dead and injured; whereas women and girls were disproportionately affected, both because they face restrictions on access to healthcare and because the lack of female doctors prevents them from receiving timely treatment; whereas in many affected villages, the destruction of homes and infrastructure has further deepened poverty and food insecurity, with women and children bearing the heaviest burden of displacement and loss of livelihoods;
D. whereas the Taliban have recently shut down mobile networks and internet access in several provinces, further isolating communities, severely disrupting humanitarian operations, impeding access to basic services and trade for ordinary citizens, and silencing the voices of women, human rights defenders, journalists and civil society activists; whereas these restrictions are exacerbating the already dire humanitarian situation and increasing the vulnerability of local populations;
1. Condemns the devastating policy of gender apartheid and urges the de facto authorities to immediately restore the full, equal and meaningful participation of women and girls in public life, in particular, access to education, healthcare and work;
2. Calls on the de facto authorities to combat violence against women in Afghanistan, and to ensure that perpetrators are held to account without delay; calls on the de facto authorities to reopen the nationwide support system for victims, and ensure they can access shelter, medical care, legal recourse and reparations;
3. Calls on the de facto authorities to stop subjecting women and girls to arbitrary arrest, detention, enforced disappearances and torture, including for alleged non-compliance with Islamic dress codes, their activism or their journalistic work;
4. Calls on the authorities to refrain from using telecommunications shutdowns as a tool of repression, and to ensure that all citizens, including women, humanitarian actors, traders and civil society, can communicate freely and safely; underlines that access to information and connectivity is essential for humanitarian relief, basic economic activity and the protection of fundamental rights;
5. Strongly condemns the devastating rollback of women’s rights in Afghanistan; urges the de facto authorities to reverse restrictions on the rights of women and girls in line with Afghanistan’s international obligations, and to reopen the Ministry of Women’s Affairs;
6. Expresses grave concern about the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, which disproportionately affects women and girls; deplores that it drives violent practices, such as forced marriage and sexual exploitation; calls on the EU to increase its humanitarian aid for Afghanistan;
7. Denounces the relentless targeting of human rights defenders, journalists and other civil society actors, LGBTIQ+ people, ethnic and religious minorities, as well as the repression of peaceful protest and expressions of dissent;
8. Denounces the timid international condemnation of the Taliban’s gender apartheid, which is allowing the Taliban to create new oppressive laws; condemns the exclusion of Afghan women from United Nations meetings with the Taliban;
9. Recalls that Afghanistan is not a safe third country and therefore calls for an immediate halt to any deportations from EU countries to Afghanistan; condemns direct talks concerning deportations between the Taliban regime and European governments; condemns the systematic pushbacks that Afghans face at the EU’s external borders; calls on the EU Member States to establish and facilitate safe and legal pathways for Afghans at risk, including by increasing resettlement quotas, humanitarian visas and easing family reunification, particularly for women and girls; calls on the Member States to support the application of the Temporary Protection Directive for Afghans seeking international protection and to grant international protection to Afghan women and girls on the grounds of gender-based persecution;
10. Condemns the disastrous legacy of decades of international intervention and illegal occupations, including by NATO, which have led Afghanistan to its present circumstances; reiterates its support for the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into the international crimes committed by all parties to the conflict in Afghanistan; calls on the ICC to prioritise and accelerate the delivery of justice for victims; calls on the EU and its Member States to support this investigation by ensuring the necessary resources;
11. Urges the EU and its Member States to propose the inclusion of ‘gender apartheid’ as a crime against humanity in order to hold Afghanistan and those responsible for this crime accountable; in particular, calls for strong support to amend Article 7.2.h of the Rome Statute, in order to include the gender apartheid definition as proposed by the UN working group on discrimination against women and girls, and therefore consider that gender apartheid means: ‘inhumane acts of a character similar to those referred to in paragraph 1, committed in the context of an institutionalised regime of systematic discrimination, oppression and domination by one group over another group or groups, based on gender, and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime’; in addition, demands the inclusion of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity under Article 2 of the draft articles on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity currently under consideration by the UN General Assembly’s Sixth Committee;
12. Urges the EU, the Member States and other donor states to increase humanitarian aid and funding to support Afghan groups defending women’s and girls’ rights, to support Afghan people’s basic needs and livelihoods and Afghan civil society, ensure flexible funding for NGOs and their female aid workers and grant humanitarian visas and visas promised to the international coalition’s former Afghan employees; stresses the need for the international community to assess the recent decree’s impact on humanitarian operations;
13. Calls on the Commission, the European External Action Service and the Member States to ensure that EU humanitarian assistance in response to the recent earthquakes in Afghanistan prioritises the needs of women and girls, including access to healthcare, shelter, food and psychosocial support; stresses the importance of supporting local communities and women-led initiatives in the affected villages, in order to rebuild livelihoods, strengthen resilience and guarantee that aid reaches those most in need;
14. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the EU institutions, Member States, and the de facto authorities of Afghanistan.