United Nations Human Rights Council

58^th Session

Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan

27 February 2025

EU Statement 

Special Rapporteur,  

The EU welcomes your reports and thanks you for your work.  

The EU strongly condemns the systematic human rights violations and abuses perpetrated by the Taliban in Afghanistan. 

The Taliban’s gender-based discrimination may amount to gender persecution, a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute, to which Afghanistan is a party.

As outlined in your study, the so-called PVPV law confirms that extreme forms of discrimination are a core element of the Taliban’s overall ideology and official policy. The “Law” entrenches gender-based violence, the structural denial of the rights to education for all, freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, movement and work, and the severe limitation of women’s and girls’ full, equal, meaningful and safe participation in all spheres of society and public life.

The EU calls on the Taliban to abide by Afghanistan’s international obligations, including under the CEDAW and CRC. 

We call for the protection of the rights of persons belonging to minorities, including ethnic and religious minorities, such as the Hazara, as well as LGBTI persons.

Special Rapporteur,

the EU supports your mandate, and the one of UNAMA, with a strong human rights component. Could you expand on the role that  men are required to play in the implementation of the PVPV law and its impact on Afghan society in the longer term?