Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, Afghanistan has seen systematic patterns of human rights violations and international crimes, including a regime of gender persecution enforced through more than 100 decrees restricting women and girls’ access to education, work, movement and justice. The specialised legal frameworks and institutions that once protected women’s rights have been dismantled, leaving victims and survivors with very few avenues for redress inside the country.
LAW works with Afghan and international civil society, including in collaboration with APRRN, to protect the rights of women and girls, with a particular focus on survivors of gender based violence. Drawing on its experience across the ICC, the ICJ and national litigation under universal jurisdiction, LAW and its women led partners are building the foundations for long term accountability at a moment when the situation risks being normalised
What we do in Afghanistan
Gender Equality & GBV
Gender persecution is the defining feature of the situation in Afghanistan, and it sits at the centre of LAW’s engagement. LAW supports Afghan women human rights defenders and lawyers to develop concrete legal strategies, and works to keep survivors of gender based violence at the centre of the accountability discussion rather than at its margins. In September 2026 LAW convened a roundtable in Geneva with the Center for Human Rights Advocacy and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute on women led, survivor centred accountability.
LAW works with Afghan and international civil society, including in collaboration with APRRN, to protect the rights of women and girls, with a particular focus on survivors of gender based violence. Drawing on its experience across the ICC, the ICJ and national litigation under universal jurisdiction, LAW and its women led partners are building the foundations for long term accountability at a moment when the situation risks being normalised.
Accountability & Rule of Law
The accountability landscape for Afghanistan spans ICC arrest warrants for gender persecution as a crime against humanity, a CEDAW initiative that could lead to proceedings before the International Court of Justice, the new Independent Investigative Mechanism for Afghanistan, and people led initiatives such as the People’s Tribunal for Women in Afghanistan. LAW works to strengthen coordinated engagement with UN mechanisms and member states so these avenues reinforce rather than duplicate one another.
Transformative Justice
LAW has contributed to the consultative processes shaping the survivor centred design and operationalisation of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Afghanistan. Drawing on direct experience with the IIIM for Syria and the IIMM for Myanmar, LAW has offered practical lessons on mandate implementation, evidentiary strategy, engagement with civil society and information sharing, with the aim of building a mechanism whose material can actually be used by courts.
Voices from the Frontline — Afghanistan
"The lives of Afghan women, their grace and endurance, have long remained concealed from the world’s gaze. In recent decades, conflict has cast a shadow over their stories, distorting their identities into a single, sorrowful narrative. Their beauty, capabilities, and voices have been overshadowed, framed solely through the lens of victimhood. Yet within this darkness lies a different truth. a hidden splendor, a profound resilience."
