Afghanistan Rights Watch: The international community must stand with girls to restore the right to education

Afghanistan Rights Watch, in a statement issued in response to the continued ban on education beyond sixth grade for girls, has called for collective action to reopen schools to girls.
The organization today (Tuesday, March 24) urged all national institutions, international organizations, human rights activists, national figures, religious scholars, and intellectuals of Afghanistan to raise their voices against the closure of schools to girls and to take serious and coordinated action for their immediate reopening and for ensuring the right to education for all.
Afghanistan Rights Watch has also called on the international community to increase diplomatic and legal pressure on the Taliban to end the ban on girls’ education.
The statement notes that silence in the face of the ban on girls’ education is tantamount to endorsing it.
The organization added: “Now is the time for all of us to unite and speak with one voice for justice, equality, and the right to education for the girls of Afghanistan.”
Afghanistan Rights Watch further stated that preventing girls from accessing education is not only a clear violation of fundamental human rights, but also a systematic destruction of the future of an entire generation and a weakening of the foundations of sustainable development in Afghanistan.
According to the organization, the continued denial of education to girls deepens Afghanistan’s gap with global human rights standards and carries irreversible social, economic, and cultural consequences.
After returning to power in 2021, the Taliban banned education for girls beyond sixth grade and, a year later, also prohibited girls and women from attending universities.
During this period, national and international organizations, as well as governments, have repeatedly called for the restoration of girls’ right to education in Afghanistan.