Judgment Session: People’s Tribunal for Women of Afghanistan

“Women are either for the home or the grave.” As an Afghan woman testified before the People’s Tribunal for Women of Afghanistan (PTWA), its panel of eight judges[1] presided by Rashida Manjoo, and the many observers in attendance somberly listened.  Another survivor stated: “These are not just my words; this is the pain of women who have been silent for the past four years and could not speak out. They were alive but not living; they were just breathing.”

These were some of the stories shared during the PTWA’s two-day hearings, followed by a preliminary statement of the judges on the third day, which took place in Madrid, Spain, from 8 to 10 October 2025.  One after another, 24 survivors and witnesses described the harrowing situation of approximately 21 million women and girls living under the Taliban regime.  The PTWA, which stemmed from a December 2024 request to the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) by four human rights organizations (the Requesting Organizations), was constituted after the PPT determined that the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan was a matter of urgent competence for the Tribunal.[2] Thereafter, a group of four prosecutors appointed by the Requesting Organizations submitted an Indictment against ten senior Taliban leaders and the Taliban as an organized group for violations of International Criminal Law, as well as against the State of Afghanistan for violations of International Human Rights Law.  All accused were notified and invited to exercise their right of defense, but no response or participation was received.

After reviewing the Indictment and its supporting evidence, as well as holding the three-day hearing in Madrid, the  Tribunal issued its Judgement on 11 December 2025 in the Hague.  Based on extensive witness testimony and documentary evidence, the Tribunal found (among other things) that the Taliban has, since August 2021:

• Arbitrarily detained, tortured, and perpetrated ill-treatment against women;
• Forcibly disappeared women activists and protesters;
• Systematically excluded women and girls from education beyond the primary level;
• Widely banned women’s employment and public participation;
• Severely restricted women’s freedom of movement, expression, assembly, and bodily autonomy;
• Consistently denied healthcare to women and girls, including by imposing gender-based barriers to medical treatment; and
• Eliminated any access to justice and legal remedies for women.