The UN special rapporteur for Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, called the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union on Afghanistan important.
Bennett said on X that “their gender and nationality are enough to establish asylum without individuals needing to prove persecution.”
Earlier, the European Court of Justice, the highest judicial authority in the European Union, has ruled that the Taliban’s discriminatory actions against women amount to persecution. The ruling came in response to a case brought by two Afghan women whose asylum requests had been denied by Austria’s immigration authorities.
According to the court’s decision, EU member states can consider gender and nationality alone when reviewing asylum requests from Afghan women. The two plaintiffs had argued in an Austrian court that the oppressive conditions imposed on women under Taliban rule were sufficient grounds to prove their need for international protection.
This comes as women and girls in Afghanistan are bearing the brunt of the Taliban’s oppressive policies as they are deprived of having access to their basic rights including education, work and freedom of movement.
