The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has conducted its first treaty body review of Afghanistan since the Taliban regained control in 2021 — without participation from the country’s current de facto authorities, the UN Women said in a statement on Thursday.
The UN Women, which supports the committee’s work, said the review was described as a groundbreaking step at a time when Afghan women warn that their very existence is being erased and their voices marginalized on the global stage.
Because the Taliban is not recognized by the United Nations, the CEDAW committee reviewed Afghanistan’s fourth periodic report — submitted prior to the regime change by the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations in Geneva — and held a public dialogue with a delegation of former Afghan officials and women’s rights leaders now living in exile.
The statement said that the committee also invited the Taliban authorities to participate informally in the review. However, no response was received. While UN treaty bodies have previously conducted reviews in the absence of official state representation, CEDAW’s decision to formally engage with exiled former state actors marks the first such arrangement within the UN treaty body system, following the precedent of the Universal Periodic Review of Afghanistan in April 2024.
“This review is not only a CEDAW obligation, but also a fervent hope that [the] exchange will prove constructive, anchored in mutual respect and steadfastly committed to strengthening accountability for the rights of Afghan women and girls,” said Bandana Rana, the CEDAW member who led the country review.
“This Committee bears a solemn obligation, a legal, international and moral imperative to examine these developments with unflinching clarity and uncompromising resolve,” she said. Rana emphasized that the CEDAW Convention remains legally binding on Afghanistan, regardless of changes in political leadership or regime.
“Our concern transcends politics,” she added. “It is rooted in principle. It stands upon the bedrock of universal and immutable values: human dignity, equality, non-discrimination, autonomy and justice for all — most urgently for the women and girls of Afghanistan.”
Rana expressed hope that the session would deepen accountability and galvanize international commitment to restore Afghan women’s rights, “first and foremost their right to education.”
CEDAW Chair Nahla Haidar highlighted the broader implications of the review, stating that it “has set an important precedent for how treaty bodies can establish responsibility when those exercising effective control in a country fail to uphold that country’s human rights obligations and their responsibility to protect their population.”
Haidar called the session “an unprecedented opportunity to recall the principle of accountability and solidarity enshrined in the United Nations Charter.”
CEDAW reaffirmed its commitment to its mandate and urged all global stakeholders, including the international community, to uphold their obligations under international law. The Committee will publish its formal findings, known as Concluding Observations, on July 7.
UN Women emphasized that the review stands as a powerful act of resistance against the ongoing erosion of women’s rights in Afghanistan and a clear call for global solidarity with Afghan women and girls.
