Kabul — The Malala Fund, an international organization advocating for girls’ education, has strongly criticized the Taliban’s newly introduced penal code, warning that it reinforces systematic violence, discrimination, and restrictions against women and girls in Afghanistan, further marginalizing them from public and social life.
In a statement, the Malala Fund said the Taliban’s legal framework does not provide justice but instead institutionalizes repression, deepening the exclusion of women from education, employment, and civic participation. The organization stressed that such policies place millions of Afghan girls at risk by stripping them of basic rights and legal protections.
The group noted that since returning to power, the Taliban have issued a series of decrees banning girls from secondary and higher education, restricting women’s employment, and limiting their movement without male guardians. According to the Malala Fund, the new penal code strengthens these controls and normalizes punitive measures against women under the guise of law.
International human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have echoed similar concerns, warning that Taliban policies amount to gender persecution and may meet the threshold of gender apartheid under international law. The United Nations has also repeatedly stated that the Taliban’s restrictions violate Afghanistan’s international human rights obligations.
UN reports indicate that more than three million Afghan girls remain out of school, while women face increasing barriers to accessing healthcare, work, and justice. Critics argue that instead of promoting stability, the Taliban’s penal code entrenches fear, control, and ideological enforcement, undermining any prospects for inclusive governance.
The Malala Fund has urged the international community to maintain diplomatic pressure on the Taliban, stressing that engagement without concrete improvements in women’s rights risks legitimizing systemic abuse. “No legal system can be considered credible when half the population is deliberately excluded,” the organization said.
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