Source: United Nations – Geneva

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women was this afternoon briefed by representatives of non-governmental organizations on the situation of women’s rights in Afghanistan, Chad and Botswana, the reports of which the Committee will review this week.  The report of San Marino will also be reviewed this week, but there were no non-governmental organizations speaking on that country. 

Non-governmental organizations speaking on Afghanistan raised concerns relating to restrictive laws against women, the ban on girls’ education, and gender-based crimes enacted by the de-facto authorities, among other issues. 

Speakers for Chad raised issues including women’s low representation in political and public life, gender stereotypes, and the prevalence of female genital mutilation. 

The speaker on Botswana discussed the criminalisation of sex workers, mistreatment of gender-based violence victims, and social protection gaps impacting women.

No speakers took the floor in relation to San Marino.   

The following non-governmental organizations spoke on Afghanistan: Musawah and Strategic Advocacy for Human Rights (SAHR); MADRE and CUNY School of Law; Gender Persecution Working Group (GPWG); Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; and Afghanistan LGBTIQ+ Organization – ALO. 

The following non-governmental organizations spoke on Chad: Lutheran World Foundation Chad; and Ligue tchadienne pour les droits des femmes (Chadian League for Women’s Rights).

Success Capital Organization spoke on Botswana.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women’s ninety-first session is being held from 16 June to 4 July.  All documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage.  Meeting summary releases can be found here.  The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings can be accessed via the UN Web TV webpage.

The Committee will next meet in public at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 24 June to consider the fourth periodic report of Afghanistan (CEDAW/C/AFG/4).

Statement by Committee Chair 

NAHLA HAIDAR, Committee Chair, said this was the second opportunity during the present session for non-governmental organizations to provide information on States parties whose reports were being considered during the second week of the session, namely Afghanistan, San Marino, Chad and Botswana.  

Statements by Non-Governmental Organizations on Afghanistan

In the discussion on Afghanistan, speakers, among other things, said that since the Taliban assumed control of Afghanistan in 2021, Afghan women and girls had been facing increasing human rights violations.  The de facto authorities had issued decrees restricting women in all aspects of their social, cultural, political and economic life.  The 2024 law on the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice mandated ‘Sharia hijab’ covering the entire body and face of women, a prohibition on women to speak in public, and a strict male relative (mahram) requirement for women when leaving the house.  It created the institution of a morality police (muhtasib) to enforce the law, further increasing the risk of arbitrary detention and arrest by the de-facto authorities.  Among the rights that Afghan women and girls were cruelly denied were the rights to education, to work, and to freedom of peaceful assembly. 

The Taliban’s near-total ban on girls’ education after grade six and its prohibition of women’s university attendance crushed the dreams of an entire generation.  Women had been dismissed from public employment and faced restrictions in the private sector.  Women in Afghanistan also faced extensive restrictions on mobility and employment, including through the de facto authorities’ interference in the hiring process of non-governmental organization employees.  Women had been stripped of autonomy, dignity, and the means to support themselves and their families.

Since 2021, women lawyers had not been able to obtain or renew their licenses, and could not legally represent clients in court, including female gender-based violence survivors.  Women in court were forced to rely on male advocates to represent them, meaning they effectively had no access to justice.  The Taliban had also eliminated gender-based violence services and legal protections. 

Since August 2021, the Taliban had institutionalised gender-based crimes and systematically oppressed women, girls, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons in Afghanistan.  Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex women and transgender men had been subject to forced marriage to men and faced compounded barriers to fleeing gender violence because of mahram requirements.  The Taliban had subjected transgender women to torture, including sexual violence. 

Women peacefully protesting these injustices had been beaten, detained and tortured, and had undergone surveillance.  The Taliban’s 2021 decree requiring permits for protests, which was used to silence women-led demonstrations, was a direct assault on freedom of assembly.  Taliban members publicly flogged women for purported “adultery” or for “running away from home.” 

Women and girls were facing gender apartheid in Afghanistan.  United Nations Member States, regional bodies, and international institutions had a collective responsibility to ensure that the Taliban were held accountable for ongoing violations, especially those targeting the rights and freedoms of women and girls.  The Committee should call on Member States to support the International Criminal Court’s efforts to hold the Taliban accountable, and States’ efforts to bring Afghanistan before the International Court of Justice for rights violations, including under the Convention.  States should provide support to the ongoing investigation by the International Criminal Court, the establishment of an independent accountability mechanism, and the codification of gender apartheid as a crime under international law. 

The Committee was urged to call on the de facto authorities to immediately repeal all decrees restricting freedom of expression, appearance, education and employment, including the mandatory hijab and mahram requirements; end women’s banishment from public spaces; end arbitrary imprisonment and torture, including sexual violence, against women human rights defenders; and demand the release of all women imprisoned for protest, speech or identity.  The de facto authorities in Afghanistan must dismantle systemic gender-based oppression by repealing all discriminatory edicts and fully implementing recommendations from United Nations human rights mechanisms. 

Statements by Non-Governmental Organizations on Chad

In the discussion on Chad, speakers among other things, commended the Government of Chad for the progress made in eliminating discrimination against women despite a very difficult environment.  The effective implementation of the Convention continued to be hampered by the consequences of decades of conflict, the persistence of armed violence in the east and south-east of the country, the massive movements of internally displaced persons and refugees, and the continuing humanitarian crisis.

Following the recommendations made by the Committee to the Chadian State in 2011, several advances had been made through the adoption of laws, strategies and programmes aimed at protecting and promoting women’s rights, including the national gender policy of December 2011, law no. 003/PR/2025 on the prevention and punishment of violence against women and girls, and the adoption of a national action plan for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325  (2000) by Chad.

However, the percentage of women participating in public life, politics and the peace process remained low.  The Government of Chad was urged to review relevant legislation to ensure the full and effective participation of women in political and public life; secure the greater inclusion of women in the processes of consultation, national dialogue and reconciliation; and eliminate gender stereotypes and biases.

Chadian women faced various obstacles such as gender stereotypes, discriminatory cultural norms, harmful religious doctrines, and lack of economic autonomy.  The perception of women’s economic activity by men as a potential source of dowry for a future co-wife was very common.  It was recommended that the Government strengthen the legal and institutional framework for the protection of the rights of women and girls by ratifying the Maputo Protocol.  The Government should also adopt a specific law against female genital mutilation, with effective implementation and monitoring mechanisms.

According to the 2023 activity report of the Ministry of Women and Early Childhood, there were 241 cases of female genital mutilation, 500 cases of rape, 537 cases of sexual assault, 469 cases of sexual exploitation and 780 cases of early and forced marriage.  Female genital mutilation was still widely practised despite recommendations.  It was important for the Chadian Government to accelerate the adoption, promulgation and popularisation of the Code of the Family and its implementing decree.

Statement by a Non-Governmental Organization on Botswana

The speaker on Botswana said Botswana’s history as a peaceful democratic republic post-independence continued to shield its regressions in the respect and fulfilment of human rights.  Unequal distribution of income, electricity cuts, water shortages, and prohibitive connection of utilities for freehold land tenures continued to aggravate poverty. All the while, Botswana was characterised by femicide, technology assisted gender-based violence through social media, the criminalisation of sex workers, narrow legal provisions for abortion, unavailability of safe sex commodities in prisons, corruption, marital rape, and the lack of justiciability of socioeconomic rights despite ratifying the Maputo Protocol.

Survivors of gender-based violence continued to be ignored and erased whilst also enduring police harassment and brutality at roadblocks despite some protections in law for gender diverse people.  Despite employment laws protecting termination from specific grounds of discrimination, no law protected the worker during probationary periods. Social protection gaps remained for women who were not poor enough for State provisions but were too poor to sustain any dignified life.  There needed to be better conditions, including ensuring that the Committee’s recommendations were accelerated, socialised with grassroots communities, and entrenched within the national gender machinery.

Questions by Committee Experts

A Committee Expert asked representatives from Afghanistan for critical analysis regarding the positive decrees, including the ban on forced marriages.  What kind of threats did women in exile face? 

What obstacles were there to fighting female genital mutilation and child marriage in Chad? How were women’s inheritance rights impacted in Chad? 

Another Expert asked about the status of the draft Code of the Family in Chad?  How was the plurality of laws playing out with a new Government?  What was the evaluation of the women, peace and security plan? 

Regarding Botswana, what did the criminalisation of prostitution look like on the ground? Was there any information regarding the trafficking of women and girls?

A Committee Expert asked if women in Afghanistan could own any property?  With the new law on guardians, how were women engaging with economic institutions? What was the level of participation of women in exports and trade? 

For Chad, how was gender captured in the macro-economic policies of the country? Were there gender-formative actions, including for procurement and taxation?

What was the status of the national human rights institution in Botswana?  Had the institution been able to register and become fully compliant with the Paris Principles?  What services did women receive from this institution? 

Another Expert asked if women in Botswana could transfer cases from the customary court to the magistrate’s court, as per the amended act?

Responses from Non-Governmental Organizations from Afghanistan

Speakers from Afghanistan said for women human rights defenders in exile, the Taliban used their families and friends in the country as a weapon against them.  Those who lobbied for the Taliban in Europe also participated in acts of sexual violence and harassment.  The ban of forced marriages was an announcement and not true; the Taliban themselves forced girls into early marriage. 

Women who had participated in the business sector were facing high taxation costs, and had a limited ability to attend trade events within and outside the country.  In Afghanistan, the sector was predominately operated by male business owners, meaning there was a lack of opportunities for women business owners.  Many women with disabilities now lacked access to the market and livelihood support. 

Responses from Non-Governmental Organizations from Chad

Speakers from Chad said women and girls continued to be victims of discrimination inside the family. The Persons and Families Code still had not been adopted.  It had been returned to the administration by the parliament for a rereading.  There were factors, including religious beliefs, which were oppressive; these remained obstacles to adopting this legislation. 

Family matters were governed by a mix of local customs and civil codes inherited from the colonial period, exposing women and children to discriminatory practices.  Women were generally excluded from decision-making when it came to the peace process and typically participated only as figureheads. Just one woman had participated in peace negotiations.  If women participated in the economy, their savings were used as a dowry and men used this to acquire another woman.   

There were legal texts in Chad but it was their application which was the issue. Impunity was an everyday issue, including for cases of gender-based violence.  The reform of the Family Code was still a big challenge.  The issue of gender was not understood as a concept in Chad and a lack of political commitment meant gender was not addressed in Chadian society.  There were obstacles and challenges when it came to female genital mutilation and child marriage.  While texts and laws set out punishments, in many communities these practices continued. Customary law trumped Government law. 

Responses from a Non-Governmental Organization from Botswana

The speaker from Botswana said petty crimes and other laws were used to detain sex workers. There had been documented evidence of sex workers experiencing sex harassment.  Discrimination against transgender and gender diverse sex workers was compounded.

Botswana was a transit country, and it was easy to be mobile across border countries, where there was a limited tracking of movement.  The Office of the Ombudsman had been expanded to include a human rights mandate, but it was believed it was not fully compliant with the Paris Principles. Women human rights defenders were not explicitly covered, especially in terms of reports covered by the Ombudsman. Community knowledge remained low regarding certain legislation, and systemic data remained unavailable.

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