Introduction
In 2024, Afghanistan saw a decrease in the number of explosions and suicide attacks and subsequently a reduction in civilian casualties. However, other forms of human rights violations significantly increased compared to 2023. For instance, the number of targeted, mysterious, and extrajudicial killings of individuals accused of collaborating with anti-Taliban groups have doubled. There has been a 70% increase in number of enforced disappearances. Rawadari has recorded more instances of torture leading to death. In 2024, there has also been a spike in arbitrary and unlawful detentions by the Taliban, leading to an increase of 42% compared to 2023. This increase might partly be due to the introduction and full enforcement of the so called “Promotion of Vice and Prevention of Virtue” (PVPV) Law in August 2024 that reinforced existing restrictions and introduced new ones, particularly on the rights and freedoms of women and girls.
Additionally, Rawadari’s findings indicate that former government employees and their family members have continued to be subjected to arbitrary detentions, torture, killings, enforced disappearances, and other acts of retaliation. The rate of targeted, mysterious, and extrajudicial killings of former government employees in 2024 has increased by 9%, while their arbitrary and unlawful detentions rose by approximately 20%.
Due to the continuation of the de facto authorities’ (DFA) discriminatory and restrictive policies, especially following the publication of the PVPV law, the human rights situation for women has further deteriorated, with increased restrictions on access to education, work and movement and access to justice. Rawadari’s findings indicate that the implementation of this law has impacted all aspects of women’s and girls’ lives in Afghanistan, leading to their complete deprivation from secondary and higher education, increased discrimination in access to healthcare services, restrictions on their freedom of movement, and denial of access to justice. The systematic and widespread nature of Taliban’s crimes against women amount to crime against humanity of gender persecution.
In 2024, the ethnic and religious minorities in Afghanistan continued facing discrimination and persecution. Rawadari has documented instance of deliberate deprivation of vulnerable communities from equal and fair access to government services, humanitarian aid, and national resources and facilities. The Taliban have also eliminated opportunities for the participation of minorities in decision-making processes that affect their future, and they have made government appointments and dismissals based on ideological, religious, and ethnic considerations. Furthermore, 2024 saw a continued trend of suppression of freedom of religion and belief in Afghanistan particularly for Shia and Ismaili communities.
The worsening human rights situation in Afghanistan in 2024 highlights the Taliban’s continued disregard for Afghanistan’s international human rights commitments and obligations. Addressing the current human rights crisis in Afghanistan requires the full implementation of accountability mechanisms, along with preventive and protective measures from the international community.
Data collection method:
The information included in this report pertains to the period from January 1 to December 31, 2024, which has been collected and recorded monthly by the Rawadari documentation team. To document various human rights violations, Rawadari’s human rights monitors used questionnaires and conducted in-person or telephone interviews throughout the year with multiple local sources, including survivors, their family members and eyewitnesses across 30 provinces of Afghanistan[i]. Other sources consulted for data collection and verification included journalists, civil society activists, human rights defenders, lawyers, government employees, staff from educational and healthcare institutions, personnel from relevant national and international organizations and community leaders. Cases that could not be verified with sufficient evidence and multiple sources have been excluded from this report.
Additionally, decrees, orders, audio and video recordings, and written documents issued by the Taliban over the past year and obtained by Rawadari have also been utilized as sources for this report. Furthermore, previous Rawadari reports and findings from other human rights organizations have been referenced in the report.
In each section, a few examples of violations have been included to provide a clear picture of the human rights situation in Afghanistan. To provide an analysis of the trends, the findings of this report have been compared with those from Rawadari’s 2023 annual human rights situation report.[ii]
To ensure the safety and security of interviewees, sources and survivors, specific details, dates, and exact locations of certain examples of human rights violations have been deliberately omitted from the report.
Limitations on Access to Information:
Since the Taliban have imposed strict restrictions on access to information, gathering the necessary data for this report, particularly documenting human rights violations and specifically targeted and extrajudicial killings, torture, the killing of prisoners, and enforced disappearances, has been a challenging task. The Taliban employ various tactics to conceal such information, including obtaining written guarantees from victims, forcing them to swear oaths not to speak about their experiences, and resorting to intimidation, and threats against victims and their families.
Evidence indicates that prisoners and torture victims are often released from detention on the condition that they provide written commitments not to share information or speak about their experiences. In many cases, the Taliban have threatened them with re-arrest and further punishment. As a result, those released from prison and survivors of torture refrain from sharing information with the media and human rights organizations, fearing retaliation and security repercussions for their families.
The Taliban prevent human rights organizations and monitors from accessing prisons or detention facilities and they have also warned all government employees that they will be dismissed and punished if they disseminate information without authorization.
The General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) monitors the activities of civil society activists, journalists, media outlets, human rights defenders, lawyers and educational institutions and health centres and aggressively suppresses any criticism or opposition to Taliban policies.
In 2024, the Taliban imposed even stricter restrictions compared to 2023 on the work of journalists and local media. Currently, local media cannot publish information without prior approval from the Directorates of Information and Culture and GDI. They are only permitted to publish reports and information that the Taliban approve and endorse. The dissemination of information related to specific issues, including human rights violations and women’s rights, is strictly prohibited, and media outlets are not allowed to report on these matters. For example, in August 2024, in a meeting of journalists called by the Directorate of Information and Culture in Ghazni, the GDI and the Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (MPVPV) introduced a guideline stating that any reporting on human rights is considered contrary to the “values of the Islamic Emirate.”
In Southern and Eastern regions of Afghanistan, both state and private TV stations have been forced to suspend their operation following the PVPV law that introduced a ban on publishing imagery and videos of living beings (humans and animals). As a result, the only source of information from the local DFA authorities and departments in these regions is now the Facebook pages of the local administration.
Additionally, in some provinces, the Taliban routinely inspect mobile phones and computers at checkpoints to ensure that no information related to human rights violations is recorded or disseminated. Consequently, these restrictions, along with the recent enforcement of the “PVPV” law, have fostered an environment of fear and mistrust, leading to the concealment of information and evidence related to human rights violations.
Therefore, what is presented in this report represents a portion of the numerous human rights violations that Rawadari has been able to document during 2024 considering the limitations on access to information.
[i] Kabul, Parwan, Kapisa, Baghlan, Panjshir, Balkh, Sar-e-Pol, Faryab, Jawzjan, Takhar, Kunduz, Samangan, Badakhshan, Herat, Badghis, Farah, Nimruz, Ghor, Ghazni, Daikundi, Bamiyan, Maidan Wardak, Paktia, Paktika, Khost, Nangarhar, Kandahar, Zabul, Helmand and Uruzgan
[ii] Rawadari, March 2024. Afghanistan Human Rights Situation Report 2023 https://rawadari.org/020320241765.htm/
