On the situation in Afghanistan: supporting women and communities affected by the recent earthquakes

B100420/2025

European Parliament resolution on the situation in Afghanistan: supporting women and communities affected by the recent earthquakes

(2025/2872(RSP))

The European Parliament,

having regard to its previous resolutions on Afghanistan, including its resolution of 19 September 2024 on the deteriorating situation of women in Afghanistan due to the recent adoption of the law on the ‘Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice’, which affirmed that these practices amount to gender apartheid and called for accountability,

–having regard to the statements by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) on Afghanistan,

–having regard to the UN Security Council resolutions on Afghanistan,

–having regard to the UN General Assembly resolution of 7 July 2025 on the situation in Afghanistan,

–having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,

–having regard to the UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951,

–having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

–having regard to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women of 18 December 1979 and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989, both ratified by Afghanistan,

–having regard to the EU Action plan on Humanitarian Aid (2021-2027), which prioritises protection, disaster preparedness and the needs of women and vulnerable groups,

–having regard to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court of 17 July 1998,

–having regard to Rule 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.whereas since their government takeover of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021, the Taliban have severely restricted the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Afghan people, particularly women and girls, who have been virtually erased from public life;

B.whereas a series of earthquakes struck eastern Afghanistan from 31 August 2025 onward, with at least 2 200 fatalities, 3 640 injured, more than 6 700 homes destroyed, and up to 1 million people affected, notably in the hard-to-reach region of Kunar and neighbouring provinces, where humanitarian access has been hampered by landslides, aftershocks and damaged infrastructure; whereas electricity and telecommunications were disrupted; whereas the crisis compounds pre-existing needs, with 14.2 million Afghans already dependent on aid;

C.whereas under Taliban rule, women and girls in Afghanistan face systemic and institutionalised discrimination, including bans and restrictions that curtail their mobility, education, access to healthcare and participation in public life; whereas Parliament and UN experts have condemned the erasure of women and girls from public life in Afghanistan and have recognised that these practices amount to gender apartheid, calling for accountability and sanctions;

D.whereas on 26 September 2024 an initiative was launched by 26 countries to hold Afghanistan’s de facto authorities accountable for their violations of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, calling for the de facto authorities to immediately cease their gross and systematic violations of the human rights of Afghan women and girls;

E.whereas, on 8 July 2025, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Taliban Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, charging them with crimes against humanity, with particular emphasis on the systematic persecution of women, girls, LGBTQI+ individuals and those perceived as allies of gender equality, reflecting the ICC’s focus on grave human rights violations following the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021;

F.whereas effective and impartial humanitarian relief in Afghanistan requires the full, safe and unhindered participation of women aid workers and healthcare professionals in order to reach women and girls, in line with humanitarian principles and culturally accepted access practices; whereas shortages of female healthcare staff and constraints on their work impede the delivery of life-saving services;

G.whereas the Taliban have ordered nationwide shutdowns and the severe throttling of internet and telecommunication activity, including in the aftermath of the earthquakes, which obstruct humanitarian coordination, disrupt banking, aviation and healthcare, and sever the last remaining pathways for women and girls to learn, seek help, communicate and access services, thereby deepening their isolation and increasing the risk of abuse;

H.whereas Afghanistan continues to face one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world, with over 22.9 million people – more than half of Afghanistan’s population – in need of humanitarian assistance;

I.whereas imminent winter conditions will worsen humanitarian needs in mountainous areas, increasing risks of hypothermia, food insecurity, waterborne diseases and security threats, especially for women and children;

J.whereas, in response to the earthquakes in Afghanistan, the EU has donated EUR 1 million in emergency humanitarian funding and dispatched approximately 130 tonnes of relief supplies; whereas the EU has activated the Copernicus satellite service to produce emergency maps, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of relief operations;

K.whereas, in 2024, the Court of Justice of the EU issued three landmark rulings on gender-based violence and persecution, confirming that women and girls at risk of such violence, as well as state-imposed discriminatory measures, qualify for refugee status on account of their gender;

L.whereas some of the Member States are in the process of resuming diplomatic relations with the Taliban to facilitate deportations, disregarding the five benchmarks, set out in the Council conclusions of 15 September 2021 on Afghanistan, against which the EU calibrates its operational engagement with the de facto authorities of Afghanistan;

1.Expresses its deepest condolences to the victims of the earthquakes and its solidarity with affected communities; commends Afghan and international first responders, including women responders operating in high-risk environments;

2.Condemns the Taliban’s systemic discrimination of women and girls and reiterates its position that the erasure of women and girls from public life amounts to gender apartheid and may constitute crimes against humanity;

3.Reiterates its call for accountability, and in this regard fully supports the work of the ICC, the UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan and the establishment of a UN-mandated accountability mechanism;

4.Urges the de facto authorities of Afghanistan to immediately lift all restrictions that prevent Afghan women from working with national and international NGOs and UN agencies in assessing, delivering and monitoring earthquake relief; insists that women and girls have equal, safe and unhindered access to all humanitarian assistance in line with humanitarian principles;

5.Welcomes the Commission’s swift humanitarian response to the earthquake in Afghanistan; calls on the Commission, the European External Action Service and the Member States to scale up principled, needs-based humanitarian assistance and winterisation support, prioritising healthcare, including reproductive, maternal and newborn care, water, sanitisation and hygiene services, shelter and protection, with dedicated funding for women-led and women-focused organisations, and for gender-sensitive protection services;

6.Stresses that donors should finance means of humanitarian aid distribution that can rapidly reach remote regions, including mobile health and nutrition teams, cash assistance to vulnerable households, debris clearance and access restoration through cash for work, and community-based psychosocial support, in line with the UN Development Programme’s early recovery package for the east that includes debris removal, road and water repairs, livelihood inputs, slope stabilisation, safe shelters and energy solutions;

7.Calls for robust access negotiations and risk-management safeguards so that aid reaches people in need and does not benefit or legitimise the de facto authorities; supports the channelling of aid through UN agencies and vetted local partners with a proven track record in the affected regions, namely the provinces of Nangarhar, Kunar, Laghman and Nuristan;

8.Urges the Commission and the Member States to increase flexible, multi-annual funding for early recovery and disaster risk reduction in earthquake-prone areas, including safer construction, reforestation and community preparedness training, consistent with the UN Development Programme’s two-phase plan for resilience-building;

9.Recalls the five benchmarks of the September 2021 Council conclusions and Parliament’s demand to maintain strict human rights conditionality in EU engagement;

10.Urges the VP/HR to propose additional listings under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime against individuals responsible for serious human rights abuses, including those impeding women’s participation in humanitarian action;

11.Supports international efforts to recognise gender apartheid as a crime against humanity; calls on the EU and its Member States to actively promote its inclusion in the crimes against humanity treaty process, and to provide political, legal and financial support to Afghan women’s rights defenders pursuing accountability for gender-based crimes;

12.Condemns the nationwide internet shutdowns and targeted telecommunications throttling by the de facto authorities of Afghanistan, and calls on the de facto authorities to immediately restore full internet access; highlights the dramatic effects of internet shutdowns, including the impact on freedom of expression, political participation, public safety, education, work and healthcare, as well as the exacerbation of pre-existing social, economic and gender-based inequalities;

13.Urges the Commission and the Member States to support the continuity of humanitarian telecommunications, including secure and resilient connectivity for emergency services, healthcare facilities and women-led organisations, and to support the documentation of the harms caused by internet shutdowns, with particular attention to their disproportionate impact on women and girls;

14.Calls on the Member States to expedite humanitarian visas and protection pathways for Afghan nationals, particularly for women humanitarians, medical professionals, human rights defenders and their families at risk, and to facilitate temporary deployment arrangements for Afghan female healthcare staff needed for the emergency response;

15.Calls on the Member States to immediately and strictly refrain from the deportation of Afghan nationals seeking asylum, given that returns to Afghanistan under the current circumstances, specifically the Taliban’s widespread human rights violations and repression, violate non-refoulement and the European Convention on Human Rights;

16.Deplores the resumption by some Member States of diplomatic relations with the Taliban to facilitate deportations, notably the decisions by the German Government and the Austrian Government to send official ministerial delegations to Kabul to engage in direct negotiations with the de facto authorities, the hosting of Taliban representatives in Vienna and the German Government’s accreditation of two representatives appointed by the Taliban, all of which disregard the five benchmarks of the September 2021 Council conclusions;

17.Encourages international partners, including the UN, international financial institutions and the member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, to coordinate closely on principled aid delivery and to resource winter appeals for Afghanistan, ensuring that gender-responsive programming, monitoring and complaint mechanisms are in place to detect and remedy discrimination in aid delivery;

18.Condemns efforts to undermine and delegitimise the work of the ICC, namely the sanctions by the Unites States on the ICC, some of its lawyers, and civil society organisations cooperating with the ICC; expresses its concern that sanctions may inhibit the ICC’s ability to continue conducting its investigations in Afghanistan and other places in the world where the gravest crimes are being committed; calls on the Commission to urgently activate the EU’s blocking statute, and calls on the Member States to increase their diplomatic efforts to protect and safeguard the ICC as an indispensable cornerstone of the international justice system, and to protect and safeguard all other targeted actors;

19.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the UN Secretary-General, the UN Human Rights Council, relevant United Nations agencies and the de facto Afghan authorities.