On 18 July 2026, six male staff members of the Women and Children Legal Research Foundation (WCLRF), an Afghan organisation working on women’s and children’s rights, were taken into custody by Taliban authorities in Kabul. According to Human Rights Watch, Taliban officials had previously raided and sealed the organisation’s office on 21 June, confiscating laptops and mobile phones and questioning staff members about their work. The six men were later summoned back to the office under the pretext of collecting their confiscated belongings, but were instead detained. Nearly a month later, their families had received no information about their whereabouts, condition, or any charges against them. Human Rights Watch has therefore described the case as a forced disappearance and called for their immediate release unless they are charged with a recognisable criminal offence.
The detention of the six rights workers raises serious concerns under international human rights law, including the prohibition of arbitrary detention, the right to liberty and security, the right to due process and access to legal counsel, and protection from enforced disappearance and ill-treatment. Afghanistan remains bound by the international human rights treaties to which it is a party, and UN bodies have repeatedly documented arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, torture and other violations against human rights defenders under the Taliban authorities. The case is particularly alarming because the detainees were working for an organisation dedicated to protecting women and children at a time when the Taliban have systematically restricted women’s and girls’ rights, while simultaneously tightening restrictions on civil society, freedom of expression and human rights advocacy. Amnesty International has likewise reported that the Taliban’s 2026 criminal procedure regulations further undermine fair-trial guarantees and restrict civic space and freedom of expression.
Therefore, as Rights Defenders, we call upon the Taliban authorities to immediately disclose the whereabouts and condition of the six detained rights workers, grant them access to their families and legal counsel, and release them unless they are promptly charged with a legitimate and recognisable offence and afforded a fair trial. We further urge the United Nations, governments, international human rights organisations and humanitarian actors to demand the immediate protection of human rights defenders and civil society organisations in Afghanistan and to use all available diplomatic and accountability mechanisms to address arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and other abuses. The international community must not allow the continued targeting of those who defend the rights of women and children to become normalised; protecting Afghan civil society and human rights defenders must remain a central condition of international engagement with the Taliban authorities.
References
Human Rights Watch, Afghanistan: Taliban Forcibly Disappear 6 Rights Workers, 13 August 2026.
Reuters, Human Rights Watch urges Taliban to release detained UN, NGO staff, 13 August 2026.
Associated Press, Human Rights Watch says the Taliban detained 6 staff of a women’s and children’s rights group, 13 August 2026.
United Nations, Compilation of information prepared by OHCHR – Afghanistan, Human Rights Council, 2024.
Amnesty International, Afghanistan: The Taliban Must Immediately Revoke the Criminal Procedure Regulation of the Courts, 6 March 2026.
Human Rights Watch, Afghanistan: Taliban Assault on Rights Deepens 5 Years on, 3 August 2026.