This project examines Afghan women’s right to health under Taliban rule through feminist and postcolonial approaches to human rights universality.
Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, Afghan women and girls have faced extensive restrictions affecting their access to healthcare, medical education and employment in the health sector. These restrictions have profound implications for the realization of women’s right to health and raise broader questions about the universality of human rights in contexts shaped by gender, religion, colonial legacies and unequal power relations.
This research examines Afghan women’s right to health under Taliban rule through a feminist and postcolonial analysis of international human rights law. It investigates how international human rights standards concerning health and gender equality are articulated and applied in relation to Afghan women, while critically examining the assumptions underlying claims of universality.
The project particularly explores the relationship between universal human rights norms and the social, political and historical context of Afghanistan. Drawing on feminist and postcolonial perspectives, it considers whether conventional approaches to universality adequately account for the experiences and agency of Afghan women, or whether they may reproduce forms of external or internal domination. The concept of internal colonialism provides an additional lens for examining structures of exclusion within the Afghan context.
The research combines doctrinal analysis of international human rights law with qualitative research concerning the experiences and perspectives of relevant actors. It aims to contribute to a more context-sensitive understanding of women’s right to health and to broader debates on universality, gender equality and the legitimacy of international human rights norms.
