Meryl Streep, the acclaimed actress, leveraged her platform at the United Nations General Assembly to highlight the severe restrictions imposed on women and girls in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.
In a striking comparison, she said that animals like cats, squirrels, and birds in Afghanistan have more rights than women.
“A cat may feel the sun, a bird may sing, but a girl in Kabul may not,” Meryl Streep pointed out, characterizing the Taliban’s treatment of women as an unnatural and “odd” suppression of basic freedoms.
Her comments rapidly gained traction on social media, prompting a strong international reaction.
In response to Streep’s speech, Germany, Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands announced “unprecedented” legal action against the Taliban for their systematic oppression of women and girls.
These countries accused the Taliban of violating the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), a treaty that Afghanistan ratified under the previous government in 2003.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong emphasized that the women of Afghanistan are being “erased” from public life due to the oppressive policies of the Taliban.
Since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan three years ago, they have progressively intensified restrictions on women and girls.
Between September 2021 and June 2022, interviews were conducted with 90 Afghan women and 11 girls living under Taliban rule. The participants’ ages ranged from 14 to 74, and they were located in 20 out of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. Additionally, Amnesty International spoke with six current or former staff members of Taliban-operated detention centers, 22 employees from national and international NGOs and UN agencies, and 10 Afghan and international experts and journalists. The research included in-person interviews in Afghanistan from March 4 to March 20, 2022, as well as remote interviews.
This report outlines a complex network of interrelated restrictions and prohibitions that Afghan women and girls face. It highlights how violations of any single right by the Taliban can adversely affect the exercise of other rights. Collectively, these policies create a system of repression that discriminates against women and girls in nearly every aspect of their lives.
On July 1, 2022, Amnesty International shared the key findings from this report in letters to Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi and Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Abdul Wali. As of July 15, 2022, when the report was finalized, no response had been received.
Women are now barred from working or attending school beyond grade 6, with strict rules governing their attire and limiting their interactions with men.