Women | Femena's Zubaida Akbar told the Civil Society Forum on Women, Peace and Security in New York that the Taliban have issued 141 decrees against women; Femena's tracker listed 138 as of August

ACW | October 28, 2026 — Afghan rights activist Zubaida Akbar of Femena told the Civil Society Forum on Women, Peace and Security in New York on Tuesday, October 27, that the Taliban have so far issued 141 decrees restricting women's rights. The forum was held alongside the UN Security Council's annual open debate on women, peace and security. Her remarks were reported by Rukhshana Media and by Femena's official X account.

The figure of 141 is Akbar's own. Femena, with IANGEL, keeps a tracker of Taliban edicts targeting women and girls, built on the US Institute of Peace (USIP) tracker; its online version listed 138 such edicts as of August 2026.

"If the WPS agenda means that women's participation and protection are non-negotiable, why has the international community, including the UN, repeatedly allowed the Taliban to make those very rights negotiable?" Akbar asked, according to Femena. She also said: "Engagement must not become normalization."

Akbar said women inside Afghanistan remain on the front lines of protests and civic resistance despite abductions, imprisonment, torture, killings and rape by the Taliban. According to Rukhshana, she said five years have passed since girls were barred from education without a serious international response.

At the Security Council meeting itself (the 10254th), UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous said Afghan women and girls have been systematically excluded from public life. Activist Tamana Zaryab Paryani also briefed the Council, saying Afghan women have lived for five years and 73 days under a system of "gender apartheid." The term is the activists' own. The reports contain no Taliban response.

Background: The US Mission to the UN told the Security Council that the Taliban have reversed decades of gains for women; ACW reported it.

Why it matters: Independent trackers show the number of Taliban decrees against women rising year after year; activists raised it in the week the UN reviews the 26th anniversary of Resolution 1325.

ACW will continue to follow this story.

Source: Rukhshana Media; Femena on X; Femena edicts tracker; Security Council 10254th meeting record

Photo: Rukhshana Media (UN Women)