Asia
Women’s rights situation in Afghanistan
All human beings are born free and equal in terms of dignity and basic rights, and they deserve these rights because they are humans. However, in Afghanistan, the people are going through hardship in its history of human rights, especially women rights since the return of the Taliban on August 15 2021.
Today, the Afghan people have been deprived of their most basic and fundamental human rights, and Afghan women, making half of the society, have been completely excluded from political, social and economic life.
While the world insists on the equality of men and women in all human rights, the women in Afghanistan have been deprived of their most natural and basic rights such as rights to education, work, political participation, freedom, organizing gatherings, and protests, and etc….
In return, the Taliban’s response to women’s protests and lawsuit against these deprivations was nothing but intimidation and threats, severe repression, arbitrary arrests and imprisonment, murder and torture.
Rights to education
The right to education is one of the fundamental human rights. These have been also mentioned in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Articles 28 and 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of Any Discrimination Against Women and other general international human rights documents. Humanity and women’s rights have been emphasized in these articles repeatedly.
Based on these rights, all people across the globe must have equal access to education. But Afghanistan, the only country in the world, has denied women of their right to education. The Taliban has banned women from school, university and education.
Rights to freedom
The Taliban also restricted women’s right to freedom in every level of society. Based on orders, all the women are required to wear long black dresses. Putting any other color in official places is punishable. The women must also cover their faces with a black mask. With these restrictions, the Taliban, in addition to removing the identity of women, are seeking to remove their face from society.
Moreover, the Taliban also restricted one of the most basic and natural rights of women, the rights to freedom of movement in the society.
Through a series of restrictions, the Taliban prevented adult women without a male partner from traveling abroad or even within the country to other provinces.
Sadly, women cannot go to government offices and hospitals and health centers without a male partner even in emergency cases. The restrictions come despite the fact that many women have lost their husbands and fathers in wars and explosions and have no male partner in their families.
Women have been deprived of all social and health services in the wake of these restrictions.
These restrictions also deprive many women from the opportunity of scholarships abroad or necessary trips for treatment.
Following a sequence of restrictions, the Taliban also banned women from going to parks, recreation centers, restaurants and women public baths.
This open discrimination is actually a violation of Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which emphasizes freedom of movement. Such laws do not exist in the laws of any country, even in Islamic states.
The Taliban want to remove women from society and remove their identities and physical appearance through these discriminatory actions. With these decisions, the Taliban violated important principles of human dignity, freedom and equality, which are at the top of all human rights and freedoms.
Right to work
Men and women are born free and are equal in terms of dignity and social rights, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the most important human rights document agreed and accepted by all governments.
Taking note of this, all women have the right to enjoy the desired economic life, and have a free hand to choose a job to elevate themselves from poverty.
Moreover, based on these human rights declaration, women should not be subjected to torture or cruel punishment, and contrary to humanity and human affairs. They should also not be forced to accept a job and rather they must choose any occupation on their own.
Meanwhile, according to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, member states must recognize the right of women to work and provide them the opportunity to freely choose any job that would help support the family.
The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women also emphasized on the fact that equality between men and women in employment leads to the realization of their rights, and also declares: Discrimination in any way against women’s employment rights violates the principle of equality and respect. It is human character and must not be violated.
With the return of Taliban into power, the Afghan women have been widely deprived of the right to work and ordered to stay at home. The Taliban dismissed female employees working in ministries, government offices, judicial courts and those who were serving in police rank.
Businesswomen, artists, athletes, audio and visual media employees, female journalists and employees of private companies have already lost their jobs as per Taliban order.
The Taliban in a recent decree banned women from all jobs, including those working in foreign institutions and relief organizations. This comes despite the fact that many of these women are the breadwinners of their families, who are now unemployed and struggling with poverty.
In many cases, these women started to beg at the streets or sell their children due to extreme poverty and destitution.
Such exclusion and restriction on women’s jobs, in addition to paralyzing the country’s economic and development cycle, leads to the spread of poverty and misery in the society.
The Taliban have deprived women from working under the pretext that their works are against Islamic standards.
These restrictions come despite the fact that there is no prohibition on women’s work and economic activity in Islamic laws.
If you look at other Islamic countries, women are equal to men in various jobs and play an active role in the development and prosperity of their country’s economy.
By banning women from workplaces, the Taliban have clearly violated one of its most basic human rights, which is mentioned in the most important international documents above.
Right to the politics
The right of political participation of women, equal to men, is clearly stated in the most important international documents.
Among other things, Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights deals with the right of political participation of all members of the society, including women, on equal terms with men.
Moreover, Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights emphasized the right of women to political participation in a society without discrimination.
Also, the Convention on the Political Rights of Women approved in 1952 explicitly and specifically deals with the implementation of the principle of equal rights of women and men in the enjoyment and exercise of political rights in accordance with the Charter and Covenant.
In addition, articles seven and eight of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, had also referred to women’s political participation and the right to vote in all elections and referendums, and the right to be elected and participate in determining government policy. It also touched upon appointing women to government positions and conducting government affairs in all levels are emphasized in equal terms with men.
Afghanistan is a member of all these conventions and human rights documents, but however, women’s right to political participation was completely violated, and no women are seen in the cabinet and high government positions. It won’t be a lie to say that women have been completely excluded from the country’s political scene.
Right to hold peaceful protests
Freedom of assembly and protest is one of the fundamental human rights, which is emphasized in Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 21 of the Convention on Civil-Political Rights, Conventions No. 87 and 98 of the International Labor Organization and other international and regional human rights documents.
All citizens and socio-political forces in a society have the right to make their voices heard by those in power through peaceful civil gatherings and demonstrations. These marches or gatherings come to make these politicians accountable for their policies, plans, actions and behavior.
However, the Taliban has so far tried to suppress the voice of protesters and went to beat, arrest, imprison and torture them. The women, who protest to defend their rights, face severe repressions that even put their lives and their families in serious danger.
Translated from etilaatroz
Beijing said it had conducted law enforcement patrols in waters east of Taiwan in response to a decision by Japan and the Philippines to launch talks on maritime boundary delimitation.
According to a statement from the China Coast Guard, a flotilla led by the vessel Daishan carried out law enforcement patrols “in accordance with the law” on Monday.
China Coast Guard spokesperson Jiang Lue said the operation was “a necessary action” in response to Japan and the Philippines “unilaterally announcing the start of negotiations on maritime delimitation in waters east of China’s Taiwan Island.”
“Such an announcement seriously infringes upon China’s territorial sovereignty and its maritime rights and interests,” Jiang said.
“We urge Japan and the Philippines to immediately cease all illegal actions that violate China’s sovereignty and rights,” he added.
Jiang also said the coast guard would continue strengthening its control and management of the relevant waters and that China would take concrete measures to “resolutely safeguard territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.”
The United States and most of its allies, including Japan and the Philippines, do not recognize Taiwan as an independent state and acknowledge it as part of China. The United Nations has also adopted resolutions reflecting this position. However, Washington continues to provide arms to Taiwan as part of its broader efforts to counter China and encourages its allies to do the same.
Following a summit in Tokyo between Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the two countries said in a joint statement issued on Thursday that they had agreed to begin “formal negotiations” to delimit their exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and continental shelves.
Beijing condemned the planned talks as “completely illegal and invalid” and swiftly lodged formal diplomatic protests with both Tokyo and Manila.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday: “The so-called delimitation negotiations are entirely illegal, invalid and void. They will have no impact whatsoever on China’s claims or on China’s exercise of its legitimate rights in the area east of Taiwan Island.”
The latest escalation comes at a time when relations between Beijing and both Tokyo and Manila are already strained. Japan and the Philippines are treaty allies of the United States, while China remains engaged in separate territorial disputes with Japan in the East China Sea and with the Philippines in the South China Sea.
As US attention and resources have increasingly shifted toward the war involving Iran, and as the White House has made the Western Hemisphere a strategic priority, Japan and the Philippines have stepped up diplomatic engagement in the region commonly referred to as the Indo-Pacific.
That effort has included building closer security and defence ties with other countries, prompting Beijing to accuse them of encouraging bloc confrontation in the region.
Japan and the Philippines do not share a maritime boundary. However, their seabed claims could overlap because both countries seek to extend their legal continental shelves beyond 200 nautical miles, equivalent to 370 kilometres or 230 miles.
The overlapping area lies east of Taiwan, southwest of Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and north of the Philippines’ Batanes Islands.
Yang Xiao, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China’s highest-ranking state-affiliated think tank, said Taiwan’s EEZ and continental shelf are part of the area under discussion.
“These are China’s rights and are not something that the two sides can negotiate among themselves,” Yang said.
In an interview published on Sunday by Yuyuan Tantian, a social media account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, before the China Coast Guard announced the patrols, Yang said Beijing would take “historic and unprecedented” countermeasures against Tokyo and Manila.
“Since they are negotiating in a three-party overlapping zone, we can also take further steps to advance our jurisdiction in the waters east of Taiwan,” Yang said.
“If the other side insists on reckless and destructive actions, we will inevitably introduce new countermeasures.”
Yang described the waters east of Taiwan as a vital maritime area for the island’s economic activities.
“If these waters are divided between Japan and the Philippines, that would clearly harm the interests of the people living on Taiwan Island,” he added.
As artificial intelligence reshapes industrial structures in Japan and South Korea, stock market rankings are being redrawn. SoftBank Group has overtaken Toyota Motor to become Japan’s most valuable listed company.
SoftBank shares have surged as the global artificial intelligence rally gathers momentum, lifting the technology conglomerate’s market capitalisation above that of Toyota for the first time in more than two decades.
The shift reflects a broader reordering of Japan’s equity market. Automakers, alongside banks, steelmakers, energy companies and other traditional heavy industries, are losing ground to chipmakers and companies linked to artificial intelligence.
SoftBank shares jumped 14% on Monday, reaching a new record high. The company’s market value climbed to 48 trillion yen, or $301 billion, making it the most valuable company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Toyota had long held the top position, with a market capitalisation of approximately 45 trillion yen. The last time SoftBank surpassed Toyota was in March 2000, at the peak of the dot-com bubble.
SoftBank’s rapid rise has been driven by strong earnings performance and its substantial investment in ChatGPT developer OpenAI.
The Japanese company reported net profit of 1.82 trillion yen, or $11.4 billion, for the first three months of 2026, 3.5 times higher than in the same period a year earlier. The group is also increasing its investment in OpenAI, completing a $10 billion investment in April and committing to invest an additional $20 billion later this year. Total investment is expected to reach roughly $65 billion.
According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI plans to file for an initial public offering and aims to list in the United States as early as September. Some media reports suggest the company could seek to raise $60 billion through the offering, potentially valuing it at more than $1 trillion. Such a transaction could become the largest initial public offering in history.
Investors expect the IPO to significantly boost SoftBank’s investment gains. Those expectations have helped drive the technology group’s share price higher. SoftBank shares have risen about 127% since early April.
The company is also planning to invest up to 14 trillion yen in the construction of data centres in France.
Chinese President Xi Jinping met Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Beijing, where the two leaders discussed bilateral ties and oversaw the signing of multiple cooperation agreements. Xi also awarded Vucic the Friendship Medal of the People’s Republic of China.
The meeting between Xi Jinping and Aleksandar Vucic began with an official welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
The two leaders then proceeded to formal talks. Xi said China and Serbia had achieved “positive results” since jointly launching the construction of a “China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era” in 2024.
Xi said the partnership had not only benefited the two peoples but had also set an example for international relations.
The Chinese president described relations between China and Serbia as an “iron friendship” based on deep historical ties and mutual trust.
Calling on both sides to strengthen exchanges, deepen practical cooperation and continue supporting each other on issues concerning their core interests, Xi also said the two countries should align their development strategies and advance cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. In this context, he pointed to transport, energy and infrastructure projects.
Xi also called for expanding cooperation in emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence, the digital economy, green energy and advanced manufacturing.
Aleksandar Vucic congratulated China on the start of implementation of its 15th Five-Year Plan. Vucic also expressed confidence in China’s future development under Xi Jinping’s leadership.
The Serbian president said Belgrade attached great importance to relations with China and firmly supported Beijing on issues concerning China’s core interests.
Vucic thanked Chinese companies for their contributions to Serbia’s economic development and infrastructure construction.
Saying the two countries had made notable progress since establishing their comprehensive strategic partnership, Vucic added that cooperation had expanded across numerous sectors.
The Serbian president also praised China’s role in international affairs, saying Beijing approached smaller countries on the basis of equality and respect and defended international law.
Following the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of more than 20 cooperation agreements covering politics, trade, science and technology, education, legal affairs and culture.
The two sides also issued joint statements on steadily advancing the construction of a China-Serbia community with a shared future in the new era and jointly supporting the implementation of four global initiatives.
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