“We Are Physically Alive but Mentally Dead”: The International Community Must Take Action to Ensure Women’s Right to Education in Afghanistan

Authors

• Solveig J. Clifford

Abstract

International treaties recognize the right to education as a fundamental human right. The Taliban, which currently act as the government as Afghanistan, are legally bound by treaty obligations to respect the right to education. The Taliban have banned women and girls from receiving education past the sixth grade, which is illegal under international law. During the Taliban’s previous regime in Afghanistan, they implemented a similar policy, which had disastrous results for an entire generation of Afghan women. Once again, the education ban is causing severe harm to the women and girls of Afghanistan. The international community has failed to take meaningful action to protect Afghan women’s human rights, including the right to education.

This Note argues that the international community must act to motivate the Taliban to respect the right to education and allow women and girls to return to school. The United Nations and individual countries should take specific actions to pressure the Taliban to respect their treaty obligations. Individual countries should support Afghan women in their search for education and should offer asylum to Afghan women who leave Afghanistan. The education ban is a severe human rights violation that necessitates immediate and meaningful action by the international community.

Rights

2026 Brigham Young University Law Review

Recommended Citation

Solveig J. Clifford, “We Are Physically Alive but Mentally Dead”: The International Community Must Take Action to Ensure Women’s Right to Education in Afghanistan, 51 BYU L. Rev. 1175 (2026).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/lawreview/vol51/iss4/5