Study Guide

UNCSW
 Table of Contents
Letter from Bureau 3
Introduction to the Committee 4
Agenda 5
Introduction to the Topic 5
Definition of Key Terms 6
History of Taliban 8
Problems faced by Women in Taliban 13
Major Achievements of UNCSW 14
Discussion on the topic 15
Conclusion 17
QARMA 18
Bibliography 19
 Letter from Bureau
Dear delegates,

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to OpMUN 2024 and

specifically to the United Nations Commission on the Status of
Women (UNCSW). This year, we’re handling a very important issue,
which we also feel will be extremely interesting to discuss during our
sessions; Developing Strategies to Protect Women’s Rights,
particularly in areas under Taliban control.
UNCSW was founded on June 21, 1946, and its first meeting was
held in February 1947 at Lake Success, New York. It consisted of 15
government representatives, all of whom happened to be women.
From its inception, the Commission was supported by a unit of the
United Nations that later became the Division for the Advancement of
Women (DAW) in the UN Secretariat.
Currently, a major issue that has gained the attention of the UNCSW
is the Taliban invasion of Afghanistan. Soon after the invasion, there
were several changes made in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, one of
which was Sharia Law, which directly violates the rights of women.
Due to the unjust rules of this law, the UNCSW has decided to take
action to safeguard the rights of women, for which this committee has
been formed.
We expect each of you to contribute with innovative ideas, challenge
each other in the spirit of true diplomacy, and offer effective solutions.
We hope that this study guide will help you gain a more profound
insight into the topic and will serve as a compass for your preparation.

Regards
The OpMUN Team
 Introduction to the Committee
Initially, UNCSW focused on legal measures to protect the human rights of
women and raise awareness about the status and situation of women around
the world. Debates in the Commission brought unfamiliar issues into the
international political arena. From the very beginning, the work of the
Commission attracted the interest, participation, and support of the growing
international women's movement.
By the mid-1960s, the Commission had begun to address women's role in
economic and social development. Delegates from developing countries
drew attention, in particular, to the situation of women in rural areas and the
need to enhance their contributions and address their priorities and needs.
In 1975, at the urging of the Commission and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), the United Nations observed the International
Women's Year with the theme "Equality, Development, and Peace.". The
culmination of the year was the first global Women's Conference in Mexico
City, which adopted a global plan of action to improve the status of women.
The United Nations Decade for Women from 1976-1985, and the following
world conferences on women created unprecedented momentum for
change. The Platform for Action adopted in Beijing in 1995 consolidated the
consensus and commitments achieved through the work of the Commission.
 AGENDA
Developing Strategies to Protect Women’s
Rights, Particularly in Areas Under Taliban
Control.

Introduction to the Topic

The more you turn the pages of history, the more you will learn about the
wrongdoings and sufferings of women. But there is a reason why it is called
history because it was in the past and not in the present. Since then, there
have been many organizations and movements that opposed the cruelty of
women, as a result of which, moreover, every country in the world has its
laws for female rights and women's empowerment. But there are always
exceptions.
In recent history, there have been many instances of Taliban-controlled
Afghanistan making decisions that are not considered righteous in today’s
terms. In just 3 years, they have violated the rights to education, work, and
freedoms of expression, assembly, and association. These are hideous crimes,
which are rarely talked about, for which you and the delegates of other
countries have gathered!
 Definition of Key Terms
Gender discrimination: it describes any form or practice of distinction,
exclusion, or restriction related to one’s sex. Gender discrimination is
opposed to the recognition and exercise of fundamental freedoms and
human rights in political, economic, social, and other fields.
Gender equality: Gender equality is one of the most fundamental
human rights and is simultaneously considered both a precondition for
and an indicator of people-centered development. Gender equality
means that both sexes have equal rights, responsibilities, opportunities,
and participation in all spheres of both public and private life. Gender
equality respects the right to be different and, hence, recognizes and
values the diversity of different groups of females and males. The
preferred terminology within the UN is gender equality, rather than
gender equity.
Gender Equity: According to the European Institute for Gender
Equality, gender equity is the “provision of fairness and justice in the
distribution of benefits and responsibilities between women and men.”
Many confuse the terms “gender equality” and “gender y”. Although the
two terms are interrelated, they are not synonyms. “Gender equality”
constitutes the desired result, while “gender equity” consists of the means
to achieve this goal.
Glass ceiling: According to the UN Women Training Centre’s
Glossary, ‘The term “glass ceiling” is a metaphor that has often been used
to describe invisible barriers (“glass”) through which women can see elite
positions, for example in government or the private sector, but cannot
reach them (coming up against the invisible “ceiling”).’ The result of this
phenomenon is that the vast majority of women are usually prevented
from obtaining the most powerful and highest-paying positions in the
workforce.
International Sanctions: International sanctions are political and
economic decisions that are part of diplomatic efforts by countries and
multilateral or regional organizations against states or organizations
either to protect national security interests or to protect international law
and defend against threats to international peace and security.
Women's rights: Women’s rights are the rights and entitlements
claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the
women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist
movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, these
rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local customs, and
behavior, whereas in others, they are ignored and suppressed.
Sharia Law: Sharia is Islam's legal system. It is derived from the Quran,
Islam's holy book, as well as the Sunnah and Hadith, the deeds and
sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. In Arabic, Sharia means "the clear,
well-trodden path to water.". Sharia acts as a code of living that all
Muslims should adhere to, including prayers, fasting, and donations to
the poor. It aims to help Muslims understand how they should lead every
aspect of their lives according to God's wishes.
 History of Taliban
Origin and First Regime
The Taliban emerged after the Afghan War (1978–92). Afghanistan’s
new government failed to establish civil order outside of Kabul, and
much of the country was subject to frequent extortion and assault
from local militias and warlords. Facing mass displacement during the
war, many Afghans found solidarity in the religious rhetoric of the
mujahideen resistance and opportunity in schools of Islamic sciences
(called madrasahs) in southern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. In
1994, a group of former fighters associated with a madrasah in a
village in Kandahar province successfully subdued a local warlord and
began pacifying nearby areas. The faction, which enjoyed popular
support with its promise of security and its religious fervor, quickly
grew into the movement now known as the Taliban. By late 1996, the
Taliban had seized the capital, Kabul, and gained effective control
over some two-thirds of the country.
The Taliban faced significant resistance, especially after asserting its
law and order interpretation. It combined a strict religious ideology—a
mixture of Deobandi traditionalism and Wahhābī puritanism—with a
conservative Pashtun social code (Pashtunwali) to create a brutally
repressive regime. Its policies included the near-total exclusion of
women from public life (including employment and education), the
systematic destruction of non-Islamic artistic relics (as occurred in the
town of Bamiyan), and the implementation of harsh criminal
punishments. Resistance was particularly pronounced among non-
Pashtun ethnic groups—namely, the Tajik, the Uzbek, and the Hazara
—in the north, west, and central parts of the country, who saw the
power of the predominantly Pashtun Taliban as a continuation of the
traditional Pashtun hegemony of the country. By 2001, the Taliban
controlled all but a small section of northern Afghanistan, and only
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates had ever
recognized the regime.
The Taliban faced significant resistance, especially after asserting its law and
order interpretation. It combined a strict religious ideology—a mixture of
Deobandi traditionalism and Wahhābī puritanism—with a conservative Pashtun
social code (Pashtunwali) to create a brutally repressive regime. Its policies
included the near-total exclusion of women from public life (including
employment and education), systematic destruction of non-Islamic artistic relics
(as occurred in the town of Bamiyan), and the implementation of harsh criminal
punishments. Resistance was particularly pronounced among non-Pashtun ethnic
groups—namely, the Tajik, the Uzbek, and the Hazara—in the north, west, and
central parts of the country, who saw the power of the predominantly Pashtun
Taliban as a continuation of the traditional Pashtun hegemony of the country. In
2001–2005, the Taliban controlled all but a small section of northern Afghanistan,
and only Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates ever recognized
the regime.

The Afghanistan War and Removal from Power

Apart from the Taliban’s unsettling disregard for human rights, many countries
were concerned about the Taliban allowing refuge to Osama bin Laden, who had
helped organize a network of foreign-born Muslim fighters during the Afghan
War. That network, al-Qaeda, had evolved into a network of Islamist militants
who sought a violent struggle to free the Islamic world from non-Muslim
influence and had orchestrated several attacks against the United States. Even
after bin Laden and al-Qaeda were found responsible for the attacks on the
World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon outside Washington,
D.C., that had occurred on September 11, 2001, the Taliban refused to extradite
bin Laden. The United States and its allies began bombarding Afghanistan in
October and supported the efforts of the Northern Alliance, a group of anti-
Taliban factions in Afghanistan that had been resisting the Taliban’s takeover of
the country. In early December, the Northern Alliance succeeded in toppling the
Taliban regime. Although driven from power and fractured, the Taliban
survived, and many of its core members remained at large throughout the
Afghanistan War (2001–14). In 2005, the Taliban began enjoying a resurgence,
showing indications of greater coordination and resilience among its fighters.
Its founder and leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, remained in hiding with
infrequent contact, but senior commanders such as Mullah Dadullah and
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar were increasingly centralizing the group’s
command structure. It adopted new tactics modeled on those being used by
insurgents in the Iraq War, including the use of suicide bombings and
improvised explosive devices. Recruitment was prolific, drawing on
thousands of Afghans disenchanted by widespread corruption in the new
Afghan government and resentment toward the casualties and destruction
that accompanied the ongoing U.S. and NATO military operations. In 2009,
as fighting grew to unprecedented levels, the newly elected U.S. President.
Barack Obama ordered a surge in the U.S. troop presence in the war. In July
2015, the Afghan government discovered that Omar had died in 2013 in a
hospital in Pakistan. His deputy, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, briefly served as his
successor until he was killed in a U.S. air strike in Pakistan in May 2016.
Hibatullah Akhundzada took leadership later that month; like his
predecessors, he remained relatively secluded and appeared to play a minimal
role in directing military operations. The militant wing of the Taliban
became increasingly dominated by the Haqqani network, whose leader,
Sirajuddin, served as deputy leader of the Taliban. Meanwhile, the Taliban’s
continued resilience and the inability of Afghanistan’s central government to
exert control throughout the country prompted the central government to
seek reconciliation with the Taliban. Officials under the President. Hamid
Karzai had met informally with Taliban leaders, most notably Baradar, and
the first formal meeting was held under the President. Ashraf Ghani. The
Taliban continued to see the central government as fundamentally
illegitimate, however, and insisted on talks with the foreign power that had
installed it: the United States.
Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s return to
power
The Taliban and the United States began meeting in 2018, with the help of
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates, the only countries to
have a diplomatic relationship with both parties. The discussions focused on the
withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, although the United States also
sought to reconcile the Taliban and the central government. Discussions were
eventually held with the central government in 2019, which led in July to an
agreement on general principles for future negotiations, but the Taliban’s
representatives remained focused on first reaching a deal with the United
States. They reportedly agreed in principle in September, but discussions were
disrupted after an attack by the Taliban killed a U.S. service member.
A deal with the United States was signed in late February 2020. In exchange
for a full withdrawal of U.S. troops over 14 months, the Taliban agreed to end
its attacks on U.S. forces and prevent al-Qaeda, the Islamic State in Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL; also called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria [ISIS]), and their
affiliates from operating in Afghanistan. The deal also included an agreement
to begin talks with the central government within 10 days, but negotiations
were delayed until September because of the central government’s reluctance
to carry out a prisoner swap promised to the Taliban by the United States.
Little progress was made during the negotiations, which lasted into 2021.
Nevertheless, in April, the United States reiterated its commitment to complete
its withdrawal, although the deadline for withdrawal was delayed from May to
September.
As its confrontations with U.S. forces came to an end and the completion of
the U.S. withdrawal drew near, an emboldened Taliban rapidly took control of
dozens of districts in May–June and closed in on several provincial capitals. The
group appeared to lack the manpower and firepower to hold its gains against
the larger and better-equipped armed forces of the central government, but the
latter’s lack of coordination and lack of responsiveness to the insurgency
allowed the Taliban to overrun the country within months. By mid-August the
central government had collapsed and the Taliban had captured nearly all of
the country, including Kabul.
With the Taliban seemingly eager to win legitimacy both
domestically and internationally, many observers hoped to see a more
pliant and conciliatory regime than the one the Taliban had run
before. Early indications, however, showed little resolve for change: in
September, it filled its transitional government with hard-liners,
reopened secondary schools only for boys, and reinstituted the brutal
criminal punishments for which it had been known. The leadership,
meanwhile, struggled to exert unified authority throughout the
organization, which for years had been operating under a
decentralized command structure. The disunity made it difficult to
enforce policies universally and to hold local forces accountable,
leading to stark contradictions between the Taliban’s public
statements and its actions on the ground.
 The Problems Faced by
Women in Taliban-Controlled
Afghanistan
1. The Taliban has restricted women’s rights since returning to
power in 2021. These restrictions include:
2. Education: Women are banned from going to school beyond the
sixth grade.
3. Work: Women are banned from working for NGOs and are
prohibited from working outside of health and education.
4. Social activities: Women are banned from parks, gyms,
bathhouses, and public spaces.
5. Public appearances: Women must cover their faces in public and
are required to remain in their homes except in cases of necessity.
Women are also banned from traveling long distances without a
male chaperone.
6. Health care: Women are denied access to basic health care and
medical care.
7. Political participation: Women are banned from being involved in
politics or speaking publicly.
8. Punishments: Public punishments have been reintroduced for
criminals.
9. Other restrictions: Women are imprisoned in their homes, forced
to wear burqas, and have their windows painted over.
 Major Achievements of UNCSW
The Commission's 60-year history is marked by significant achievements. The
Commission ensured that provisions for equality between women and men were
included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a milestone in the
struggle for equality.
In 1979, after four years of preparatory work by the Commission, the General
Assembly adopted the historic Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This landmark treaty entered into
force in 1981 and, by early June 2006, had been ratified by 183 countries. The
Optional Protocol to the Convention was adopted by the General Assembly in
1999. The fact that 79 States were parties to this instrument by early June 2006
attests to the willingness of Governments to adhere to the terms of the
Convention.
The Convention has been an inspiration for women in all parts of the world. It
has had a positive impact on legal and policy development at the national level,
for example, through the strengthening of provisions in constitutions, the
establishment of commissions to review legislation, and the development of
temporary special measures to enhance women's participation in different areas.
The Commission has played a critical catalytic role in promoting gender
mainstreaming at the national level and within the United Nations system. The
positive outcomes can be seen in the attention to gender perspectives in other
functional commissions of ECOSOC, the role ECOSOC plays in promoting and
monitoring the implementation of gender mainstreaming, the work of the
General Assembly on the human rights of women, as well as the path-breaking
work of the Security Council on women, peace, and security.
The Commission continues to provide unique opportunities for the exchange of
ideas, experiences, good practices, and lessons learned to enhance the
implementation of commitments at the national level, through interactive expert
panels on the themes under consideration and roundtables for high-level
representatives attending the annual sessions.
 Discussion on the Topic
Till now, we have mentioned the brief history of the problem, what
the problem is, and some major achievements of the body too. So
here, at last, we will talk about the solutions that can be implemented
by UNCSW to stop the injustice happening to the women living in
Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Till now, The United Nations Security Council has taken several
actions to condemn the Taliban's repression of women and girls in
Afghanistan:
1.December 27, 2022: The Security Council called for women and
girls to have equal and meaningful participation in Afghanistan.
2.December 24, 2022: The Taliban ordered local and foreign
NGOs not to employ women.
3.December 29, 2023: The Security Council adopted a resolution
requesting the Secretary-General to appoint a Special Envoy for
Afghanistan with expertise in human rights and gender.
But clearly, these actions haven’t been of much use to the women
suffering there, so here are some general solutions, that The UNCSW
can opt for:
Protection from Gender-Based Violence: In regions under Taliban
control, UNCSW should give priority to initiatives aimed at
preventing and addressing gender-based violence against women and
girls. This involves lending support to regional groups that offer
crucial services, including therapy, legal representation, and secure
havens for victims of abuse.
Promotion of Women's Participation: UNCSW ought to push for
women's meaningful involvement in all levels of decision-making,
including peace talks and Afghan rebuilding projects. This might
entail lending assistance to programs aimed at increasing the
representation of women in civil society groups, government
institutions, and leadership positions within the community.
Monitoring and Reporting: The UN Security Council, the UN
Human Rights Council, and other pertinent UN organizations shall
be informed regularly of abuses and breaches of women's rights in
areas under Taliban control by UNCSW. Insuring responsibility and
applying pressure for action to defend women's rights can both benefit
from this.
Engagement with local communities: To better understand local
communities' needs and objectives and to make sure that interventions
are both culturally sensitive and contextually relevant, UNCSW
should engage with local communities, especially women's groups and
grassroots organizations.
International Pressure and Diplomacy: To persuade the Taliban to
uphold international humanitarian law and protect women's rights,
UNCSW should make use of its platform to organize diplomatic
initiatives and international pressure. Coordinating activities and
exerting influence, may entail interacting with important stakeholders,
surrounding nations, and regional organizations.
 Conclusion
It is becoming increasingly evident that the strengthening of women
living in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is a universal issue of the
utmost importance and one that affects millions of women worldwide
because the type of actions showcased will motivate the people who
still believe in suppressing women.
“Decades of progress on gender equality and women’s rights have
been wiped out in mere months. We must continue to act together,
united in our insistence on guarantees of respect for the full spectrum
of women’s rights,” says UN Women Executive Director Sima
Bahous.
Roza Isakovna Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the Secretary-
General for Afghanistan and Head of the United Nations Assistance
Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), also described the situation in
Taliban-controlled Afghanistan - she said, “We understand that the
Taliban have a highly different worldview than any other
government, but it is difficult to understand how any government
worthy of the name can govern against the needs of half of its
population.”
The two statements above are enough to indicate the severity of the
humanitarian crisis, which shall be immediately looked upon. The
possible solutions to the issues at hand are numerous and diverse, but
there are also many more parameters to examine and discuss to gain a
complete perspective. We hope that this Study Guide will serve as an
incentive for further research and will encourage you to form
interesting opinions that will lead to a fruitful debate during the
committee sessions
 QARMA
1. What is the situation of women living in Taliban-controlled
Afghanistan, and what are the possible future situations?
2. How can we resolve the problem?
3. Has there been any humanitarian crisis similar to this one in the
past? If yes, then what had happened?
4. Why does old-school ideology like Sharia law still exist?
5. Why hasn’t any power in the world been able to help women in
Taliban-controlled Afghanistan even after 3 years?
6. What stance will your country take? And how will you justify it?
7. What are the immediate ways in which the women living in
Taliban-controlled Afghanistan can be beneficial?
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