Systemic Femicide in Post-2021 Afghanistan: The Failure of the International Security Regime to Protect Women

Anisa Shafiqa Yusran, Imam Fadhil Nugraha

Abstract


This research examines women in Afghanistan who have experienced systemic oppression following the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021. This paper argues that this condition constitutes a manifestation of systemic femicide and cannot be understood merely as a conventional human rights crisis. This study elaborates on how mechanisms of administrative violence transform into slow femicide through the perspectives of Feminist Security Studies and the biopolitics of Michel Foucault. Access to education, economic resources, mobility, and healthcare services has been consistently stripped away through decrees issued by the Taliban, directly contributing to a surge in maternal mortality rates. This analysis reveals that bureaucratic mechanisms with lethal consequences have become a driving force for the Taliban in erasing the existence of women, where the distribution of vulnerability occurs unequally and is fundamentally gender-based. In addition, this study highlights the failure of protection that should have been provided by the international security regime, marked by structural stagnation faced by the United Nations Security Council and the International Criminal Court when confronting de facto non-state actors that reject global legal authority.


Keywords


Systemic Femicide, Taliban, Biopolitics, Feminist Security Studies, International Regimes

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23360784

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