The human rights of women in Afghanistan have been seriously violated in recent decades. Before the Taliban regime, life for women in Afghanistan was different. They had many rights, to wear what they wanted, to be educated and to have a job. With the rise of the Taliban, women were deprived of their rights and had to respect Taliban laws. Human rights violations range from women's freedoms and personal security to discrimination in employment and education and lack of equality before the law. Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, women's rights have gradually improved, but women remain subject to controls and experience high levels of violence. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayWomen's rights are specified in a series of international human rights instruments. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) sets out the rights of all people, including the right to equality before the law and the right to non-discrimination. Concerning the right to equality, the Universal Declaration specifies in article 7 that: “All are equal before the law and have the right, without any discrimination, to equal protection of the law. All people have the right to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination” (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, nd). The United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women on December 18, 1979, and on September 3, 1981, it became an international treaty. The measures adopted that specifically concern women in Afghanistan are mentioned in Article 1-Discrimination based on sex, Article 6-Exploitation of prostitution of women, Articles 10 and 11-Equal rights of men and women in matters of employment and education. The United Nations ensures that specified laws eliminate discrimination against women and grant them equal rights in society (United Nations, 2009). On December 10, 1948, Afghanistan was one of forty-eight countries to sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Unethiopia, 2014). Afghanistan also signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 1980 (Nations, CHAPTER IV Human Rights, 2016). The Taliban regime rolled back the rights enjoyed by women in Afghanistan. A photograph taken in Kabul in June 1978 shows Afghan women walking freely through the streets, dressed in knee-length skirts and high heels. However, more recent photos of women in Afghanistan show that there has been a drastic change, which demonstrates a violation of women's rights and their freedom to wear whatever they want (Sarkar, 2015). Under Taliban laws, women were required at all times in public to wear a burqa, a garment that covers the entire body, even the eyes. They were not allowed to leave their homes and walk the streets without being accompanied by a male relative. Taliban policy significantly limited women's freedom of movement: for example, for an Afghan woman to travel, a relative had to accompany her. The Taliban issued an official decree in May 2001 banning women from driving cars. Additionally, it limited their health and social life to meet other Afghan women, resulting in their isolation. (Vyas, 2015). Since 2001, after the fall of the Taliban, theAfghan women's rights have improved in many areas of education, employment and violence. However, women still suffer from oppression and abuse. In January 2002, the “Declaration of the Essential Rights of Afghan Women” was signed by the head of the interim administration, Hamid Karzai, which proclaimed the right to equality between men and women. (Nations, The Situation of Women in Afghanistan, 2002). In 2004, a constitution was approved which made men and women equal citizens under the law and it is significant that women made up 25% of the new Parliament. In 2007, Afghan women set themselves on fire to escape forced marriage (Foundation, RR, 2016). In 2009, the government adopted a decree criminalizing violence against women. As a result, 350 men were prosecuted for violating this decree. However, this law has been challenged as it is considered contrary to Islamic law (Constable, 2013). In 2012, Malala Yousafzai, then 16, was shot dead on her way to school by a Taliban gunman. She became an activist fighting for women's right to education, in cooperation with the United Nations (Husain, 2013). Although the rights of Afghan women have improved after the fall of the Taliban, many of their rights are still violated. After the Taliban in 2001, Afghan women still face discrimination in education and employment. In Afghanistan, men are more likely than women to complete their education or even access the right to education. Major gender inequalities persist in the Afghan education system. The country has the highest level of gender differentiation in the world when it comes to primary education, with only 71 girls attending primary school for every 100 boys according to the Afghan Ministry of Education. Only twenty-one percent of girls complete their primary education. Cultural barriers such as early marriage prevent girls' education. (Brin, 2015). Sixty percent of girls are married before the age of 16, most through forced marriage. Girls from poor families lose their chance of accessing education. There is also a lack of female teachers. Together, these factors mean that 85% of Afghan women have no formal education. In Afghanistan, women were heavily discriminated against in education, but according to World Bank statistics from 2012, they showed a considerable improvement in the number of girls attending formal education (British Broadcasting Corporation, 2014). The second area of ​​discrimination that Afghan women face is unemployment. Women now have the right to be employed, but their husbands can infringe on this right by refusing them permission to work. With high unemployment rates, most men believe that employing women will only take away men's jobs. Men harass Afghan women and push them into unemployment, which harms their daily working environment and their safety. They have been threatened with rape and sexually harassed, but many women tend to bear these violations in silence because they feel that filing a complaint would not be an option for them as they would face serious consequences (Kittleson, 2016). Taliban, domestic violence against women is still widespread in Afghanistan and has become the most crucial rights violation that women still face in their daily lives. Afghan women may experience domestic violence, including wearing inappropriate clothing, leaving the house without their husband's permission,,.