As the Taliban continues with its relentless and systematic efforts to eliminate women from public life, Afghan women and girls are increasingly being recognized as refugees in Germany.

As of May, an estimated 2,885 Afghan women were granted refugee status in Germany this year. This translates to about half of the total 6,000 Afghan women who have applied for international protection, according to Clara Bünger, a member of parliament for the Left Party, German news agency, epd reported yesterday (12 July). 

To be recognized as a refugee, the United Nations Refugee Convention states that the person must have a “well-founded fear of persecution” which includes grave violations of human rights on the basis of certain factors such as race, religion and political affiliation, among others.

Rights group Amnesty International defines a refugee as someone whose life and safety in their own country is at such risk that they have no choice but to leave and seek protection in another country. 

Bünger welcomed the increasing number of applicants granted automatic refugee status but also called for more measures beyond “mere protection … against deportation” which Bünger said is not enough to allow the women to fully integrate into German society. 

“Every woman in Afghanistan fears massive discrimination and fear of persecution. They should all, therefore, be granted refugee status,” Bünger said. 

Erasing women from public and social life 

The number of Afghan asylum seekers in European countries peaked at 18,200 in September 2021 following the Taliban’s return to power after the withdrawal of international forces and the collapse of the Afghan government. 

An estimated 8,000 — 9,000 asylum applications were filed every month, according to data from the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), the EU agency tasked with overseeing the implementation of the bloc’s asylum policies.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) called for the suspension of return procedures for Afghan nationals, including those whose asylum applications had been denied.

Under Taliban rule, women and girls have been slowly and systematically stripped of their basic rights and prohibited from participating and moving in public spaces. 

A report entitled, “Women’s rights in Afghanistan: An on-going battle” showed that the Taliban crackdown on women and girls’ basic rights began with an order to stay at home because “soldiers are not trained to respect women”. 

What followed were increasingly restrictive policies on women’s freedoms including being barred from secondary schools and universities, dress and livelihood restrictions and prohibitions from being outside the home without a chaperone. 

Amnesty International reported that women who protested against the restrictions publicly or online disappeared or risked wrongful detention, torture, beatings and other abuses at the hands of Taliban forces.

According to a 2022 report by the United Nations (UN) Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, the worsening situation in Afghanistan made it impossible for women and girls to fully participate in public and social life. 

In January, the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), the EU agency tasked with overseeing the implementation of the bloc’s asylum policies, said that “women and girls are, in general, at risk of persecution” under Taliban rule and “hence eligible for refugee status.”

‘They want us to disappear’ 

Earlier this week, news agencies reported that the Taliban had ordered the nationwide shutdown of beauty salons within a month. 

The move will cut women off from one of the few sources of livelihood permissible for women under Taliban rule. 

A woman who works in a beauty salon in the capital of Kabul told Global News that she and her 30 other colleagues would soon be jobless.

“We can’t feed ourselves without this beauty salon. They want women to disappear from society,” said the woman, who asked that she not be named because of safety concerns. 

Granting refugee status on the basis of gender

The European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) reported that since December 2022, Sweden, Finland and Denmark recognized all Afghan women as refugees and automatically began granting automatic refugee status solely based on gender. Denmark reopened all asylum applications from female Afghan nationals that had been rejected between August 2021 and February 2023.

Additionally, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland suspended return proceedings for Afghan asylum-seekers whose applications had been denied.

However, the EUAA noted that there are stark differences in recognition rates for Afghan applications across the EU Member States. While recognition rates or approval of asylum applications from Afghan nationals were as high as 99% in Poland and Spain, in Bulgaria, recognition rates were at 11%.

In Belgium, more and more Afghan minors are being denied international protection. Between 2017 and 2021, the protection rate for Afghan minors was 74%. In 2022, it fell to 40%, according to figures from the Coordination and Initiatives for Refugees and Foreigners (CIRÉ). 

An InfoMigrants report last month cited the change in policy towards Afghan minors to the Belgian government’s view that the Taliban no longer represent a threat now that they control the entire country. 

Across the EU, the protection rate for Afghans is 85%, compared to 42% in Belgium for minors and adults combined. 

Belgium has become one of the European Union (EU) countries with the lowest protection rate for Afghan unaccompanied minors, along with Bulgaria and Hungary. 

Read more: ‘It’s the worst policy’: In Belgium, thousands of Afghan minors are no longer protected