Spain Refuses to Stay Silent as Taliban Tightens Its Grip on Afghan Women
Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares did not mince words on Tuesday. Standing before delegates from nearly 60 countries gathered at Madrid’s Foreign Ministry headquarters, he looked directly at Afghan women in the audience and told them something they rarely hear from a head of diplomacy: “This will always be your home.”
The moment came during the opening session of the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy — a two-day event held under the theme “Building Peace and Democracy” — and it quickly drew international attention. Albares made clear that Spain regards Taliban policies against Afghan women not as a political inconvenience, but as a criminal act that demands a global legal response.
“The voices of Afghan women will always be heard from this ministry, no matter how much the Taliban may criminally seek to silence them,” Albares said, in remarks that were widely shared on social media within hours of being delivered.
What Happened at the Madrid Conference
The Fifth Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy opened on June 2, 2026, at Spain’s Foreign Ministry in Madrid. Government officials, UN representatives, civil society groups, and women’s rights activists from around 60 countries attended the two-day gathering.
Albares used the occasion to reaffirm Spain’s commitment to placing Afghan women at the centre of international human rights efforts. He pointed to a special hall inside the Foreign Ministry building that has been named after Afghan women — a symbolic gesture, he said, intended to make their presence permanent in the corridors of Spanish diplomacy.
“The name should remain there permanently so that the voices of Afghan women are never silenced,” he told attendees.
The conference comes at a particularly urgent moment. Since reclaiming power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed some of the most sweeping restrictions on women’s rights seen anywhere in the world. The list of prohibitions keeps growing — and for millions of Afghan women, daily life has become a study in systematic erasure.
The Reality on the Ground: What Afghan Women Are Living Through
To understand why Spain’s foreign minister used the word “criminal,” it helps to look at what Taliban rule has actually meant for Afghan women and girls over the past five years:
- Girls barred from secondary and higher education — female students were locked out of universities and schools beyond sixth grade, cutting off an entire generation from learning.
- Women banned from most forms of employment — the vast majority of professional roles have been closed to women, driving many families deeper into poverty.
- Restrictions on movement and public spaces — women cannot travel long distances without a male guardian, and many public areas remain off-limits entirely.
- Prohibition on women’s voices in public — edicts have gone so far as to restrict women from speaking loudly in spaces where unrelated men might hear them.
- Suppression of civil society and media — women journalists, activists, and community leaders have faced arrest, harassment, and forced silence.
The United Nations has described the situation as a form of “gender apartheid.” Human rights organisations have documented hundreds of cases of arbitrary detention and abuse targeting women who dared to protest or simply tried to continue their lives.
Spain’s Legal Push: From Conferences to the ICC
Spain has not limited its response to speeches. Over the past few years, Madrid has taken concrete legal and diplomatic steps to hold the Taliban accountable.
In late November 2024, Spain joined Chile, Costa Rica, France, Luxembourg, and Mexico in referring Afghanistan’s situation to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
The joint referral specifically asked prosecutors to investigate crimes committed against women and girls since the Taliban takeover in 2021 — a move that could eventually result in formal charges of crimes against humanity.
Spain has also backed the creation of an independent investigation mechanism within the UN Human Rights Council to document violations carried out by the Taliban regime.
And through its feminist foreign policy framework, Albares has consistently pushed to keep Afghan women visible in multilateral discussions where their voices would otherwise be absent.
“Afghan women, you defend your rights and, in doing so, you defend democracy, freedom, and the very idea of humanity,” the minister said at a HearUs conference in December 2025, attended by around 50 Afghan women in Madrid.
What Is the HearUs Initiative?
One of Spain’s most concrete contributions to Afghan women’s rights has been the HearUs initiative, launched by the Foreign Ministry in 2022. The programme creates a platform for Afghan women in exile to:
- Safely document and expose human rights violations taking place inside Afghanistan
- Participate in international policy forums where Afghanistan’s future is being discussed
- Influence the humanitarian, security, and development agenda through structured dialogue
The initiative has brought together Afghan activists, human rights defenders, legal experts, UN representatives, and foreign diplomats for annual conferences in Madrid. HearUs 2025, held in December of that year, focused specifically on establishing a practical roadmap for justice and long-term legal protection.
“The voice and actions of Afghan women are also present at this conference,” Albares said during Tuesday’s opening session, noting that Afghan women’s participation was built into the structure of the event — not an afterthought.
A Broader International Chorus
Spain is not alone in speaking out, but it has positioned itself as one of the more vocal and action-oriented governments on this issue.
At the same conference, former US Senator Chris Coons also addressed delegates, criticising restrictive asylum policies and stressing the contributions that Afghan refugees — among the world’s most thoroughly vetted — have made to host countries.
In January 2026, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had also spoken out directly, telling Afghan women activists attending Spain’s annual Ambassadors’ Conference in Madrid:
“Our voice will always be your voice. You will always have a place in Spain where you can show your courage and dignity until the day you can return to Afghanistan.”
In February 2026, Albares met with Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai and conveyed Spain’s support for her campaign to formally criminalise gender-based persecution as a category of international crime.
He noted that Spain had already co-sponsored resolutions at the UN Human Rights Council and is pushing for gender apartheid to be recognised under international law.
Why the Word “Criminal” Matters
When a foreign minister stands in an official forum and calls another government’s domestic policies “criminal,” it carries diplomatic weight. It signals that Spain views the Taliban’s treatment of women not as a cultural or religious matter that falls outside international jurisdiction, but as a violation of universally recognised human rights norms — the kind that can and should be prosecuted.
This framing matters because it keeps pressure on international legal institutions to act. The ICC referral, the UN inquiry mechanism, and the push to define gender apartheid in law all depend on building a political consensus that what is happening to Afghan women is not simply unfortunate — it is a crime.
Albares’s language on Tuesday was deliberate. He did not say the Taliban’s policies were “concerning” or “problematic.” He called them criminal. And he said Spain would not stop saying so.
What Comes Next
The Fifth Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy is expected to produce a joint statement and a set of practical commitments from attending governments on supporting Afghan women’s rights.
Spain announced last year that it would host this edition of the conference, following a 2025 gathering in Paris where Albares first pledged to bring the event to Madrid.
For the Afghan women who attended Tuesday’s opening — some of whom made the journey from exile communities across Europe — the conference offered something beyond diplomacy.
It offered visibility. A room full of foreign ministers and ambassadors was hearing their names, acknowledging their struggle, and in at least one case, naming a hallway after them.
Whether that translates into lasting international pressure on the Taliban remains to be seen. But for Spain’s foreign minister, the message was clear: the world has not forgotten Afghan women — and Madrid, at the very least, refuses to.
FAQS About Taliban policies
What did Spain’s Foreign Minister say about Taliban policies against Afghan women?
Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares called Taliban policies against Afghan women criminal, saying Spain would always amplify their voices regardless of Taliban efforts to silence them. He made the remarks at the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy in Madrid on June 2, 2026.
What is Spain’s HearUs initiative?
HearUs is a programme launched by Spain’s Foreign Ministry in 2022 to support Afghan women in exile, enabling them to safely document human rights violations and participate in international policy discussions.
Has Spain taken legal action over Taliban abuses?
Yes. In November 2024, Spain joined five other countries in referring Afghanistan to the International Criminal Court, requesting an investigation specifically into crimes against Afghan women and girls committed since 2021.
What restrictions have the Taliban placed on Afghan women?
Since 2021, the Taliban have banned women from higher education, most employment, and many public spaces. Women also face severe restrictions on travel and public expression. The UN has called the situation a form of gender apartheid.
