Recent Taliban Directive: Female Graduates Not to Receive Graduation Certificates
Date: December 22, 2022

According to the latest directive from the Taliban, female graduates will only be able to obtain their academic certificates if a male family member comes to the university to complete the necessary administrative procedures. Female students report that the Taliban do not allow anyone other than a father or brother to carry out these procedures. Relatives such as uncles or cousins are not permitted to represent the female students. Taliban members check the student’s and their father’s or brother's identification cards upon entering the university to ensure that no one other than a direct male relative is handling the paperwork.

The Taliban’s decision to bar female graduates from collecting their academic certificates without a direct male guardian has drawn widespread condemnation, including from international actors such as the Council of the Union of Muslim Countries. Inside Afghanistan, the policy sparked protests by women’s rights groups and female students, as well as acts of solidarity by male students in some universities who boycotted classes to oppose the ongoing deprivation of women’s right to education and autonomy.