Panah Press | Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Activists from Amnesty International in Belgium on Wednesday condemned the restrictions imposed by the Taliban on women and girls in Afghanistan through a symbolic protest in Forest Park in Brussels. By unfurling a 25-metre-wide banner reading “Women Not Allowed,” they sought to draw public attention to the exclusion of Afghan women from public spaces.

Participants displayed the message “Solidarity with the Women of Afghanistan” and formed a human chain to express their support for women and girls in the country.

Karine Thibaut, director of the French-speaking section of Amnesty International in Belgium, said that if Forest Park were located in Afghanistan, women would not be allowed to enter. She added that the Taliban had excluded women and girls from various aspects of public life, including access to education beyond the age of 12, sports, public speaking and employment.

Thibaut also referred to the Taliban’s new criminal regulations and their consequences for women, calling on the Belgian government to take further action to address human rights violations in Afghanistan.

Amnesty International said it had collected nearly 27,000 signatures on a petition addressed to Maxime Prévot, Belgium’s foreign minister. Representatives of the organization are expected to deliver the signatures to him along with an album of photographs documenting protests held in Belgium.

As part of the campaign, local Amnesty International groups, in cooperation with local organizations and activists, have installed signs reading “Women and Girls Not Allowed” at the entrances to hundreds of locations across around 40 cities and municipalities in Belgium. These locations include schools, universities, public parks, government institutions and sports grounds.

Amnesty International has called on the Belgian government to increase pressure on the Taliban, work toward establishing an international mechanism to hold the group accountable for human rights violations, and halt negotiations on the forced return of Afghan citizens to their country.

The organization warned that continuing negotiations on the forced deportation of Afghans could contribute to normalizing the Taliban’s policies and perpetuating violations of the rights of Afghan women and girls.

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