Four Afghan women granted asylum in the Netherlands after earlier rejections

Four Afghan women who had sought asylum in the Netherlands will be allowed to stay, despite earlier rejections of their applications. The Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) confirmed on Tuesday, following a report in Trouw, that they will receive residence permits.

According to the IND, the situation for women in Afghanistan has deteriorated, prompting the agency to ultimately grant asylum to the four women. The IND added that most asylum requests from Afghan women are approved, and that the previous rejections were exceptional cases.

Since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in August 2021, women and girls have been largely barred from public life. They must wear a burqa, are prohibited from attending school or working, and can leave their homes only when accompanied by a male guardian. New laws enacted late last year have gone even further, now prohibiting women from speaking aloud or showing their faces in public, even to other women, essentially silencing them in the public sphere.

In December, caretaker asylum minister David van Weel stated that the oppression of women in Afghanistan does not automatically entitle every Afghan woman to asylum. He said that women must show that they “cannot conform” to the Taliban’s rules and would therefore be at risk if sent back.

Van Weel’s "cannot conform" requirement was widely criticized by human rights lawyers as "impossible," as "conforming" would mean accepting a total loss of human rights. While the minister initially insisted on a "non-conformity" test, legal experts argued this created a Catch-22, effectively asking women to prove they would intentionally break the law to justify their safety concerns.

Dutch courts, including the Middelburg District Court, have ruled that all Afghan women face serious danger if returned, as the Taliban’s systemic discrimination constitutes persecution.

Lawyers expect this move to clear the way for several dozen other Afghan women currently in the appeals process, effectively ending the IND's practice of case-by-case scrutiny for this demographic.