RASC News Agency: In a bold move to counter the Taliban’s sweeping educational restrictions on women, the University of Melbourne in Australia has launched a groundbreaking legal education initiative aimed specifically at empowering Afghanistani women who have been systematically denied access to higher education under the Taliban regime. This initiative, developed in collaboration with the Mountain Institute an educational organization founded by exiled Afghanistani scholars is titled “Access to Legal Education for Afghanistani Women.” Designed as a comprehensive one-year program, it seeks to equip women with critical legal knowledge and skills that were once accessible to them before the extremist group’s return to power in 2021.
In a press release issued on Tuesday, 3rd of June, Melbourne Law School condemned the Taliban’s systematic erasure of women from public life, asserting that the widespread educational deprivation not only jeopardizes the personal futures of women and girls but also poses a grave threat to the very foundations of Afghanistan’s legal system. The statement further emphasized that providing legal education to women is not only an act of resistance, but also a vital step in preserving the legal capacities of a generation silenced by authoritarianism. Crucially, the program will draw upon the rich expertise of exiled Afghanistani legal scholars many of whom once served in universities or legal institutions within the country before being forced into exile. These scholars, now based in Australia, will serve as lecturers, mentors, and advisors, bringing both legal acumen and lived experience to the digital classroom.
Oversight and academic leadership for this initiative will be provided by Ghulam Shah Adel, the former Dean of Law and Political Science at Herat University and founder of the Mountain Institute. Adel, who has become a prominent voice in the Afghanistani diaspora’s intellectual resistance, stated that the program was developed in direct response to the urgent educational vacuum left by the Taliban’s gender apartheid policies. “This is not merely an academic course it is a lifeline for Afghanistani women who have been deliberately locked out of their futures,” he said. The program is also designed to foster a transnational legal community, connecting participants to a network of fellow Dari-speaking legal professionals and academics. This network will provide sustained academic, legal, and psychosocial support to women whose aspirations have been crushed under a regime that seeks to erase them from society.
The Taliban’s draconian policies banning women from universities, legal professions, and virtually all public spheres have not only drawn global condemnation but have created a human rights crisis with long-term ramifications for Afghanistan’s legal and civic infrastructure. In this context, the University of Melbourne’s initiative stands as a beacon of defiance and a symbol of global solidarity with Afghanistan’s silenced women. By offering a platform for legal education, the program does more than just fill a gap it resists the Taliban’s narrative of exclusion and offers Afghanistani women the intellectual tools to envision and someday reclaim a just society.
