2023-08-10 19:01:32
He second anniversary of the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban is fast approaching. Since then, Afghan women have been denied the most basic human rights in what can only be described as gender apartheid.
Only by qualifying it as such, and making it clear that the situation in Afghanistan is a crime against humanity, will the international community be able to legally fight against the systematic discrimination of women and girls in the country.
Erasing women from the public sphere is central to Taliban ideology. Women’s rights institutions in Afghanistan, particularly the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, have been dismantled, while the feared Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice has risen
The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission has been dissolved and the country’s 2004 Constitution has been repealed, while legislation guaranteeing gender equality has been invalidated.
Currently, Afghan women are denied post-secondary education, cannot leave home without the company of a man, cannot work except in healthcare and some private businesses y they are forbidden access to parks, gyms and beauty salons.
General view of a closed beauty salon in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, in July 2023. The Taliban have closed all beauty salons in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Khan)
Women in the spotlight
Of the approximately 80 edicts issued by the Taliban, 54 specifically target to womenseverely restricting their rights and violating Afghanistan’s international obligations and its previous constitutional and national laws.
the taliban they appear undaunted, picking up where they left off 20 years ago, when they first seized power. The results of his ambitions are almost apocalyptic.
Afghanistan is facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. About 19 million people are acutely food insecure, while more than 90 % of Afghans experience some form of food insecurity, with households headed by women and children the most affected.
Gender-based violence has increased exponentially, with corresponding impunity for perpetrators and lack of support for victims, while ethnic, religious and sexual minorities suffer an intense chase.
This grim reality underscores the urgent need to address how civil, political, socioeconomic and gender harms are interconnected.
Malnourished mothers and babies wait for help and checkups at an international humanitarian clinic in Kabul, Afghanistan, in January 2023. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
international crime
Karima Bennoune, an Algerian-American academic specializing in international law, has advocated recognizing the apartheid gender as a international law crime. This recognition would derive from the international legal commitments of the States regarding gender equality and the Sustainable Development Goal 5 of the United Nations, aimed at achieving gender equality worldwide by 2030.
classify as a crime apartheid gender law would provide the international community with a powerful legal framework to respond effectively to Taliban abuses. Although the The UN has already described the situation in Afghanistan as suchthe term is not currently recognized in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as one of the worst international crimes.
Presenting his report to the UN Human Rights Council, Richard Bennett – UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan – stated:
“Serious, systematic and institutionalized discrimination against women and girls is at the heart of Taliban ideology and governance, which also raises concerns that they may be responsible for gender apartheid.”
classify as a crime apartheid on a global scale would allow the international community to meet its obligation to respond effectively and try to eradicate it permanently. It would provide the necessary legal tools to ensure compliance with international commitments to women’s rights in all aspects of life.
Shaharzad Akbardirector of Rawadari human rights group and former chair of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, has urged the Human Rights Council to recognize that the situation in Afghanistan is a apartheid of genre.
He has noted that “the Taliban have turned Afghanistan into a massive graveyard of the ambitions, dreams and potential of Afghan women and girls.”
South African support
Several Afghan women’s rights advocates have also called for the inclusion of apartheid of gender in the UN Draft Convention on Crimes against Humanity.
And what is most remarkable, Bronwen LevySouth Africa’s representative on the Security Council, has urged the international community to “take action against what the (Bennett) report describes as apartheid in much the same way as it did in support of South Africa’s fight against apartheid racial”.
Elsewhere, the President of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality of the European Parliament, as well as the head of its Delegation for relations with Afghanistanhave described the “unacceptable” situation in Afghanistan as apartheid of genre.
Whenever and wherever apartheid systems emerge, they represent a failure of the international community. The situation in Afghanistan must compel us to respond effectively to the persecution of women.
Recognize that the Taliban regime is a apartheid gender is critical not only for Afghans, but also for the credibility of the entire UN system. As the Afghan human rights activist told the Security Council Zubaida Akbar:
“If they don’t stand up for women’s rights here, they don’t have the credibility to do it anywhere else.”
The Taliban’s brutal two years in power in Afghanistan have taught us that ordinary human rights initiatives, while important, are insufficient to address gender apartheid. The world needs determined collective international action to end the war on women. Not in two months. Not in two years. Now.
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