UN Rapporteur denounces the ‘apartheid’ suffered by Afghan women

First modification: 06/19/2023 – 15:29

“It is imperative not to look away,” declared Richard Bennett, at a meeting organized by the Human Rights Council in Geneva on the situation of women in Afghanistan.

Introducing a new report, she called the Taliban’s actions against women “gendered persecution,” a crime against humanity.

Since the Taliban ousted the US-backed government in 2021, they have reverted to the rigorous interpretation of Islam they applied when they ruled from 1996 to 2001, increased libertarian measures against women and excluded them from most secondary schools, universities and public administration.

“Serious, systematic and institutionalized discrimination against women and girls is at the core of the Taliban’s ideology of power,” Bennett said.

The UN has already described this situation as “gender apartheid”, an expression that the Rapporteur mentioned again on Monday.

But he stressed that this “serious violation of human rights” is not recognized as an international crime by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and called on states to address the issue.

The chair of the United Nations Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, stressed that “respect for women’s fundamental rights and the restoration of the rule of law are essential” in Afghanistan.

Without that, “women are doomed to live in tyranny and lead an existence where (…) they are alive but not living,” he added.