A UN expert said on Monday that the Taliban’s treatment of Afghan women and girls could amount to “gender apartheid” as their rights continue to be severely violated by the country’s de facto authorities.
“Severe, systematic and institutionalized discrimination against women and girls is at the core of the Taliban’s ideology and government, which also raises concerns that they may be responsible for gender apartheid,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard. Bennett, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The UN defines gender apartheid as “economic and social sexual discrimination against individuals because of their sex or gender”.
“We pointed to the need to do more research on gender apartheid, which is not currently an international crime but could become one,” Bennett told reporters on the sidelines of the Council.
“It seems that if the definition of apartheid, which is currently for race, is applied to the situation in Afghanistan and sex is used instead of race, then there seems to be strong indications that this is the case.
A Taliban spokesman said their administration was implementing Islamic law and accused the UN and Western institutions of “propaganda”.
“Richard Bennett’s report on the situation in Afghanistan is part of such propaganda that does not reflect reality,” spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement. The Taliban seized power in August 2021 and drastically curtailed women’s freedoms and rights, including their ability to attend high school and university.
In a report covering July to December 2022, Bennett found in March that the Taliban’s treatment of women and girls “may amount to gender-based persecution, a crime against humanity”.
“These serious deprivations of the basic rights of women and girls and the harsh enforcement of their restrictive measures by de facto authorities may constitute a crime against humanity in the form of gender-based persecution,” Bennett reiterated on Monday.
In April, Taliban authorities began enforcing a ban on Afghan women working for the United Nations after they stopped working for aid groups in December. Taliban authorities say they respect women’s rights in accordance with their strict interpretation of Islamic law.
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