The UN rapporteur on Afghanistan on Monday urged states to consider whether the “gender apartheid” imposed on women by the Taliban could constitute an international crime like the crime against “humanity”.
“It is imperative not to look the other way,” Richard Bennett said during a debate on the situation of women in Afghanistan organized by the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Presenting a new report, he described the Taliban’s crackdown on women as “gender persecution,” a crime that, in contrast to gender apartheid, is a crime against humanity.
Since toppling the US-backed government in 2021, Taliban authorities have returned to the strict interpretation of Islam that marked her first term as head of government (1996-2001) and have multiplied draconian measures against women. They have been expelled from most secondary schools, universities and public administrations.
“Serious, systematic and institutionalized discrimination against women and girls is at the core of the Taliban’s ideology and power,” Bennett said.
The UN has already referred to this situation as “gender apartheid,” a phrase picked up by the rapporteur on Monday. However, he stressed that the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court does not recognize this “serious violation of human rights” as an international crime and urged states to address the issue.
Several countries supported his proposal.
“Your report finds that Afghan women and girls are victims of policies of segregation, gender apartheid and gender persecution. It raises the question of crimes against humanity,” said French Ambassador Jérôme Bonnafont.
“Locked in their homes, Afghan women and girls are condemned to darkness by obscurantism,” he added.
The Chair of the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls, Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, stressed that “respect for the human rights of women and girls and the restoration of the rule of law” are essential in Afghanistan.
Without this, “women are doomed to live in tyranny and lead an existence in which they (…) live but do not live,” she concluded.