(Geneva) The UN Rapporteur on Afghanistan on Monday asked states to examine whether the “gender apartheid” implemented by the Taliban against women could constitute an international crime, such as crime against humanity.
“It is imperative not to look the other way,” said Richard Bennett, during a discussion organized by the Human Rights Council in Geneva on the situation of women in Afghanistan.
Presenting a new report, he called the Taliban’s actions against women “gender persecution”, a crime that constitutes a crime against humanity unlike gender apartheid.
Since ousting the US-backed government in 2021, Taliban authorities have reverted to the austere interpretation of Islam that marked their first stint as head of government (1996-2001) and have multiplied draconian measures against women. They have been excluded from most secondary schools, universities and public administrations.
“Serious, systematic and institutionalized discrimination against women and girls is at the heart of Taliban ideology and power,” Bennett said.
The UN has already called this situation “gender apartheid”, an expression that the Rapporteur took up 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.
Several countries supported his proposal.
“Your report establishes that Afghan women and girls are victims of a policy of segregation, gender apartheid, gender persecution, it raises the question of crimes against humanity,” said French Ambassador Jérôme Bonnafont.
“Imprisoned in their homes, Afghan women and girls are, through obscurantism, condemned to darkness,” 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 right are essential” in Afghanistan.
Without this, “women are condemned to live in tyranny and lead an existence where they are […] alive but are not alive,” she concluded.