Taliban is a ‘gender apartheid’ regime, ex-Afghan MP says

Naheed Farid, a women’s rights activist who was the youngest-ever politician elected to parliament in 2010, told a UN news conference that as a result of severe restrictions on women’s movements, an end to secondary-school education for girls, and ban on jobs For women, “I hear more and more Afghan women are choosing to escape from despair and despair.” She said: “It’s the ultimate indicator of how bad things are for Afghan women and girls – they choose to die, which is very important for women and girls. They are more welcome than living under the Taliban regime.”

Farid, who is now at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, said she was not the first to call the Taliban a “gender-segregated” regime, but said “the inaction of the international community and policymakers at large has changed it. It is important for all of us to repeat this,” so that the voiceless voices of Afghan women are not forgotten.

She expressed hope that world leaders at their annual meeting at the UN General Assembly next week will find time to meet and listen to Afghan women in exile and begin to understand that “gender apartheid” is taking place in Afghanistan as women are being “used” and abused” , were relegated to the lower ranks of society and deprived of their human rights by the Taliban.

When the Taliban first ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, women and girls were subject to overwhelming restrictions — no education, no participation in public life, and women were required to wear the all-encompassing burqa.

After the Taliban was ousted by the US military in 2001 9/11 attack In the United States, over the next 20 years, Afghan girls went not only to school but also to college, and many women became doctors, lawyers, judges, congressmen and business owners, traveling without masks.

After the Taliban seized the capital on August 15, 2021, the United States and NATO The Afghan army is in the final stages of a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years, promising a more moderate form of Islamic rule, including allowing women to continue their education and work. They initially announced no dress code, although they also vowed to implement Sharia or Sharia law.

But Taliban hardliners have since turned back the clock to their previous draconian rule, confirming what rights activists feared most and further complicating the Taliban’s dealings with an already distrusted international community.

Farid accused the Taliban of using women as “bargaining chips” to seek legitimacy, funding and aid from the international community. She called it “very dangerous” because the full rights of Afghan women and girls must be a non-negotiable starting point for all negotiations with the Taliban.

Farid called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which is made up of 57 Muslim countries and others, to create a platform for Afghan women to negotiate directly with the Taliban on women’s rights and human rights. She also urged countries to maintain sanctions against the Taliban, put all 183 Taliban leaders on a UN sanctions blacklist, bar Taliban representatives from the United Nations and demand that all delegations meeting with the Taliban include women.

Norway’s ambassador to the United Nations, Mona Juul, who oversees Afghanistan at the UN Security Council and organized the news conference, said that a year after the Taliban took over, “the situation or the situation of women and girls has become very alarming. The scale and speed of the shock worsened.” As an example, she said Afghanistan is now the only country in the world that has banned girls from education beyond sixth grade.

Human rights activist and feminist Najiba Sanjar said her speech was meant to convey the voices of 17 million Afghan girls and women who now have no voice.

“We are all watching the suffering of women, girls and minorities on our television screens as if an action movie were going on,” she told reporters. “A real injustice is happening right before our eyes. We are all watching in silence and participating in this evil by staying complacent and seeing it as the new normal.” She pointed to a recent survey of women in Afghanistan Only 4% of women said they always had enough food to eat, a quarter said their income had dropped to zero, domestic violence and femicide had increased, and 57% of Afghan women said they had marry. She also cites examples of families selling daughters and property to buy food.

Sangar urged the international community to exert all possible pressure on the Taliban to protect the education and work rights of women and minorities, while denying diplomatic recognition.

“Because women’s rights are human rights, what is happening has shocked all women around the world,” she said.