Afghan Activists Push for UN Recognition of ‘Gender Apartheid’ as Crime Against Humanity

Afghan activists are calling for the international recognition of the systemic oppression faced by women and girls in Afghanistan as a crime against humanity. The push is for this oppression to be categorized under the term “gender apartheid,” a concept originally coined by Afghan women in the 1990s, notably by Sima Samar, a prominent activist who served as the Minister for Women’s Affairs following the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001.

In 2024, the plight of Afghan women remains severe, with the current Taliban regime likened to its predecessor in its treatment of women and girls. “When the first Taliban regime fell, it seemed impossible that we would witness once again the persecution and systematic repression of half the Afghan population,” Samar stated, highlighting her call for justice from her position in exile.

Since the Taliban’s seizure of power in August 2021, they have issued over 80 decrees limiting the freedoms of women, including prohibitions on secondary education for girls, severe restrictions on employment, and public presence, and requiring women to be fully covered in public. “No action or condemnation by the international community has stopped the assault on women’s rights,” Samar asserted.

Female activists in exile, such as Mariam Safi, founder and director of the digital platform Bishnaw, are working to collect evidence on the Taliban’s impact on women in Afghanistan. Bishnaw conducts extensive data gathering through surveys and interviews. Safi noted, “What is harder to ignore is data and evidence of the impact of the Taliban’s rule on women inside Afghanistan.”

The data collected by initiatives like Bishnaw is instrumental in supporting efforts to have the Taliban’s policies recognized as crimes against humanity under international law. A recent survey by Bishnaw found that a large percentage of women agreed on the existence of “gender apartheid.” According to this survey, 60% of respondents supported the UN’s use of this term to describe their circumstances.

Activists like Safi and Samar emphasize the need for formal recognition of gender apartheid to combat the impunity of the Taliban’s actions. “We need to criminalize what is happening so the Taliban’s actions cannot be dismissed or explained away as something cultural or religious,” Samar explained.