We cannot be silent. We must support the human rights of Afghan women and girls.
The US, the UN, and nations committed to human rights
must refuse to recognize the Taliban.
the un must designate Gender apartheid an international crime.
Stop Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan!
Gender apartheid is the systematic and institutionalized persecution and oppression of women or one gender group by those in power.
The Taliban’s oppression and erasure of women from society is a severe, institutionalized violation of human rights and must be treated as an international crime.
The Taliban has issued over 100 edicts stripping Afghan women and girls of their most basic human rights and opportunities, effectively putting them under house arrest.
Afghan women and girls have been deprived of all human rights, education, and all economic, social, cultural, and political rights. Women and girls are denied legal equality, freedom of movement, and all aspects of public life.
The US, the UN and the global community should not normalize gender apartheid and must not allow religion and culture to be used as an excuse to justify injustices against women and girls.
Violations and injustices against women and girls in Afghanistan are a threat to human rights globally.
Afghan women and girls have been courageously protesting, often endangering their lives.
Taliban’s brutal edicts restrict the rights and freedoms of Afghan women and girls
The Taliban’s edicts primarily target women and girls and impact all areas of life.
Banned from Education
Women and girls are banned from education. Girls cannot go to school beyond elementary school. Afghanistan is the only country where women and girls are prohibited from education.
No Freedom of movement
Women are told to not leave home “unless necessary.” They are told the best form of hijab is to stay home. Women are not allowed to be in public spaces, such as coffee shops, public baths, parks and health clubs, without being accompanied by a mahram, a close male family member.
barred from Employment
The Taliban has barred women from going to work and asked places of employment to replace them with male family members instead. The Taliban also demands that all new recruitment in NGOs must hire Taliban approved applicants.
Terrorism is thriving under the Taliban
Several reports demonstrate that since the Taliban takeover in 2021, the threat of terrorism is “rising in both Afghanistan and the region.” A recent UN Security Council report stated that the Taliban has a “strong and symbiotic” relationship with terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda and several other extremist groups.
Human rights have no boundaries. Culture and religion should not be used to justify the oppression of women and girls.
The Taliban violates all the major legal frameworks and universal commitments to human rights.
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
- The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- The International Court of Justice
- The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women
- The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission
- The Afghanistan Constitution of 1964
- The Afghanistan Constitution of 2004
- The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women – Article 5
- The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- The International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- The Convention on the Rights of the Child
- The Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols
- International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
Humanitarian crisis
Millions of Afghans have suffered economic decay, unemployment and famine, creating a humanitarian crisis. The international community should provide aid without recognizing the Taliban and should not allow the Taliban to control aid distribution. Any assistance must require women take part in distribution and receipt of aid.
- 28.3 million Afghans in humanitarian need as of 2023
- More than 9 in 10 people live in poverty in Afghanistan, especially female-headed households
- About six million are on the brink of starvation
- Millions have lost or been forced out of their jobs
- 3.2 million children and 804,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished
Taliban non-recognition
Neither the UN nor the US should grant recognition to the terrorist regime that effectively imprisons more than half the population of Afghanistan. women Recognition is a critical designation that must not be awarded to a terrorist regime.
Recognition brings legitimacy, access to financial resources, trade advantages, international peer status and diplomatic relations with other democratically elected governments.
Currently, the Taliban is not officially recognized by any country – although more than a dozen countries have officially welcomed Taliban officials, and some countries are open to the “proposition” of recognizing them.
As long as the Taliban enforces a gender apartheid regime and remains in power against the will of the Afghan people, the US, the UN, and all nations must continue to deny recognition.
The Ministry of Vice and Virtue, previously the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. The Taliban closed the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, deeming it “unnecessary,” and replaced it with a department that polices people’s daily lives.
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