Taliban's treatment of women amounts to gender apartheid, say experts
In a joint report to the UN Human Rights Council, Richard Bennett, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, and Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, Chair of the Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls, said the situation of women and girls in the country is the worst in the world.
"Women and girls in Afghanistan suffer severe discrimination that can amount to gender-based persecution and a crime against humanity. It can also be described as gender apartheid, as the de facto authorities appear to be operating on the basis of systemic discrimination with the intention of subjecting women and girls to total domination," Bennett said.
"While the backlash against women's and girls' rights has unfolded in different countries and regions in recent years, nowhere else in the world has there been such a widespread, systematic and comprehensive attack on women's and girls' rights as in Afghanistan," said Estrada-Tanck.
Experts noted that edicts enacted by the Taliban since they took control of the country in August 2021 have imposed widespread restrictions on the rights of women and girls, including their freedom of movement, dress and behaviour, access to education, work, health and justice.
The restrictions have also drastically affected the participation of women and girls in political, public, economic and socio-cultural life, and have led to a significant increase in marital and domestic violence.
The experts travelled to Afghanistan from 27 April to 4 May and visited Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif. They met with women and men from civil society, businessmen, religious leaders, teachers, journalists, UN agencies, the diplomatic community, international NGOs and de facto officials.
Right to education
The report stresses that "gross violations of the fundamental right to quality education will have lifelong consequences, not only in terms of employment opportunities, but also in access to basic services such as health care".
The document refers to how Afghan women are now prohibited from working outside the home in most sectors, from leaving their homes without a male relative, or maharam, from accessing public toilets, parks and gyms, and from moving freely around the country.
This stifling environment is having an impact on the mental health of women and girls, with widespread warnings of depression and suicide, especially among adolescent girls who are prevented from continuing their education, the report notes.
No health protection
Restrictions on women and girls are also limiting their access to routine and emergency health care, with dire consequences for their sexual and reproductive health and rights, while adding further pressure to a health system already overburdened by poverty and years of war.
"Because girls and women can only be seen by female doctors, unless restrictions are quickly reversed, there is a real risk of multiple preventable deaths, which could amount to femicide," the study argues.
No legal protection
The UN experts expressed deep concern about the absence of legal protection for women and girls, the systematic application of discrimination and the normalisation of gender-based violence - including gender-related killings - forced and child marriage, the sale of girls and organs, child labour, human trafficking and unsafe migration.
Women lack access to legal professionals. Some women lawyers continue to provide legal services from their homes, but are barred from entering courtrooms in most localities, the report explains.
Experts also heard testimonies of women who filed for divorce but were admonished by a judge with comments such as: "Your hand is not broken, your leg is not broken, why do you want a divorce? Women who reported domestic violence to the police were told that they "shouldn't complain", or that they probably "deserved to be beaten".
Finally, the paper calls on the de facto authorities to respect and restore the human rights of women and girls, and urges the international community to remain engaged with the situation in Afghanistan and to take concrete steps to support accountability for grave violations of women's fundamental rights.