Under the haze: Taliban's 'gender segregation' of Afghan women

UNICEF/Christine Nesbitt. Girls attend a class at an accelerated learning centre in Wardak province in central Afghanistan.

You must be familiar with the word "apartheid", under the Nazis, in the American South before the Civil Rights Movement, in South Africa before the 90s of the last century...... Apartheid has all taken on different faces of cruelty and is an internationally recognized crime against humanity. Yet, in the 21st century, there are still 14 million people in the South Asian country of Afghanistan who are severely discriminated against and abused simply because they are women – that is, gender segregation. According to human rights experts, gender segregation imposed by the Taliban should also amount to crimes against humanity. Listen to UN News' intern correspondent Chen Ziying.

Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, they have enacted a series of discriminatory policies against women and girls. According to these decrees, if you are a girl, you can only go to school until the sixth grade, if you are a female university student, you will suddenly be banned from continuing classes, if you are a woman, you will not be able to enter public places such as parks, gyms, etc., without a man, and you will be almost forbidden to work outside the home, and society will seem to turn you away......

Somaya, the former captain of the Afghan women's robotics team.

It's like being in prison

(Audio: Audio for the Women's Robotics Team to Participate in the Event)

At a time when the entire international community is deeply alarmed by the persecution of Afghan women, in March 2023, the country's first female robot development and production team, which has fled Afghanistan, appeared at the United Nations headquarters in New York, and their extraordinary talent and creativity are amazing.

Captain Somaya Faruqi told UN News that she fled Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power, and many of her friends who remained in the country had been barred from attending classes.

Somaya: "The biggest challenge facing women in Afghanistan right now is that they don't have the basic right to go to school, to the park, to the gym, to the restaurant. It is sad that they cannot leave the house without the company of a male guardian such as a father, brother or husband. Afghan women are in prisons, unable to move freely, receive education or see no hope for the future. ”

An Afghan girl continues her studies at home with the help of her father after being denied the right to go to school.

The doors of education were slammed shut

In a joint report released in July 2023, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, appointed by the Human Rights Council, and Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, Chair of the Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls, noted that "the ban on women's education makes Afghanistan 'the only country in the world' that prohibits girls and young women from attending secondary and higher education institutions." ”

Afghan women told them that "the walls were being built day by day until they were closed," Tanak said.

Tanak: "After the ban on girls' education was issued, female university students described their situation as: 'I am a prisoner of my gender', 'we have no future'. ”

United Nations News

Richard Bennett, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan.

At a Security Council meeting in September 2023, UN Women Executive Director Sima Sami Bahous stressed to the UN's principal decision-making body that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to education, which is everyone's right.

Bahus: "Women and girls in Afghanistan are deprived of this basic right, and more than four-fifths of young women and girls who should be in school are currently out of school. ”

In his briefing to the Security Council in March 2023, the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Roza Otunbayeva, expressed deep regret over the resulting losses.

Otunbayeva: "Afghanistan is at a critical juncture after decades of war that requires all human resources to recover and rebuild. However, as a result of Taliban rule and the policies it enacted, women in the country who had the potential to become doctors, scientists, journalists and politicians were forced to stay at home, and their dreams were destroyed before they could be buried. ”

A female staff member of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs talks to several displaced women in eastern Afghanistan.

There is no recourse to legal remedies

The Taliban's responsibility for the enforcement of its decrees by holding male family members accountable has led to more frequent and severe enforcement of these restrictions, further leading to an increase in child marriage and child labour.

The Taliban have also suspended the implementation of the Constitution and all domestic legislation, repealed the Law on the Elimination of Violence against Women, and ceased the functioning of the relevant specialized courts and the National Police's Family Response Team.

Human rights expert Tanak said that in the absence of a clear and consistent legal system, violence against women and girls persists with impunity. Women seeking a divorce or escaping an abusive domestic environment are the most affected, as they are often forced back into violent relationships.

Tanak: "According to information provided by women lawyers who provide confidential legal advice to women, some women who go to court to apply for divorce have been warned by the judge, 'Your hand is not broken, your leg is not broken, why should you get a divorce?' or, 'You need to get your husband's consent first', or even categorically said 'no divorce'. ”

Excluded from decision-making

Because of the depth and impact of the persecution suffered by Afghan women, the Council has discussed this issue on several occasions in meetings on the situation in the country.

UN Women Executive Director Bahus highlighted another dimension of the problem: the drastic decline in women's influence and power over decision-making in Afghanistan, not only at the national or provincial level, but also at the community and family levels.

Bahus: "Two and a half years ago, at a Security Council meeting to mark the 20th anniversary of the adoption of resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, Zarqa Yaftali, a civil society representative of Afghan women, expressed to the Council with regret that from 2005 to 2020, Afghan women were excluded from 80% of peace talks, including those between the United States and the Taliban. Yaftali stressed that women's rights should not be sacrificed in order to reach an agreement with the Taliban. But just a few months later, her nightmare came true. The Taliban have returned to power in Afghanistan and turned the country into one of the most extreme places for women's rights to regress. ”

UNAMA

Afghan women.

Girls should not be born into discrimination

At a Security Council meeting in September 2023, Otunbayeva quoted former Secretary-General Kofi Annan's acceptance speech when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2001.

Otunbayeva: "Annan said that today, a girl will be born in Afghanistan. We have to ask, who could this 21-year-old girl be now, a college student who was forced into exile to continue her education, or a professional who had a successful career a few months ago and now has to stay at home?"

She mentioned that UNAMA had encountered a young woman in south-western Afghanistan.

Otunbayeva: "She is the daughter of a widowed mother, a girl who has never been to school because of the conflict, and her main concern every day is to find enough water for her family. Such simple examples highlight the current dilemma and complexity of Afghan women's situation — women not only have to face the consequences of ongoing conflict, economic hardship, food insecurity and drought, but also have to find a way to survive in a society that restricts their work, education and social participation. There is no easy solution to this situation. ”

联合国图片/Manuel Elias

Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

Otunbayeva said that hundreds of girls will be born in Afghanistan today and that they should not be born in the midst of exclusion, discrimination or despair.

Otunbayeva: "The Taliban claim that gender segregation is not a serious problem and that it is being addressed. They believe that they should be judged on the basis of other achievements. However, their ban on higher education on 20 December and on women working in non-governmental organizations on 24 December not only violated women's equal rights, but also had serious consequences for the Afghan people and the Taliban's relations with the international community. ”

"Afghanistan under the Taliban remains the most oppressive country in the world for women's rights. ”

A woman walks through a corridor in a village in Afghanistan's Jindajan district.

Tremendous mental trauma

The Chairperson of the Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls, Tanak, highlighted the trauma of Afghan women under pressure.

Tanak: "Based on one survey, the deterioration of mental health is a serious concern for every woman we talk to. Since August 2021, almost half of the women surveyed knew at least one woman or girl who was suffering from anxiety or depression. ”

This view is echoed by the Executive Director of UN Women, Bahus.

Bahus: "A year ago, security was the second most pressing issue in Afghanistan, and now it has been replaced by mental health issues. 90% of young female respondents reported poor or very poor mental health, and suicidal and suicidal tendencies were widespread. ”

联合国图片/Manuel Elias

UN Women Executive Director Bahus attended the Security Council.

Gender segregation

The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Bennett, noted that the Taliban de facto authorities appear to be using systemic discrimination as a means of governance in order to have total domination over women and girls.

Bennett: "Severe, systemic, and institutionalized discrimination against women and girls is at the heart of the Taliban's ideology and rule. This constitutes a system of gender persecution and institutionalized gender segregation. ”

In 1999, the report of the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance used for the first time the framework of gender segregation to describe the situation of women under Taliban rule. Although the Rome Statute does not currently define gender segregation as a crime, it has been proposed that the definition of apartheid as a crime against humanity in the Statute should be applied to gender segregation.

Incorporate "gender segregation" into international law

UN Women Executive Director Bahus noted that the situation in Afghanistan is not just a humanitarian crisis, but also a crisis related to the economy, mental health and development. The women's rights crisis has led to the simultaneous eruption of these issues.

Bahus: "We ask the ambassadors to give their full support to the opening of an international process that explicitly incorporates 'gender segregation' into international law, noting in particular that this systematic and systematic violation of women's rights permeates the Taliban's vision for the future of the country, and that global norms must formally name, define and prohibit it." ”

She also recommended that the Security Council's sanctions committee on Afghanistan explore ways to effectively address violations of women's rights in Afghanistan, including by hearing directly with Afghan women and women's rights experts and updating the criteria for setting sanctions lists in line with gender segregation.

The above is a report by Chen Ziying, intern reporter of "United Nations News", from the headquarters in New York.

Under the haze: Taliban's 'gender segregation' of Afghan women