By
Ravi Zan Media Organization and The What If Project

Abstract

Since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, the country has witnessed a severe rollback of women’s rights, described by experts and human rights organizations as gender apartheid. This term refers to the systematic oppression and segregation of women based on gender by the state, a phenomenon reminiscent of racial apartheid in South Africa. The Taliban’s policies include banning girls from education, imposing severe restrictions on women’s employment, barring their participation in public life, and enforcing strict dress codes. These measures not only violate fundamental human rights but also deprive women of social, economic, and educational opportunities, significantly restricting their role in society.

In this research-based report, we have gathered data from women activists inside Afghanistan who continue to witness and document the situation firsthand. The primary objective of this paper is to urge the international community to recognize and legally codify gender apartheid, ensuring that women in Afghanistan—and elsewhere—do not have to plead in vain for their most basic rights. The data for this study was collected through two focused group discussions (FGDs) and has been professionally analyzed. The findings underscore the urgent need to legally address gender apartheid and to halt the widespread human rights violations committed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The global community must respond decisively to this humanitarian crisis and take immediate action to prevent the continued systematic oppression of women in Afghanistan.

Calling for the criminalization of gender apartheid

To centralize the struggle of regaining their rightful place in society, Afghan women are calling for the acknowledgement of ‘gender apartheid’ as a crime against humanity under international law – an initiative backed by UN experts, and global humanitarian organizations. According to women right’s activist Shahla Farid, gender apartheid is the “discrimination in which a group of people are deprived of all their rights based on their gender or excluded from the decisions of power and government.”

In Afghanistan, women and girls are suffering increasingly harsh human rights violations at the hands of the Taliban regime. Since the Taliban regained power in 2021, Afghan women and girls who were already experiencing gender-based discrimination prior to the take-over, are systematically being stripped of nearly all their rights, including access to education, paid work, freedom of movement and of speech – while facing forced marriage with Taliban fighters, public flaunting, rape, and murder. The country is currently seeing the most severe deterioration of women’s rights “since the adaptation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 75 years ago”, according to the Human Rights Watch.

The idea behind pursuing the criminalization of gender apartheid, is its potential for creating accountability, by recognizing, acknowledging, and addressing the systematic repression of women.

“Undoubtedly, no one can claim that the oppression of women in Afghanistan is separate from apartheid. Afghan women are deprived of all their basic rights because of their gender. If the Taliban had facilities, they might have stopped the women from breathing”, says Nasrin Hamedi, Director of Afghan Women in Exile Movement.

Additionally, Farid touches on the relevance of pursuing this case for all women suffering under systemic oppression globally. “If gender apartheid is recognized, it is not only for the benefit of Afghan women. I think in all countries gender apartheid exists somehow and is supported by laws and policies against women. The most prominent examples today are Iran and Afghanistan.”

Oppression of Afghan women is nothing new…

Over the past three decades, during which Afghanistan has been in active conflict, under foreign occupation, or ruled by the repressive Taliban regime, women’s rights have continuously been violated – especially

under the Taliban’s rule, but even during the height of the US-takeover, in 2011, Afghanistan was named the “most dangerous country” to be a women.

The very concept of apartheid based on gender was first expressed by Afghan women in the 1990s, as a response to the systematic subjugation of women and girls during the Taliban rule at that time. Since then, human rights defenders have fought for its official recognition under international law. More than thirty years later, although the support for the campaign is gaining global recognition, the fight continues.

Hence, according to Freshta Yaqubi, a human rights defender and civil activist, another approach is needed. She believes that placing focus on helping Afghan women mobilize, unite and support each other to handle and approach the Taliban is a more impactful way to pursue the issue.

“Under international pressure, the Taliban not only did not change, but even worsened… It gave us a very good lesson for three years…We have to do our own work. Let’s reach unity and agreement. Let’s have a solution, change the Taliban, the same way we changed Mujahidin,” says Yaqubi.

…but the world, and Afghanistan, are no longer the same

In a similar spirit, yet with hope for the successful recognition of gender apartheid under international law, Selsela Naseri, a human right defender, points to the strength of the Afghan women. She has faith in the current, educated generation, as well as seeing the advantage of technology in the fight for an Afghan society of equal opportunity, equal rights, and equal access to a life of abundance.

“Don’t forget that during the Mujahidin and previous times, had we the same women like today? Who went to fight and demonstrate, were tortured, experienced prison, put their families in danger? No, we did not have this generation… We [now] have a generation that will document the evidence, show it at the international level and use this term of gender apartheid… so that they can document all the atrocities and inhuman actions of the Taliban and show them to the world.”

An additional strength experienced by Afghan women in their fight for justice, and the national human right’s movement, is today’s large Afghan diaspora. Many of the more than 5,7 million refugees/migrants now live in developed countries, have better opportunities to achieve economic stability, access higher education, and pursue careers. Hence, they can help raise awareness and draw the world’s attention towards the Afghan women’s struggle, and act as a bridge between the ‘outside’ and ‘inside’ world.Unity and collaboration for the equal rights of all humans

Despite facing assault, torture, arrests, and exile, Afghan women continue to oppose the Taliban oppression. And in accordance to internationally recognized law, which deems all human beings as equally valuable and worthy of the same rights, so should the international community. Yet, as previously mentioned, the outside pressure put on the Taliban since 2021, has not only failed to stop them from pursuing gender, racial, and religious discrimination – but they are increasingly disregarding civil law.

For the Afghan women’s case to move forward, the pressure must seemingly then come largely from themselves – and be aimed both towards the international community, as well as towards the Taliban.

And for this pressure to amount to its full potential, writer and poet Khujasta Elham, believes “cohesion and unity between Afghan women’s groups and movements” is key. Yaqubi takes this idea one step further, by pointing to the mobilization of all parts of society – including men. “Let’s form the protests and resistances in such a way that the society and the community somehow will be with us.”

Although such a step may seem unimaginable, Farid has a potentially cohesive motivation for uniting the population of Afghanistan, as well as large parts of the international community in the fight against the Taliban’s repressive regime:

“We must prove to the world and the Islamic countries that today there is a country in the world that attributes its inhumanity to Islam, and by doing so, they are creating Islamophobia in Afghanistan and the region. Afghan youths are being pushed away from Islam, and Afghan girls are saying that if this is the religion of Islam that the Taliban is implementing, I will give it up. This is Islamophobia. When a large group creates Islamophobia in the region, it causes to affect all countries. Therefore, I think, the struggle against the Taliban, needs alliance, determination of goals and objectives, and the sources that caused gender discrimination. This will make us reach our destination and defeat the Taliban.”

Potential paths towards a more inclusive society

Hence, documentation of the Taliban atrocities to present as comprehensive findings of gender apartheid in Afghanistan to the UN; encouraging dialogues among Afghan women – and society as a whole – where uniting values are identified and used to build collective resistance; unifying women’s efforts both domestically and internationally; and increasing internal negotiations with Taliban representatives, are some of the potential paths towards a better tomorrow in Afghanistan. Although seemingly unrelated, what connects them all, is their clear stance on human rights; they include us all.

Conclusion

Gender apartheid in Afghanistan has now become a human rights crisis that demands urgent recognition, criminalization, and immediate action from the international community. Findings from focused group discussions with women activists inside Afghanistan confirm that the Taliban, through the implementation of discriminatory policies, have systematically deprived women of their fundamental rights—from access to education and employment to freedom of movement, dress, participation in social and political affairs, and even the right to publicly recite the Quran.

With growing international support for recognizing gender apartheid as a crime against humanity, it is essential to accelerate documentation, prosecution, and accountability efforts for those responsible for these violations. Additionally, solidarity and coordination among Afghan women—both inside the country and at the global level—can play a pivotal role in advancing this fight.

Ultimately, sustained international pressure on the Taliban, global support for Afghan women, and the adoption of legal measures within international law frameworks are crucial in preventing the continued systematic oppression of women in Afghanistan.