Heather Barr, the associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), has warned that the Taliban’s violation of women’s rights in Afghanistan is encouraging and emboldening misogynists worldwide. She expressed concern that the international community has not responded effectively to what she called the Taliban’s “gender apartheid.”
“The Taliban’s destruction of the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan and the international community’s lack of an effective response has emboldened and inspired misogynists around the world who share the Taliban’s goal of imposing gender apartheid,” Heather Barr said in a tweet on Thursday.
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Barr cited the wave of gas poisoning incidents at girls’ schools in different cities of Iran to illustrate her point.
According to the BBC, at least 1,000 students in Iran have been hospitalized with respiratory problems, nausea, dizziness, and fatigue since November of last year, and at least 26 schools have been affected.
Some Iranian officials have accused foreign agents being behind the poisonings.
