KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The European Parliament has passed a resolution condemning the Taliban’s new morality law and labeling the regime’s treatment of women and girls as “gender apartheid.”
On September 19, the European Parliament passed three resolutions on human rights issues in Afghanistan, Belarus, and Cuba. The resolution on Afghanistan was adopted with 565 votes in favor, 8 against, and 43 abstentions.
Through the resolution, the EU Parliament condemned the Taliban’s new morality law and all recent decrees that exclude women and girls from public life.
It called on the EU to support the recognition of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity.
Over the past three years of Taliban rule, Afghanistan has become one of the worst countries in the world for women and girls. The ruling regime has severely restricted their movements and denied them access to education, employment, social mobility, and other basic freedoms.
UN experts, rights groups, and activists all agree that the Taliban’s oppression of women and girls constitutes a system of apartheid designed to deliberately subjugate them solely based on their gender.
Recently, the regime announced a new set of restrictions also known as the “morality” law, which further curtailed women’s rights and freedoms.
The 35-article law mandates that women cover their entire bodies and faces outside the home, and prohibits them from speaking in public, using public transportation alone, or looking at men who are not related by blood or marriage.
Members of the EU Parliament stated that the Taliban have violated international norms, resumed repression, particularly against women and girls, ethnic minorities, rights defenders, and LGBTIQ+ people, and have isolated Afghanistan.
They urged the Taliban authorities to abolish their discriminatory practices and laws against women, calling for the immediate restoration of full, equal, and meaningful participation of women and girls in public life.
The European Parliament commended the courage of Afghan women in their fight for their rights despite the life-threatening risks under Taliban rule.
It calls for the Taliban to be held accountable through an ICC investigation, the establishment of a UN Independent Investigation Mechanism, and the initiation of new EU sanctions against the Taliban.
The resolution urges the EU, member states, and donor countries to increase humanitarian funding for the Afghan people and to assess the impact of Taliban decrees on humanitarian operations.
Earlier in March, the EU Parliament passed a similar resolution strongly condemning the Taliban’s oppression of women and girls and calling on the regime to respect women’s rights.
The Taliban, however, defines women’s rights according to their strict interpretation of Islamic law and has shown no signs of yielding amid growing backlash and pressure to uphold the fundamental rights of women and girls.
