KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Independent Coalition of Afghan Women’s Protest Movements has said that the Taliban is institutionalizing gender apartheid through its oppressive policies against women.
In a statement on Monday, the coalition said Afghan women are enduring extreme repression and gender-based discrimination. It emphasized that women in Afghanistan have been stripped of fundamental human rights, including access to work, education, and political and social participation.
“This systematic oppression is not only a blatant violation of human rights but also a major challenge to equality movements worldwide,” the coalition stated.
The group urged human rights organizations, international bodies, and progressive movements to “break their silence and take a firm stance against this gender apartheid.”
They called for the formal recognition of gender apartheid in Afghanistan, diplomatic pressure on the Taliban, and targeted sanctions against the regime.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, Afghanistan has become one of the most repressive countries in the world for women and girls. The regime has imposed sweeping restrictions on their mobility, barred them from education and employment, and stripped them of basic freedoms.
UN experts, rights groups, and activists widely agree that the Taliban’s systematic oppression of women amounts to gender apartheid—an institutionalized system designed to subjugate them solely based on their gender.
On Monday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk also stated that Afghan women are living under gender apartheid, deprived of even the most basic necessities of a normal life.
