UN: Situation of Women Under Taliban Could Be ‘Crime Against Humanity’

The situation of women and girls in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban has continued to deteriorate, according to the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, and the Taliban’s treatment of women and girls could amount to a crime against humanity, according to a report presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.  Richard Bennett told the council on Monday that the “cumulative effect of the restrictions on women and girls had a devasting long-term impact on the whole population and was tantamount to gender apartheid.”

“The discriminatory denial of women and girls’ rights contravened Afghanistan’s human rights obligations, and could amount to persecution on gender grounds, a crime against humanity,” Bennett also said.

The situation for all people in Afghanistan has deteriorated since the Taliban took over, with the poverty rate doubling to 28 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, including more than 6 million Afghans living on the brink of famine-like conditions. The Taliban were urged “to immediately cease actions that disrupted equitable and speedy access to humanitarian aid to those most in need and for the de facto authorities to immediately lift the ban on women working for non-governmental organizations.”

The Taliban in December barred female aid workers, saying they did not conform to appropriate Islamic dress code, including wearing a head covering. This has prevented the delivery of critical humanitarian aid to vulnerable communities.

Universities in Afghanistan reopened after a long winter break, with women still barred from their lecture halls. The ban on university education for all women in Afghanistan came in December, two weeks after the Taliban allowed girls to take their high school graduation exams, despite not being in a classroom since the Islamist group took over and prevented girls from studying in high schools. The Taliban have been barring women from entering public spaces including parks, gyms, and entertainment venues, requiring them to wear burqas and face coverings and requiring a male escort in public.

The Taliban took over Afghanistan and announced the formation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan at the end of August 2021, when the last US and other foreign troops left the country.