In its latest report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has classified the Taliban’s written and verbal directives against women as crimes against humanity. They are urging the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to investigate. According to the organization, the Taliban have enforced rules and policies that violate the fundamental rights of women and girls based on their gender. HRW, in this report, calls for coordinated government action to hold the Taliban leaders accountable.
Meanwhile, Tamana Zaryab Paryani and her associates, who refer to the Taliban’s actions as gender apartheid, have been on a hunger strike in Cologne, Germany, for the past nine days. More than 20 members of protest movements are pushing for the recognition of “gender apartheid” by the Taliban. Additionally, an Afghan LGBT community advocate in Sweden has initiated an indefinite hunger strike to protest against the Taliban’s gender-based apartheid. Some writers, media activists, and artists have also voiced their support for the hunger strikers.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports that Taliban authorities in Afghanistan are actively engaging in crimes against humanity and sexual violence against women and girls. According to this organization, since assuming power in 2021, the Taliban have implemented laws and policies that strip women of their rights solely based on their gender. HRW, which closely monitors the Taliban’s actions, has determined that many of this group’s actions against women amount to crimes.
The report by this organization indicates that sexual harassment, torture, and gender-based discrimination are the foundation of the crimes committed by the Taliban. According to Human Rights Watch, this group has issued both written and verbal orders against women over the past two years, which amount to crimes against humanity. The exclusion of women from public life and systematic discrimination and violence against girls and women due to their gender have led this human rights institution to classify the Taliban’s actions against women as “crimes against humanity” for the first time.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has stated that crimes against humanity and gender-based harassment have been perpetrated by the Taliban in various forms in Afghanistan. According to this organization, rights such as education, employment, travel, freedom of speech, peaceful assembly, and freedom have been systematically and purposefully violated by the Taliban through forced veiling and arbitrary detentions.
Investigations by HRW indicate that the Taliban’s treatment of women meets the four criteria for constituting a crime against humanity. According to the report, “if widespread or systematic attacks occur, the civilian population is targeted, acts are committed with knowledge, and these acts are carried out as part of a policy by a regime,” they fall under crimes against humanity. The report asserts that the Taliban have carried out all of these actions since returning to power.
Furthermore, Human Rights Watch (HRW) adds that Afghanistan is a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and the ICC prosecutors have the authority to initiate investigations into the human rights situation in Afghanistan.
Elizabeth Evenson, International Justice Director at Human Rights Watch, has called for coordinated international action against the Taliban, emphasizing the “systematic and cruel exclusion of women from public life.” She urges the international community to hold the leaders of this group accountable through a unified approach. She further stated, “The investigations by the International Criminal Court in Afghanistan can pave the way for addressing crimes against humanity related to gender-based harassment.”
This Human Rights Watch (HRW) official stressed that governments should ensure that the prosecutors of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague have the necessary resources and cooperation to investigate the Taliban’s crimes in Afghanistan.
However, some human rights activists, civil society actors, and women’s protest movements are calling on the United Nations and countries worldwide to recognize the “gender apartheid” imposed by the Taliban. Tamana Zaryab Paryani, for instance, has been on a hunger strike in Cologne, Germany, for the past nine days, demanding that the United Nations and the German Parliament officially acknowledge the “gender apartheid” enforced by the Taliban. Mrs. Paryani and her colleagues have taken shelter under a tent and are calling for a halt to financial aid to the Taliban, a ban on travel by Taliban officials, and the unconditional release of political and civilian prisoners held by the Taliban.
On the other hand, several members of women’s protest movements worldwide have initiated hunger strikes in support of Tamana Zaryab Paryani’s demands. A list provided to the Hasht-e Subh Daily shows that more than 20 women and girls in Pakistan and Norway have gone on hunger strikes. Hunger strikers in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, claim that they have been on hunger strike inside their homes for the past five days due to police interference in their protest.
Some members of the LGBTQIA community have also called for the official recognition of “gender apartheid” in Afghanistan. Mohra Fabi, a transgender Afghan resident in Sweden, told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that she has also begun an indefinite hunger strike in the city of Malmo in Sweden. Fabi adds that she will continue her protest until her voice is heard. She emphasizes, “I have gone on a hunger strike in protest against gender apartheid against transgender individuals in Afghanistan, and of course, I support Tamana Zaryab Paryani and women. We are almost alike. Our primary identity is being a woman, and we defend women. We also ask women to support us because they are not safe inside Afghanistan, but neither are we, neither at home nor outside.”
Hunger strikers assert that what is happening in Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban against women is a clear manifestation of “crimes against humanity and gender apartheid.” According to them, governments should act in accordance with the human rights conventions and treaties they have signed and assess the behavior of the Taliban toward women based on human rights values.
It should be noted that the hunger strike by Tamana Zaryab Paryani and some other women’s rights activists has garnered widespread support from civil activists, protest movements, writers, singers, and political and civil activists.
Mohammad Amin Ahmadi, a researcher in religious affairs and a former government negotiator with the Taliban, described the Taliban’s treatment of women in Afghanistan as “gender apartheid” on his X page (Twitter). He wrote, “The Taliban have fully established gender apartheid in Afghanistan. Two things should be demanded from the world: 1. The Taliban regime is an apartheid regime. 2. Gender apartheid should be recognized as a crime against humanity, just like racial apartheid.”
Furthermore, Farhad Darya, a renowned Afghan singer and artist, continues to invite everyone whose hearts beat for freedom and equality to support the protest of Tamana Zaryab Paryani. He describes it as a “historic and civil movement.” Shakib Mosadeq, another singer, has also called for support for Tamana Zaryab Paryani and the women of Afghanistan.
It should be noted that several women, girls, civil activists, and social advocates have expressed widespread support for the hunger strike by women and girls due to the recognition of “gender apartheid” under the Taliban’s control in Afghanistan. They have urged the international community to acknowledge it officially.
It’s worth mentioning that Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, previously stated that the Taliban’s treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan could be perceived as “gender apartheid.” He has called on the world to consider the ongoing “gender apartheid” in Afghanistan as an international crime.
Furthermore, ten independent UN rapporteurs and Gordon Brown, former UK Prime Minister and the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, have described the Taliban’s treatment of women as a “crime against humanity.”
The Taliban have repeatedly claimed to recognize women’s rights within the framework of “Islamic Sharia,” but in the past two years, they have not provided any solutions or plans to secure women’s rights and their participation in society.
