Taliban’s Oppression of Women and Girls in Afghanistan constitutes gender-based persecution and amounts to a regime of gender apartheid.
August15,2023
When the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021 they declared that they had given up their harsh policies of the 90s and tried to get support from countries around the world by giving "moderate" messages about women's rights. However, within a month, they forgot what they had said and once again over the past two years turned the country into a prison for women and girls. According to the rules of the Taliban, women living in Afghanistan are forbidden to; go to school, work, play sports, sing, go to the park or have a picnic, go to the hairdresser, go to places of worship; and take a taxi, drive, go to the doctor or travel more than 72 kilometers without an accompanying male relative. It is as if even breathing is forbidden for women and girls.
Politically speaking, there is gender-based persecution of women in Afghanistan and a gender-based "apartheid" regime is in place. This is a crime against humanity. The global women's movement has launched a campaign to criminalize the concept of gender-based apartheid in international law, referring to the struggle against the racial apartheid regime in the Republic of South Africa. The concept of gender apartheid, explained in the report titled "International Obligation Against Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan" prepared by Karima Bennoune, offers an important opening in the context of crimes against women and humanity.
The success of this campaign and condemnation of the Taliban and similar fundamentalist groups like ISIS in Afghanistan and elsewhere will be an important contribution to making the world an equal, free and peaceful place to live for women.
Letter from EŞİK to Feridun Sinirlioğlu
As Women's Platform for Equality, Turkey (EŞİK) we have sent a letter to Feridun Sinirlioğlu, who was appointed the Special Coordinator of the Independent Assessment of the situation in Afghanistan, which was mandated by the UN Security Council Resolution 2679 (2023). We expressed our demand that under the coordination of Sinirlioğlu a report be prepared on the situation in Afghanistan by November 2023. We stipulate that it be prepared in consultation with Afghan women's rights defenders in Afghanistan and the diaspora, and that their views and living conditions also be included in the report. Furthermore, the letter calls for all governments to take action to end the private war against women in Afghanistan and for resolutions to ban direct or indirect aid to the Taliban regime.
We hereby wish for and expect the start of a process implemented at the UN level in which no country in the world is silent on the limitations of women's rights due to political, cultural, religious and similar reasons, and effective measures are taken.
You can find the letter we sent to Feridun Sinirlioğlu copied below.
We know that the misogyny experienced in many countries worldwide, particularly around Turkey’s borders and especially in Afghanistan, will end with the common and global struggle of women. The mentality which limits women’s freedom with 72 km in Afghanistan is also seeking to limit women’s freedom in Turkey with 90 km! As women of Turkey we salute the resistance of Afghan women and we underline once again that we will never give up on our dream of the right to a non-violent life in a secular, democratic country.
#End Oppression of Women in Afghanistan
#No2GenderApartheid
Women's Platform for Equality_Turkey
15 August 2023
www.esik.org.tr , iletisim@esikplatform.net
Dear Mr. Feridun Sinirlioğlu
We would like to address you in your capacity as the Special Coordinator of the Independent Assessment Mandated by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2679 (2023). As we understand, you are expected to consult with “all relevant actors and shareholders” and issue an independent report that assesses the situation in Afghanistan, including the plight of women and girls, and that will be submitted to the UN General Secretary by 17 November 2023.
We, as the Women’s Platform for Equality, Turkey (Eşitlik İçin Kadın Platformu – EŞİK), have been following the developments in Afghanistan closely and with deep and increasing concern since the Taliban took control of the country on 15 August 2021. In solidarity with the women of Afghanistan we have organized numerous meetings and social media campaigns to draw attention to the violations of women’s fundamental human rights.
Decades of foreign occupation and intervention, conflicts among warlords, and wars have impoverished Afghanistan and destroyed its institutions, forcing women and girls to pay the highest cost. Now, women and LGBTI+ individuals are specially targeted and subjected to inhumane treatment and torture simply because of their existence and gender identities. These attacks against women and other groups in Afghanistan under the Taliban’s rule constitute serious violations of international human rights norms, as well as the principles of secularism and equality, with significant implications for all of us.
UN Security Council Resolution 1325, adopted on 31 October 2000, affirms that the safety and security of women is also an international security issue. No society or international system is safe where women are not safe.
While the UN promotes “women's equal participation in peace-building processes” as a fundamental principle for the establishment of lasting peace, the Taliban administration isolates women and girls, and systematically deprives them of their most basic rights —such as the rights to life, education, and work, as well as freedom of movement —virtually wiping them out of the public sphere. This gender-based persecution amounts to a regime of gender apartheid. In fact, inspired by the international struggle against the racial apartheid practiced in the Republic of South Africa, where the concept of apartheid is historically grounded, the global women's movement has launched a campaign for the recognition of gender apartheid as a crime in international law.
As women living in Turkey, where the fundamental principles of equality and secularism are also threatened, we hope that you will prepare your report by meeting with women's rights and human rights defenders in Afghanistan and its diaspora and by allocating ample space to women’s views, experiences, and living conditions. We demand this in solidarity with Afghan women, as well as for the protection of all women’s lives, rights, and dreams.
The Taliban’s political vision is a threat to peace and security not only in Afghanistan, but also in the region and the world at large. Therefore, we urge you to issue a report that calls on all UN member states to ban all aid that would directly or indirectly contribute to the maintenance of the misogynous rule of the Taliban. We expect the recommendations of your report to address these concerns.
We would also like to inform you that we intend to share this letter with the press and the public on 15 August 2023, which coincides with the second year of the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan.
Respectfully,
The Women’s Platform for Equality, Turkey (EŞİK_Eşitlik İçin Kadın Platformu)
Taliban’s Oppression of Women and Girls in Afghanistan constitutes gender-based persecution and amounts to a regime of gender apartheid.
When the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021 they declared that they had given up their harsh policies of the 90s and tried to get support from countries around the world by giving "moderate" messages about women's rights. However, within a month, they forgot what they had said and once again over the past two years turned the country into a prison for women and girls. According to the rules of the Taliban, women living in Afghanistan are forbidden to; go to school, work, play sports, sing, go to the park or have a picnic, go to the hairdresser, go to places of worship; and take a taxi, drive, go to the doctor or travel more than 72 kilometers without an accompanying male relative. It is as if even breathing is forbidden for women and girls.
Politically speaking, there is gender-based persecution of women in Afghanistan and a gender-based "apartheid" regime is in place. This is a crime against humanity. The global women's movement has launched a campaign to criminalize the concept of gender-based apartheid in international law, referring to the struggle against the racial apartheid regime in the Republic of South Africa. The concept of gender apartheid, explained in the report titled "International Obligation Against Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan" prepared by Karima Bennoune, offers an important opening in the context of crimes against women and humanity.
The success of this campaign and condemnation of the Taliban and similar fundamentalist groups like ISIS in Afghanistan and elsewhere will be an important contribution to making the world an equal, free and peaceful place to live for women.
Letter from EŞİK to Feridun Sinirlioğlu
As Women's Platform for Equality, Turkey (EŞİK) we have sent a letter to Feridun Sinirlioğlu, who was appointed the Special Coordinator of the Independent Assessment of the situation in Afghanistan, which was mandated by the UN Security Council Resolution 2679 (2023). We expressed our demand that under the coordination of Sinirlioğlu a report be prepared on the situation in Afghanistan by November 2023. We stipulate that it be prepared in consultation with Afghan women's rights defenders in Afghanistan and the diaspora, and that their views and living conditions also be included in the report. Furthermore, the letter calls for all governments to take action to end the private war against women in Afghanistan and for resolutions to ban direct or indirect aid to the Taliban regime.
We hereby wish for and expect the start of a process implemented at the UN level in which no country in the world is silent on the limitations of women's rights due to political, cultural, religious and similar reasons, and effective measures are taken.
You can find the letter we sent to Feridun Sinirlioğlu copied below.
We know that the misogyny experienced in many countries worldwide, particularly around Turkey’s borders and especially in Afghanistan, will end with the common and global struggle of women. The mentality which limits women’s freedom with 72 km in Afghanistan is also seeking to limit women’s freedom in Turkey with 90 km! As women of Turkey we salute the resistance of Afghan women and we underline once again that we will never give up on our dream of the right to a non-violent life in a secular, democratic country.
#End Oppression of Women in Afghanistan
#No2GenderApartheid
Women's Platform for Equality_Turkey
15 August 2023
www.esik.org.tr ,
iletisim@esikplatform.net
Dear Mr. Feridun Sinirlioğlu
We would like to address you in your capacity as the Special Coordinator of the Independent Assessment Mandated by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2679 (2023). As we understand, you are expected to consult with “all relevant actors and shareholders” and issue an independent report that assesses the situation in Afghanistan, including the plight of women and girls, and that will be submitted to the UN General Secretary by 17 November 2023.
We, as the Women’s Platform for Equality, Turkey (Eşitlik İçin Kadın Platformu – EŞİK), have been following the developments in Afghanistan closely and with deep and increasing concern since the Taliban took control of the country on 15 August 2021. In solidarity with the women of Afghanistan we have organized numerous meetings and social media campaigns to draw attention to the violations of women’s fundamental human rights.
Decades of foreign occupation and intervention, conflicts among warlords, and wars have impoverished Afghanistan and destroyed its institutions, forcing women and girls to pay the highest cost. Now, women and LGBTI+ individuals are specially targeted and subjected to inhumane treatment and torture simply because of their existence and gender identities. These attacks against women and other groups in Afghanistan under the Taliban’s rule constitute serious violations of international human rights norms, as well as the principles of secularism and equality, with significant implications for all of us.
UN Security Council Resolution 1325, adopted on 31 October 2000, affirms that the safety and security of women is also an international security issue. No society or international system is safe where women are not safe.
While the UN promotes “women's equal participation in peace-building processes” as a fundamental principle for the establishment of lasting peace, the Taliban administration isolates women and girls, and systematically deprives them of their most basic rights —such as the rights to life, education, and work, as well as freedom of movement —virtually wiping them out of the public sphere. This gender-based persecution amounts to a regime of gender apartheid. In fact, inspired by the international struggle against the racial apartheid practiced in the Republic of South Africa, where the concept of apartheid is historically grounded, the global women's movement has launched a campaign for the recognition of gender apartheid as a crime in international law.
As women living in Turkey, where the fundamental principles of equality and secularism are also threatened, we hope that you will prepare your report by meeting with women's rights and human rights defenders in Afghanistan and its diaspora and by allocating ample space to women’s views, experiences, and living conditions. We demand this in solidarity with Afghan women, as well as for the protection of all women’s lives, rights, and dreams.
The Taliban’s political vision is a threat to peace and security not only in Afghanistan, but also in the region and the world at large. Therefore, we urge you to issue a report that calls on all UN member states to ban all aid that would directly or indirectly contribute to the maintenance of the misogynous rule of the Taliban. We expect the recommendations of your report to address these concerns.
We would also like to inform you that we intend to share this letter with the press and the public on 15 August 2023, which coincides with the second year of the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan.
Respectfully,
The Women’s Platform for Equality, Turkey (EŞİK_Eşitlik İçin Kadın Platformu)
iletisim@esikplatform.net
www.esik.org.tr