RASC News Agency: The Canadian government has formally designated the situation in Afghanistan as “gender apartheid,” condemning the Taliban for extensive, systematic violations of women’s rights. In a recent press conference, Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, underscored the appalling conditions faced by Afghanistani women under Taliban rule, stating, “Nowhere in the world is there such comprehensive, brutal, and systemic discrimination against women.”
Rae described Afghan women as prisoners under Taliban rule, deprived of autonomy and basic rights. He expressed profound concern over the Taliban’s intensifying restrictions on Afghanistani women, calling them both deeply alarming and dangerous. Rae urged the Taliban to immediately reverse these oppressive policies. This statement comes as Canada, in collaboration with Germany, Australia, and the Netherlands, seeks to prosecute the Taliban at the International Criminal Court for human rights abuses.
Nonetheless, there is an ongoing debate about the classification of gender apartheid as a crime. The UK’s representative to the UN Security Council has raised concerns that pursuing this approach may divert focus from essential humanitarian assistance for Afghanistani women. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has called upon France to join the movement to bring the Taliban to international justice.
Since seizing power in Afghanistan, the Taliban have relentlessly imposed increasingly severe restrictions on women, even going so far as to declare women’s voices as improper in public. International human rights organizations have consistently condemned these measures, calling for their immediate repeal, but the Taliban remain steadfast in their stance.
