RASC News Agency: Some journalists, human rights activists, and members of civil society in exile have voiced their support for the worldwide campaign against gender apartheid spearheaded by Afghanistani women leaders. During a discreetly held protest assembly on Monday night, April 15, they endorsed this global initiative and asserted that the Taliban group has effectively marginalized women across all social spheres by institutionalizing gender apartheid in Afghanistan.
In a resolution issued by this group, obtained by the RASC news agency, it is stated that the Taliban, through the issuance of over 56 arbitrary decrees, imprisonment, threats, violence, rape, and systematic severe discrimination against women and girls in Afghanistan, have committed egregious crimes. Another segment of this resolution mentions that the Taliban group characterizes the crime of “gender apartheid” as “jihad for the sake of Allah.” Sadly, with the global community’s silence regarding this blatant injustice against the oppressed and vulnerable women of Afghanistan, the Taliban has transformed Afghanistan into a land devoid of women, voiceless, and invisible.
Mohammad Raja, a journalist in exile and one of the organizers of this assembly, informed the RASC news agency: “With the Taliban’s occupation of Afghanistan, women have been eliminated from all aspects of life, rendering Afghanistan a barren land devoid of women.” Mr. Raja added, “We demand that all reputable international organizations, human rights bodies, and the United Nations recognize gender apartheid as a crime against humanity, classify it as a criminal offense, and bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice.”
He further stated that they anticipate all human rights defenders and free nations worldwide to rally behind the call for justice for Afghanistani women and girls who are bravely resisting the Taliban’s oppressive regime within the country. Sowita Sherzad, a women’s rights activist and another organizer of this assembly, relayed to the RASC news agency that severe systemic discrimination against women and girls in Afghanistan has deprived them of all their human and fundamental rights.
Sherzad emphasizes that confining women and girls to their homes devastates the prospects of Afghanistani society beyond repair. Moreover, another segment of the resolution underscores that the ousting of the “terror and horror” regime is now deemed a vital, humane, moral, and faith-based obligation of all citizens of the country.
The global campaign against gender apartheid, initiated by women activists in recent days, aims to advocate for the rights of women and girls and to garner recognition of gender apartheid in Afghanistan by the United Nations and human rights organizations.
