RASC News Agency: Manizha Bakhtari, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Austria, called upon participants of the OSCE meeting, United Nations, and world governments to recognize the “gender apartheid” prevailing in Afghanistan as a step towards supporting women in the country. This conference, held on Monday, June 3, in Vienna, Austria’s capital, underscores a grave issue of international concern.
Held under the theme “Rights of Afghanistani Women: A Regional Issue with Global Impact,” the conference was organized at the behest of North Macedonia’s ambassador to the OSCE. Among the speakers were Afghanistani women’s rights activists, Richard Bennett, the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan, and Heather Barr, a senior official at Human Rights Watch.
Ambassador Bakhtari highlighted that the Taliban’s decrees have starkly deprived Afghanistani women and girls of education and employment. She stressed that for a comprehensive understanding of Afghanistani women’s plight, the international community must formally recognize the gender apartheid entrenched in the nation.
“This term, gender apartheid, not only encapsulates the severe injustices faced by Afghanistani women but also categorizes these actions as illegal under international law, thereby forging an imperative for the international community to act,” she emphasized.
The Afghanistan Ambassador urged all diplomats present to incorporate the term “gender apartheid” in every statement, resolution, declaration, and treaty concerning Afghanistan issued by organizations based in Vienna and beyond.
Richard Bennett has previously employed the term “gender apartheid” in his reports over the past two years to describe the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan. Echoing this sentiment, the President of the United Nations General Assembly has also remarked that the world is merely a spectator of the gender apartheid in Afghanistan.
