Issue of “Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan” brought to world meeting

Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, stated that the Taliban have adopted a deliberate policy to violate women’s rights in Afghanistan.

Mr. Bennett added yesterday in a meeting called “Combatting Gender Apartheid” on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that there is “despair” among Afghan women and girls and “the global community has betrayed them.”

However, the special rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council in Afghanistan has underlined that this mistrust of women and girls in the international community “can only be alleviated through practical actions, not condemnations and expressions of sympathy.”

“The sense of being forgotten by the international community among Afghan women is palpable. When I met with Afghan women in various places, I sensed a kind of despair in their words. Afghan girls and women believe that the world has betrayed them, that we have betrayed them. This distrust can only be alleviated through practical actions, not condemnations and expressions of sympathy,” Bennett added.

Richard Bennett stressed that Afghan women should play a meaningful role in political decisions within Afghanistan and in international organizations. He added, “We should talk with Afghan women, not about them.”

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan remarked: “Sexual harassment is considered an international crime, but gender apartheid is not the same. Recognizing gender apartheid can establish a principle for international laws that countries not complying with this principle should not be recognized.”

Bennett also suggested that people who violate human rights should be sanctioned.

It should be noted that on Friday, the United Nations held a meeting for the first time to examine “Gender Apartheid” in Afghanistan with the presence of representatives of countries and human rights organizations.

In this meeting, Richard Bennett, Rina Amiri, the US special representative for human and women’s rights in Afghanistan, and a number of representatives of the UN countries spoke.