Taliban's Gender Harassment In Afghanistan Is Inhumane, Says Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on human rights, said that challenging the Taliban's repressive government and holding the group accountable is the collective responsibility of the world.

Bennett added that the "gender oppression" or "gender apartheid" prevailing in Afghanistan is inhumane.

Bennett, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights for Afghanistan, said in an interview with "Education Cannot Wait" on Wednesday that the systematic exclusion of women from life has irreparable consequences for Afghan society.

Over the past three years, the Taliban has gradually eliminated women and girls from the public sphere. Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah has issued more than 70 restrictive decrees and instructions against women. These decrees, from the hijab to education, cover women's travel, voice, image, and work. In the most recent case, girls were also banned from education and study in medical institutes.

The UN special rapporteur on human rights stressed that challenging this horrific system and holding the Taliban accountable is the collective responsibility of the international community.

In a part of the interview, Richard Bennett discussed the effects of the ban on girls' education. The Taliban's actions have confined girls to the four walls of their homes and led them to depression, he said. According to him, as a result of the Taliban's repressive system, suicidal tendencies have increased and society has disintegrated.

He warned of the long-term consequences of banning girls' education, saying that the result of the exclusion of women from the public sphere is "an increase in poverty, exacerbation of gender inequality, an increase in gender-based violence and child marriage, forced child labour and other forms of exploitation".

He called the Taliban's treatment of women against human dignity and highly discriminatory, and said that the Taliban's organised measures against women are imposed and strictly implemented through decrees, and policies.

"These deprivations, collectively, are so severe and widespread that I have concluded that they may lead to crimes against humanity, particularly the crime of gender abuse," the UN special rapporteur said.

Referring to his conversations with Afghan women and girls, he said that they emphasise that the term gender apartheid is the most accurate description of the prevailing situation in Afghanistan and best illustrates the ideological and organised nature of the Taliban's discrimination and repression against women and girls.

He supported women's movements working to recognise gender apartheid and emphasised support for educational programmes for women.

The UN special rapporteur on human rights stated that the time has come to act to prevent the Taliban's increasing repression. "We cannot allow the dreams and capacities of millions of Afghan girls to be extinguished," he noted.