Breathe
By Lourdes Encinas
Women in Afghanistan face an impossible scenario: the Taliban regime marginalizes them, denies them basic human rights and seeks to eliminate their public presence by denying them even the use of their voices, a situation that experts equate to a gender apartheid that should be classified as an international crime.
The term apartheid refers to the systematic segregation and discrimination of a segment of the population, as occurred on racial grounds in the United States and South Africa. In the context of Afghanistan, this concept has become a reality for women and girls, who suffer an alarming regression of their rights, as in no other country in the world.
During the previous Taliban rule (1996-2001), women were excluded from employment and education, and were subject to strict dress codes and the obligation to always go out accompanied by a male relative. After the fall of the Taliban, civil rights and spaces were regained, which were reversed with their return to power in 2021.
The real erasure of women
Afghan women and girls today face a regime that not only marginalizes them, but seeks to erase them completely: the latest bans prevent them from leaning out of the windows of their homes so as not to be seen, from speaking loudly in public so as not to be heard, and prohibit their images from being published in newspapers or magazines.
This system of oppression and exclusion not only affects them, but impacts society as a whole by limiting the potential and contributions of half of its population. The lack of women in the workforce means that Afghanistan is losing a significant part of its human and economic capital.
Human rights advocates, Amnesty International and the UN believe that gender apartheid (which includes the LGBTQI+ population) should be recognized by the International Criminal Court as a crime under international law, which would provide a legal instrument to pressure and issue sanctions to the governments of Afghanistan and Iran, where a very similar situation is occurring.
Some countries, such as South Africa, have urged others to take collective action, emphasizing the need for a coordinated response to address this crisis and implement refugee and asylum mechanisms for those who manage to flee persecution.
The truth is that the international community has been lax in the face of the level of the emergency, partly because of the internal conflicts that many countries are going through, and also due to the complexity of the geopolitical situation in the region. Little has been done, and without forcefulness.
How to support from civil society
There are various initiatives ranging from making donations to NGOs working in the region, outreach campaigns such as #StandWithAfghanWomen, and lobbying to pressure governments and international bodies to intervene. There is a global campaign for the recognition of gender apartheid in international law that you can join here: https://endgenderapartheid.today/.
Signing a petition may not seem like much, but every action counts. The worst thing we can do is to keep quiet ourselves too. Those of us who do have a voice, those of us who can protest, must do it for them.
There is a generalized context of conflicts and setbacks in the world; when this happens, the first rights to be affected are those of women. We cannot take any progress for granted.
Nothing guarantees us, for example, that the new judicial system that we will have in Mexico will maintain the rights achieved by women, many of them at the point of sentences of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, which is about to be another one.
There is the case of the rollback of women's reproductive rights in the United States, as a close and recent example.
By way of summary
Amnesty International lists the top ten restrictions imposed by the Taliban on women and girls in Afghanistan:
1. Studying. Girls are prohibited from continuing their studies beyond secondary education.
2. Work. They can only work in certain areas of the health sector and primary education, to care for other women.
3. Choice of clothing. They must leave their home covered from head to toe with a burqa and may not wear high heels.
4. Leave the house alone. At all times they must be accompanied by a mahram, who is a close male relative.
5. Playing sports. They cannot go to parks or public restrooms.
6. Segregation in public transport.
7. Choosing whom and when to marry, how many sons and daughters to have. The number of forced and early marriages has increased as the Taliban force women to marry another Taliban.
8. Going to the beauty salon. It is estimated that the Taliban forced the closure of 60,000 women-owned beauty salons.
Protest. Freedom of expression, association and assembly are denied, under penalty of severe corporal punishment.
10. To be seen and heard. Women must avoid looking out the windows of their homes and no one may photograph, film or publish images of them. Nor may they speak loudly when they are outside their homes so that men cannot hear them.
For more information:
Vrinda Narain
© UNICEF/Salam Al-Janabi
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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