The United Nations’ top human rights official has denounced the Taliban’s systematic oppression of women and girls in Afghanistan, labeling it a form of “state-sponsored gender apartheid” unmatched anywhere in the world today.
Addressing the 58th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, stated that Afghan women and girls have been reduced to “virtual prisoners within their homes,” stripped of fundamental freedoms essential to daily life, including the right to move freely, pursue education, or seek employment.
“I am deeply concerned for the long-term future of a country that is self-harming on a national scale,” Türk said in his remarks, as reported by the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Since seizing power in 2021, the Taliban have reportedly enacted over 100 decrees aimed at curtailing women’s rights. Girls are prohibited from attending school beyond the sixth grade, universities remain closed to women, and many are banned from working or moving freely in public spaces.
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Human rights organizations, including Richard Bennett, the U.N. special rapporteur for Afghanistan, have repeatedly called on the international community to formally recognize the Taliban’s policies as gender apartheid.
In response to the widespread violations of women’s rights, Karim Khan, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, has submitted an application for the arrest of the Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada.
