Human Rights Council Meeting: "What is Being Imposed on Afghan Women Today is Neither Culture nor Religion"

Photo: UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, emphasized on Tuesday (June 17) on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council meeting that in order to achieve justice in Afghanistan, survivor-centered approaches are needed. He stated, "There is a need for more avenues, including survivor-centered pathways to achieve accountability."

Bennett, while supporting the legalization of the term "gender apartheid," called for the establishment of an independent and comprehensive mechanism to investigate human rights violations in Afghanistan. He had previously described the Taliban-controlled judicial system as "a tool for maintaining a repressive and misogynistic ideology" and warned that this system, since August 2021, has profoundly changed and deviated from the principles of justice.

Meanwhile, Negara Mirdad, Deputy Ambassador of Afghanistan in Poland, described the current situation of women in Afghanistan at this session as a clear example of gender apartheid and said, "What is happening in Afghanistan is not just repression, but gender apartheid." She added, "Our lives, voices, and capacities have been deliberately erased not only by the Taliban but also by the slow machinery of global justice."

Mirdad emphasized that what is being imposed on Afghan women today is neither culture nor religion but the systematic destruction of the civic identity of womanhood. In her opinion, the international community is still debating terminology while Afghan women continue to be excluded from decision-making processes. She said, "We Afghan women are not asking for inclusion but for joint ownership of our country’s future. Justice without us is not justice, it is bureaucracy. Inclusion and accountability are not a favor, they are a duty."

On the other hand, the organization "Inclusive and Women-Led" announced that it has prepared a report on "the destructive effects of the Taliban’s law on the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice on women" and will present it to the Human Rights Council. This report is based on consultations with 200 women from 20 provinces of Afghanistan and calls for greater international support for Afghan women.