From Gender Apartheid to Femicide: Taliban’s “Most Extreme and Brutal” Actions Against Women

As the widespread international reactions to the Taliban’s closure of medical institutes for women and girls in Afghanistan continue, UN experts have classified this action as “femicide.” According to the UN, femicide arises from discrimination against women and girls, unequal power dynamics, and entrenched gender stereotypes, manifesting as the most extreme and brutal forms of violence against women. These experts stressed that banning women from studying medical sciences would inevitably lead to “unnecessary suffering, illness, and potentially the death of women.”

Legal experts have also argued that the Taliban’s actions constitute systematic femicide. They assert that the Taliban are actively creating conditions that foster femicide in Afghanistan. Reports from human rights organizations reveal that the Taliban have issued over 70 restrictive decrees targeting women and girls, effectively excluding them from all aspects of public life. Amnesty International and the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan have previously warned that the Taliban’s widespread and severe violations of women’s rights may amount to crimes against humanity. Link to full article here.