A United Nations expert said on Monday that the treatment of Afghan women and girls by the Taliban could amount to “gender apartheid” as their rights continue to be undermined by the governing authorities.
“Grave, systematic and institutionalized discrimination against women and girls is at the heart of Taliban ideology and rule, which also gives rise to concerns that they may be responsible for gender apartheid,” UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The UN defines gender apartheid as “economic and social sexual discrimination against individuals because of their gender or sex.”
His assessment came as Afghan rulers have banned millions of women from education and employment as part of their increasing curbs on women’s rights since they took over the country in 2021.
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