Iranian, Afghan women campaign for recognition of gender apartheid
Women in Istanbul protest against the Taliban on August 20, 2021, during a protest in solidarity with Afghan women after the Taliban took over Afghanistan.
What you need to know:
- Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and Fawzia Koofi of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission among women leaders who have launched a campaign for the recognition of the crime of gender apartheid under international law.
- The women have written an open letter to the international community hoping to compel global actors to expand the legal definition of apartheid under international law.
A group of Iranian and Afghan women leaders have launched a campaign for the recognition of the crime of gender apartheid under international law.
Among the prominent women at the forefront of the ‘'End Gender Apartheid Campaign' include Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi; the first female deputy speaker of the Afghan parliament, Fawzia Koofi; a commissioner of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and other international legal practitioners and activists.
In order to give impetus to their cause, a diverse coalition of Iranian and Afghan women have written an open letter for the international community to sign. Through the letter, they hope to compel global actors to expand the legal definition of apartheid under international law.
“Looking to the example of the international community’s condemnation of apartheid South Africa, women living in Iran and Afghanistan are similarly asking the International community to support the courageous defiance of Afghan women who have had their rights brutally stripped away,’’ reads part of the letter.
Dress code
Gender apartheid is currently not a crime under international law, however, the Rome Statute recognises apartheid as a crime against humanity.
Proponents of the Gender Apartheid campaign argue that under the general crime of apartheid, the systematic nature of the policies imposed in Afghanistan and Iran to downgrade the status of women in society are not fully covered.
The campaign cites the Taliban’s decisions after their takeover in August 2021, to ban women in Afghanistan from education, prohibiting them from working outside their homes, forcing them to follow the prescribed dress code, preventing them to travel long distances without a male chaperone amongst other stringent rules.
Similarly in Iran, women are currently banned from various fields of study, sporting events as well as from obtaining a passport or travelling out of the country without the permission of their husbands.
The coalition of women believe recognition of the crime of gender apartheid would be a catalyst for change for women’s rights in Afghanistan and Iran.
They are also demanding that governments around the globe make statements that condemn the gender apartheid regimes in Iran and Afghanistan.
