'Gender apartheid' should be crime under international law, Afghan and Iranian women say

Campaign seeks to gather international condemnation similar to that for racial apartheid

A girl sits in front of a bakery with Afghan women waiting to receive bread in Kabul, Afghanistan. Reuters

A coalition of Afghan and Iranian women leaders and international lawyers launched a global campaign on Wednesday urging the world to recognise gender apartheid as a crime under international law.

In an open letter on International Women's Day, they said the definition of apartheid under international law should be interpreted to include gender, not just race.

“This campaign will seek to expand the set of moral, political and legal tools available to mobilise international action against, and ultimately end, systems of gender apartheid," the letter reads.

Fawzia Koofi, one of the first female deputy speakers of the Afghan parliament, told The National: “It's the least the international community could bring in terms of accountability, not just in Afghanistan, but anywhere, because gender-based violence and discrimination is a global phenomenon.

"The worst is in Afghanistan.”

The letter states that women living in Iran and Afghanistan want to see global response similar to the international condemnation of apartheid-era South Africa.

“The international community must properly recognise the harms of a legally enshrined system in which women are treated as second-class citizens, and acknowledge this not only through condemnation but through effective, concerted action.”

Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE’s ambassador to the UN, told the Security Council on Wednesday that repressive decisions by the Taliban have "nothing to do" with Islam or Afghan culture, and risk “further entrenching the country’s international isolation".

Ms Nusseibeh said that while the UN mission in Afghanistan continued to merit support, the Security Council lacks a coherent political strategy.

She said that in times of crisis, "activity” could often be mistaken for “good policy", and what was needed was a strategic reassessment of the way forward.

The UAE and Japan oversee the Afghanistan file at the Security Council.

"We believe the Council needs to reconsider and initiate a more strategic overview of international engagement in Afghanistan," Ms Nusseibeh said.

"We need to articulate a well-defined pathway that serves to advance the well-being of all Afghans."

UN special representative Roza Otunbayeva told of divisions within the Taliban over edicts by their supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada.

Mr Akhundzada, who has defined his version of Sharia as "pure" Islam, has continuously dismissed input from other Taliban factions.

“This faction understands that attention must be paid to the real needs of the people,” Ms Otunbayeva said.

China’s deputy UN ambassador, Dai Bing, said protection of the rights and interests of Afghan women and girls cannot be achieved without lifting external constraints.

Mr Dai said unilateral sanctions had “seriously undermined” the economic foundations of the country and exacerbated the humanitarian situation there.

He insisted on the “immediate” return of Afghan assets frozen overseas and referred to a court case in New York that determined that the US had no legal right to further restrict them.

According to the UN, Afghanistan remains the largest humanitarian crisis globally.

Two thirds of the population, or 28 million people, will need humanitarian assistance this year to survive.