According to UN experts, the Taliban’s closing of medical facilities for women and girls in Afghanistan has sparked considerable international outrage and been labeled “femicide.” The UN claims that femicide, which takes the form of the most severe and heinous acts of violence against women, is caused by discrimination against women and girls, unbalanced power relations, and ingrained gender stereotypes. “Unnecessary suffering, illness, and potentially the death of women” would result from prohibiting women from pursuing medical studies, these experts emphasized.
Gender apartheid under the Taliban
Additionally, legal experts contend that the Taliban’s activities amount to systemic femicide. They claim that the Taliban are deliberately fostering an environment in Afghanistan that encourages femicide. The Taliban have issued more than 70 draconian decrees that effectively bar women and girls from participating in any part of public life, according to reports from human rights organizations. The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan and Amnesty International have already issued warnings that the Taliban’s serious and pervasive abuses of women’s rights could qualify as crimes against humanity. UN experts referred to the prohibition on women studying medical sciences as “femicide” in a formal statement. The statement expressed profound worry over the consequences, emphasizing that this prohibition would cause “unnecessary suffering, illness, and potentially the death of women.” The statement also underlined how Afghan women and girls’ health, dignity, and future are seriously jeopardized by the Taliban’s recent prohibition. It described this policy as just another outright violation of their rights. The scientists classified the limitation as a possible case of femicide and warned that it would cause agony, illness, and death both immediately and over generations.
Escalating brutality against women
UN experts also noted that only women in Afghanistan are permitted to treat other women and girls due to Taliban regulations. They cautioned that the healthcare and general well-being of women could suffer irreversible harm as a result of this new prohibition. They also out that the Taliban have consistently denied women and girls access to fundamental rights since seizing power, including as work, education, freedom of movement, expression, and a life free from violence. In the midst of an ongoing humanitarian crisis, the statement warned that the recently reported restriction will further destabilize Afghanistan’s already precarious healthcare system and increase systemic discrimination against women and girls. The UN specialists said that
“with alarmingly high maternal and infant mortality rates, maternal and child healthcare in Afghanistan is already in a critical state.”
They went on to say that the new prohibition will worsen the situation and have far-reaching, permanent effects. The experts called on the international community to vigorously oppose the Taliban’s ongoing harsh policies against women and urged the Taliban to reverse this decision.
Systematic oppression of Afghan women
“The world needs to stand with Afghan women and girls, ensuring that their basic rights are respected and holding the Taliban responsible for their actions,” the experts said. The UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls and UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan Richard Bennett also demanded that the Taliban immediately reverse their policy and other limitations that harm women. According to these experts, the Taliban’s recent actions were “femicide,” which is defined by the UN as the willful killing of women and girls for reasons related to gender discrimination. The extensive and serious violence that Afghan women and girls endure under Taliban control was previously highlighted in a report delivered by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights at the 56th session of the UN Human Rights Council. He maintained that this kind of assault can be considered a crime against humanity. Discussions about gender apartheid as a crime against humanity should be sparked by the Taliban’s repressive policies, the rapporteur continued. He underlined that in order to handle the crisis, all available resources must be used.
The Taliban’s war on women’s rights
The United Nations reaffirmed on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, that femicide is the most severe and heinous form of violence against women and that it is caused by discrimination based on gender. The UN added that femicide is part of a spectrum of interrelated abuse that takes place in public places, workplaces, families, and schools and is frequently motivated by damaging social standards, ingrained gender stereotypes, and unbalanced power relations. Former Kabul University lecturer Shahla Farid told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that the Taliban’s treatment of women is a type of systemic femicide. She clarified that femicide is a serious type of gender-based violence that needs to be acknowledged as a society and human rights issue in addition to being an individual crime.
