Taliban Enforces New Manifesto In What Is Being Described as a Gender Apartheid
The Taliban’s re-seizing of power came shortly after the United States’ exit from Afghanistan in August of 2021, a rise of power that has only increased in severity in the years following. The Taliban’s renewed rise to power has resulted in draconian laws restricting women’s freedom. These updates have received international media coverage with the release of a new manifesto that was announced by the Taliban on July 31, 2024.
“Apartheid” is a noun defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary as, “A former policy of segregation and political, social, and economic discrimination against the non-white majority in the Republic of South Africa.” While “Apartheid” is a term that originally described racial segregation, it has become a term that can also refer to other forms of oppressive segregation not related to race, such as gender. The Taliban’s new “Morality Laws” dictate that women are not allowed to speak or make any noise in public at all, and their bare faces are banned from being seen. The 114 page manifesto details in detail the restrictions on women’s rights.
Many Afghan women have stated that they feel they have no hope for a future, with one woman named Musarat Faramaz saying, “We are going back to the first reign of the Taliban, when women did not have the right to leave the house.”
Despite the oppression that Afghan women are facing, there is still hope to be found in small corners of the country. Underground schools have been operating in secret, even while knowing that the risk of being found out is imprisonment or worse.
Richard Bennet, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights issues in Afghanistan repeatedly referred to the situation as a “Gender Apartheid” and a gross violation of human rights, stating, “The Taliban’s institutionalized system of discrimination, segregation, disrespect for dignity and exclusion of women and girls constituted in and of itself a widespread and systematic attack on the entire civilian population of Afghanistan.”
There have been many criticisms regarding inaction on this issue and calls for action, with Human Rights Watch stating, “Despite these egregious violations of women’s rights, there has not been a coherent, coordinated, and rights-based response to this crisis from the international community.”
