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By AnnaMarie Bena
Three years ago, the United States and its allies evacuated thousands of Afghans who had worked with them during the war against the Taliban. But the women and girls who remain in Afghanistan now live under a gender apartheid system.
Gender apartheid is not defined in international law nor is it considered in U.S. asylum and refugee law. But it should be.
In Afghanistan today women live under a barbaric system of repression. The Taliban have stripped women of their human rights, freedom, and dignity. They use intimidation, violence, and the methodical issuance of edicts to keep women in their homes, invisible, and with no opportunity to live a full life.
Gender apartheid is not defined in international law nor is it considered in U.S. asylum and refugee law. But it should be.
Taliban restrictions affect every aspect of women’s lives — from basic participation in society to education, employment, and access to justice. The Taliban most recently banned women’s voices and bare faces in public. Outside of the home, women must cover their faces and bodies entirely and they must be accompanied by a male relative.
Shortly after taking power in Afghanistan, the Taliban banned girls from attending secondary school. And directives about education have worsened over time – the Taliban ordered gender-segregated classrooms, then limited the subject areas women could study, and finally excluded female students from universities.
In the workforce, the Taliban have forbidden women from holding decision-making and managerial positions. Women are also prohibited from running certain businesses and cannot serve as lawyers, judges or in other positions in the justice system.
Since taking over Afghanistan, the Taliban have stopped institutional and legal support for women facing gender-based violence. As a result, more women and girls suffer domestic violence, exploitation, and abuse, including forced and child marriages.
Click here to read the complete op-ed at The Hill
AnnaMarie Bena is the senior vice president of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. She previously served as the director of policy in the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The post To aid Afghan women, the world must define and address gender apartheid appeared first on USCRI.
Source of original article: U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (refugees.org).
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