Countering Gender Apartheid & Gender Persecution in Afghanistan: Call for Global Action for Accountability and Codification 

On June 19th 2024, Womankind Worldwide and Women’s Regional Network (WRN) attended the event, Countering Gender Apartheid & Gender Persecution in Afghanistan: Call for Global Action for Accountability and Codification. Held on the sidelines of the 56th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland it was hosted by Afghanistan’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva, Albania’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva, Center for Dialogue and Progress – Geneva, Women’s Regional Network, Canada’s Feminist Forum for Afghanistan, Womankind Worldwide, Atlantic Council Strategic Litigation Project, and the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security.  

This session featured the Afghan and Albanian Ambassador, Afghan and South Asian activists as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett.  

The side event convened UN member states such as Iceland, the United States, the United Kingdom and Mexico withpolicymakers, legal experts, and civil society, to sharing information and coordinating efforts on this issue.  

The event posed an urgent call for global action on this women’s rights crisis, calling on the international community to ensure it does not forget the women of Afghanistan.The panel highlighted the importance of a multi-pronged approach when it comes to accountability mechanisms such as the ICJ and the ICC and national courts using universal jurisdiction. 

Recommendations stemming from the panel include:

• non-recognition of the Taliban 

• the importance of inclusion of civil society including women and minority groups in any discussions on Afghanistan and equitable distribution of humanitarian aid

• in terms of codification of gender apartheid, recommendations included to initiate a debate on the issue at the national level and conduct advocacy with Member states as well as support women activists within the existing End Gender Apartheid Campaign which is ongoing globally

At Womankind, we partner with Afghan women’s rights organisations to contribute to the sustained presence of women-led organisations in the region and support them to continue to coordinate, advocate and deliver their work for Afghan women and girls.