Richard Bennett Emphasizes the Need for Coordinated International Action Against Taliban Policies

This report was published on Wednesday (June 12) and is set to be presented at the 56th session of the UN Human Rights Council from June 18 to July 12.

In the report, Bennett details the condition of women during the three years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan and offers several recommendations, including policy changes and coordinated international actions against the Taliban's gender oppression.

Bennett's report calls for the lifting of the ban on girls' education, the immediate release of imprisoned women and girls, human rights activists, and the prompt restoration of women's rights to work and access to healthcare. He also demands that perpetrators of human rights violations be prosecuted according to international standards.

Bennett also calls for the transparent publication of government budgets by the Taliban and the allocation of specific funds to improve the financial and living conditions of people with disabilities, widows, and women heads of households.

Bennett emphasizes the international community to avoid normalizing or legitimizing Taliban officials until significant and measurable improvements in women's conditions are achieved. He urges international support for efforts to bring the Taliban to international court for human rights violations.

In his report, Bennett refers to the "institutionalized system of dominance and repression" of the Taliban against Afghan women and girls, calling for the criminalization of "gender apartheid" in international laws.

He suggests that the definition of gender apartheid be amended in the Rome Statute to be defined as "inhumane acts committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one gender group over any other gender group or groups with the intention of maintaining that regime."

He also calls for political support for activists in Afghanistan who are mobilizing around the concept of gender apartheid.

This report on the human rights situation in Afghanistan is being released ahead of the third United Nations meeting on Afghanistan, scheduled for June 30 in Doha, where, according to reports, human rights issues are not on the agenda.

In his previous reports, Richard Bennett described the Taliban's policies against Afghan women as "systematic" and "institutionalized," labeling them as "crimes against humanity" and suggesting that these policies could be considered "gender apartheid."

It is noteworthy that since the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan, they have imposed extensive restrictions on women, depriving them of many fundamental rights, including the right to education, work, and freedom of movement.