Malala Yousafzaide, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, denounced the gender apartheid situation in Afghanistan on Sunday and called on Muslim leaders to denounce the Taliban government’s oppressive educational policies for women and girls.
Speaking in Islamabad at a summit on improving girls’ education in Islamic nations hosted by the Muslim World League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, she stated bluntly that the Taliban in Afghanistan do not regard women as human beings.
The Pakistani education activist went on to say that the government’s regulations, which prohibit women from entering universities and teenage girls from attending school past the sixth grade, are not Islamic.
The 27-year-old Yousafzai also called on the attendees—which included dozens of Muslim ministers and academics—to publicly condemn and oppose the Taliban by declaring gender apartheid a crime against humanity under international criminal law.
“A whole generation of girls in Afghanistan will be deprived of their future,” she added. Now is the moment for Muslim leaders to speak up and make use of their influence.
Nearly 1.5 million Afghan women and girls are denied access to secondary and higher education, making Afghanistan the only nation in the world to do so.
The Taliban has relentlessly deprived women and girls of their basic rights since regaining power in 2021 by enacting rules that limit their access to employment, education, and freedoms of expression and movement.
It effectively ended women’s lone avenue for higher education in December by prohibiting them from pursuing training as nurses and midwives, endangering the lives of women and children.
It also issued an injunction earlier this month prohibiting windows in residential buildings from displaying ladies at home.
The summit was not attended by Afghan representatives.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, told NBC News that he did not want to comment on Malala Yousafzai’s comments about the Taliban.
The Taliban has previously declared that its policy regarding women’s rights will be guided by Sharia, its own understanding of Islamic law and Afghan culture.
The Taliban’s stringent policies toward women have prevented any foreign government from formally recognizing them, and the UN has repeatedly condemned the administration and declared that its harsh policies amount to gender apartheid in the nation.
Karima Bennounet, a civil society representative and international legal expert, told the U.N. Security Council in September 2023 that the efforts made since the Taliban regained power have failed and urged the U.N. and the international community to use every tool at their disposal to persuade the Taliban to change their ways.
One of the best ways to do this, she continued, would be to codify the crime into international law.