Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai has used a UK Parliament meeting to call on global leaders to introduce a law banning gender discrimination, to end the “cruel” Taliban abuse of women in Afghanistan.
With a tranche of new laws against women brought in by the extremists, who took power more than three years ago, she demanded “a decisive, strong international response” as the abuse was “a severe crime against humanity”.
Malala, who was shot in the head by the Pakistan Taliban in 2012, spoke in the presence of Britain’s Middle East Minister, Hamish Falconer. He disclosed to the all-party parliamentary group on women, peace and security, that Britain was now reviewing its relationship with the Taliban after failed dialogue under the previous Conservative government.
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But the minister was told by Malala that “this has got to be at the top of the global agenda” and that defining gender apartheid as a crime would be “a watershed moment for the future of Afghanistan”.
“Women and girls are systematically being erased from public life by the Taliban,” she told the Westminster meeting. “The situation is getting worse and at the same time the perpetrators remain unaccountable.”
There had been a “systematic exclusion of women” from all public life and education. “It’s an organised system that drives women and girls from all aspects of society,” she added. “The Taliban is bringing in edicts to change the law to limit women from every possible position.”
There had also been a surge in suicides among girls in Afghanistan with more that 1.5 million aged between 12 and 18 not allowed to go to school, causing a severe mental health impact, the meeting was told.
Furthermore, as one of the world’s poorest countries, the Taliban were harming the Afghan people by banning women from work costing the economy $6 billion a year, according to the World Bank.
The British government was called on to use its powers to do more to protect the rights of Afghan women and girls.
Mr Falconer, whose role includes special responsibility for Afghanistan, told the audience made up largely of women that the situation was “even worse than in the 90s when gender apartheid first came about”.
He announced the review into the UK’s relationship with Afghanistan after the previous government had explored possibilities of renewing relations with the Taliban without success.
“We are a new government and Afghanistan is very much on my mind,” he said. “We are undertaking a review on our position to the Taliban.”
Mr Falconer, who as a foreign office official helped in hostage negotiations with the Taliban, stated that the extremists now wanted to “eradicate Afghan women and their voices”, adding “even their vocal cords cannot be exercised in public”.
Women who had been employed as doctors, engineers, politicians, journalists and aid workers had now not been in work for nearly four years, the “Countering Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan” meeting was told.
If they broke the Talban’s “cruel decrees” they were “beaten, harassed and punished,” Malala said.
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