BRUSSELS, Belgium: The European Parliament’s Committee on Petitions is scheduled to discuss recognising gender apartheid in Afghanistan during a meeting in Brussels on November 5, according to a letter sent to former Afghan lawmaker Baktash Siawash.
The committee confirmed the scheduled discussion in written correspondence shared by Siawash with the media.
The development follows months of campaigning by Afghan women’s rights activists and human rights defenders seeking stronger international action against restrictions imposed on women and girls under Taliban rule.
Activists have organised protest camps in Brussels, Strasbourg and Geneva, gathering thousands of signatures urging European institutions to recognise the systematic exclusion of Afghan women from public life.
Growing European, International Concern
The European Parliament has previously adopted resolutions condemning restrictions on women’s rights in Afghanistan and calling for gender apartheid to be recognised as a crime against humanity.
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In mid-October, the United Nations Human Rights Council expressed serious concern over what it described as the Taliban’s widespread and systematic repression of women and girls.
The council criticised policies involving discrimination, segregation and exclusion, warning that their consequences were intolerable.
UN experts and international human rights organisations have repeatedly raised concerns about restrictions affecting Afghan women’s access to education, employment and public participation.
Several experts argue that these measures warrant examination under the concept of gender apartheid.
The November meeting will provide an opportunity for European lawmakers to consider the petition and its implications for international accountability.
