Women’s protests in Germany and Pakistan; gender apartheid in Afghanistan to be recognized

A group of protesting women in Pakistan and Germany demanded recognition of gender apartheid in Afghanistan through separate protest gatherings.

The Powerful Women of Afghanistan Movement, the Freedom Seekers Movement in Exile in Pakistan, and a group of protesters in Germany raised anti-Taliban slogans on Saturday, May 22nd, in Islamabad and Berlin.

These protesters condemned the world’s silence and human rights organizations’ inaction towards gender apartheid in Afghanistan as deadly.

Women protesters in Pakistan stated that Afghan women are deprived of their basic and citizenship rights due to their gender and are excluded from political and social platforms because of being women.

The statement reads: “We did not remain silent; from the streets of Kabul to cities worldwide, we cried out and demanded the world recognize what Afghan women endure as blatant oppression and gender apartheid, with women being systematically erased based on an apartheid strategy.”

They emphasized that gender apartheid is a stark reality in many countries worldwide and is imposed horrifically on women in Afghanistan.

Protesters in Berlin, Germany, also demanded that the German government and countries worldwide recognize gender apartheid as a crime against humanity.

They also called for the unconditional release of political prisoners, including protesting women and girls’ education activists, from Taliban prisons and urged countries worldwide to stop sending money under the guise of humanitarian aid to the Taliban.

The protesters considered the Taliban’s presence in international forums as the world’s attempt to legitimize and establish political ties with the Taliban.

These protests come as the recent “Fight Against Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan” campaign has been launched by some women and former Taliban prisoners to achieve women’s rights and end gender apartheid in Afghanistan.