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UN urged to declare Taliban's crackdown on women and girls a ‘gender apartheid’
Afghan women wait to receive food rations distributed by a humanitarian aid group, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, May 23, 2023

THE United Nations must legally declare the Taliban’s intensifying crackdown on women and girls a “gender apartheid,” the head of the UN agency promoting gender equality has urged.

In a security council meeting, UN Women executive director Sima Bahous said that more than 50 increasingly dire Taliban laws are being enforced in Afghanistan with more severity, including by male family members.

That is exacerbating mental health issues and suicidal thoughts, especially among young women, Ms Bahous said.

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The failure of international institutions, from the UN to the ICC, to hold the Taliban accountable for the brutal repression of women creates a climate of tolerance for daily crimes by the patriarchal regime, writes SHUKRIA RAHIMI