Taliban do not see women as human beings, Malala Yousafzai says
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai decried the state of women’s rights in Taliban-led Afghanistan as “gender apartheid.”
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai decried the state of women’s rights in Afghanistan as “gender apartheid” on Sunday and urged Muslim leaders to speak out against the Taliban government’s repressive policies on women and girls' education.
“Simply put, the Taliban in Afghanistan do not see women as human beings,” she said, speaking in Islamabad at a summit on advancing girls’ education in Islamic countries organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Muslim World League.
The Pakistani education activist added there was “nothing Islamic” about the government’s policies, which ban teenage girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade and women from attending university.
Afghan women weave carpets at a factory on the outskirts of Kabul on Nov. 11.Wakil Kohsar / AFP via Getty ImagesYousafzai, 27, also urged the attendees, which included dozens of ministers and scholars from Muslim nations, to “openly challenge and denounce” the Taliban by recognizing gender apartheid as a crime against humanity under international criminal law.
“In Afghanistan, an entire generation of girls will be robbed of its future,” she said. “As Muslim leaders, now is the time to raise your voice, use your power.”
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