Twenty female speakers of parliaments from around the world published an article in Le Monde newspaper reaffirming their commitment to support the rights of Afghan women and girls in the field of education.
In an open letter, 158 French senators have also called for the recognition of gender apartheid in Afghanistan.
Roberta Metsola of the European Parliament and Yaël Braun-Pivet of France; Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the US House of Representatives; Francina Armengol of Spain, and Carolina Siqueira of Angola are among the authors of this article.
The article reads in part, "Afghanistan today is the only country that has banned the education of girls over the age of 12 and women. Young Afghan girls should not be deprived of their universal and fundamental rights."
These women have considered the Taliban's latest decree banning women's voices as "the last nail in the coffin of women's freedoms”. The article added that according to the decree, women are prohibited from leaving the house without a male escort, their voices cannot be heard in public places, or even read poetry. In the article, female politicians ask, "What is their crime? Being a woman. What is their sin?"
In their article, the speakers of the parliaments of 20 countries pledged that they will not leave Afghan women alone.
Meanwhile, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25, 158 French senators on Monday expressed concern over the situation of women in Afghanistan and condemned "gender apartheid" against them.
In an open letter published on the initiative of Dominique Vérien, the head of the French Senate's delegation of women's rights, they wrote that Afghan women have been deprived of all their rights under the rule of an "authoritarian regime".
In their letter, the senators called the Taliban's actions against women in Afghanistan a "gender-based crime against humanity" and condemned it.
In their letter to the international community and the United Nations, the 158 senators wrote that "the Taliban have carried out the first gender apartheid in modern human history before our eyes”.
In another part of the letter, it is stated that "Afghan women, who have been deprived of their faces, are now deprived of even having a voice and do not have the right to have their voices heard”.
The senators called on all political groups in the French parliament and the United Nations to "in no way legitimise an institutionalised system of repression that leads to the exclusion of women”.
They also called on other European countries to recognise the persecution of women as a "gender-based crime against humanity".
Human rights activists said that the Taliban has established gender apartheid in Afghanistan by imposing sweeping restrictions on women and banning women's education and work.
Human rights organisations have considered the Taliban's actions against Afghan women as a clear example of gender discrimination.
Women in Afghanistan under the Taliban's rule are not allowed to go to parks, sports clubs, and beauty salons, and are not allowed to leave the house without a male companion.
