By Deborah Castellano Lubov
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai is decrying repressive policies for girls and women in Afghanistan, and is appealing to Muslim leaders to challenge the Taliban government in Afghanistan, reported BBC.
The Pakistani education activist, whose Prize was awarded for her promotion of children’s rights to education and against suppressing them, did so when speaking on Sunday to an international summit hosted in Islamabad.
Not seen as human beings
Addressing dozens of Ministers and scholars from Muslim-majority countries, who advocate for girls’ education in Islamic countries and who were present at the event, she stated, “Simply put, the Taliban in Afghanistan do not see women as human beings.”
The summit, organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Pakistan government and the Muslim World League, invited the Taliban government leaders, but they did not attend.
The BBC noted that the Taliban government declined to respond to its request for comment on the advocate’s remarks and that they have previously said they respect women’s rights in accordance with their interpretation of Afghan culture and Islamic law.
In 2021, the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan. Since then, its government has not been formally recognised by a single foreign government.
Western powers call for change
Western powers insist that their policies restricting women need to change.
Since Afghanistan is the only country in the world where women and girls are prevented from accessing secondary and higher education, some one and a half million have been deliberately deprived of schooling.
“Afghanistan is the only country in the world,” Ms Yousafzai informed, “where girls are completely banned from education beyond grade six.”
Moreover, in December, women were also banned from training as midwives and nurses, effectively closing off their last route to further education in the country.
A recent law even prohibits women from singing or reciting poetry in public under the Taliban government’s ultra-strict application of Islamic law. It also encourages them to “veil” their voices and bodies outside the home. Some local radio and television stations have also stopped broadcasting female voices.
The latest “gender-based” order issued by the Taliban government bans the construction of windows in residential buildings that overlook areas used by women and says that existing ones should be blocked.
‘Gender apartheid’
In her remarks, Ms Yousafzai suggested the Taliban government had again created “a system of gender apartheid,” and warned that girls’ education is at risk in multiple countries. She observed that the war on Gaza has “decimated the entire education system.”
For these reasons, the Nobel Peace Prize Winner urged those present to “call out the worst violations” of girls’ right to education, and pointed out that crises in countries such as Afghanistan, Yemen and Sudan meant “the entire future of girls is stolen.”
(Source: BBC) – Vatican News
