Malala Yousafzai Calls for Global Action to End Afghanistan’s Repression of Women
Nobel laureate and human rights activist Malala Yousafzai has urged world leaders not to remain indifferent to the sweeping restrictions and repression facing women and girls in Afghanistan, and to take action to end the situation.
She made the appeal on Monday, 30 September, at a session titled “Women and Girls in Afghanistan; Five Years of Resistance, Solidarity and the Search for Accountability,” held on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Yousafzai said that women and girls in Afghanistan, despite being pushed out of public life, continue to stand up against what she called “gender apartheid” by the Taliban administration. According to her, the continuation of these restrictions over the past five years has deprived a large generation of Afghan girls of their future.
She also added that in conversations with Afghan girls, she has encountered students who are forced to continue their education in secret and underground schools. Yousafzai called on the international community to prioritise the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan and to recognise “gender apartheid.”
The United Nations General Assembly is one of the world’s most important annual diplomatic gatherings, and the issue of Afghan women’s rights has been raised repeatedly on its sidelines in recent years.
