Richard Bennett says banning Afghan girls from school is a crime against humanity
Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, says the exclusion of girls from secondary education in Afghanistan has entered its fifth year and that the situation is “cruel and potentially a crime against humanity.”
In a post on X on Thursday, 26 September, he said that with the restrictions still in place, a generation of Afghan girls has now lost its entire period of secondary education, a situation he said has had far-reaching effects on girls’ lives and the country’s future.
Bennett said Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where half of the population is still deprived of secondary education and above. He added that the ban has had serious consequences, including for girls’ mental health.
The UN Special Rapporteur called for girls’ schools to be reopened with a comprehensive curriculum and stressed that the struggle for Afghan girls’ basic human rights continues.
According to Richard Bennett, the Taliban administration barred Afghan girls from secondary education on 17 September 2021, and 1,826 days have now passed since the restriction was imposed. Bennett is one of the leading figures monitoring the human rights situation in Afghanistan under the mandate of the UN Human Rights Council.
