Zahra Joya: As the world marked International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women this week, I spoke with the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Afghanistan Richard Bennett about the dire situation facing women and girls.
Richard knows Afghanistan well. He’s previously served as the head of the human rights service with the UN’s mission in Afghanistan and as an advisor to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.
He took up his current position, which is unpaid, in May 2022 — less than a year after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan — and he has worked tirelessly to highlight the worsening situation for Afghan women.
I asked him about the current state of women’s rights in Afghanistan under the Taliban, and about the challenges he faces in his role – from Taliban restrictions to UN budget cuts.
Here is a transcript of our conversation, edited for clarity and length.
Zahra Joya: How widespread and intentional is violence against women in Afghanistan today?
Richard Bennett: It is very widespread. If one defines violence against women as it is usually defined, to include not only physical violence, but also structural violence and psychological violence, it impacts all women in Afghanistan.
There is unfortunately a history of such violence in Afghanistan due to the very patriarchal system and patriarchal culture in Afghanistan, which is why 20 years ago, the parliament and the activists introduced the elimination of violence against women laws and the relevant institutions. However, it has gotten worse because of the Taliban’s systematic erasure of women. They’ve removed both the laws and the institutions that helped to protect women from violence, including the shelters, so it’s very widespread and a very serious situation for all of these reasons.
Zahra Joya: Based on what you observe, do you think violence against women has increased?
Richard Bennett: Of course it’s increased. It has increased institutionally and structurally because women are removed from public life. There are restrictions on education, employment, movement, and access to health, among others. This makes women and girls more vulnerable to exploitation. Also, there are numerous Taliban decrees, which we’re well aware of, with over 100 now, and the law on the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice is another example of a measure that has increased violence against women.
It’s also increased because of the economic situation. People are living in poverty. Women are often confined to their homes. The Taliban themselves are violent towards women, especially protesters, or even women who don’t wear the clothes, the hijab, that the Taliban want.
And then there’s also, because of a combination of poverty and unemployment, a lot of family tensions, and so it’s likely that domestic violence from other members of the family, including the male members of the family, has also increased. But it is difficult to get the information.
And one of the reasons it’s difficult to get the information is, as you know as a journalist, because the de-facto authorities don’t want us to have access. And because freedom of information and expression is much restricted, so that people, women and girls in particular, but men and boys too, are too afraid to speak out.
Zahra Joya: You’ve mentioned all different forms of violence against women — psychological, physical and domestic violence and economic pressure on women’s lives. Which form of violence against women and girls worries you the most right now?
Richard Bennett: Well, they all worry me a lot right now. I’m very concerned about forced and child marriage. We are tracking increases in this area for the reasons I’ve just given, including economic and other reasons. We’re also concerned about violence by the state authorities, including against those detained in prisons, because we have been receiving reports for now four years about this kind of violence, especially against women protesters who are peacefully protesting according to their rights, are arrested and often are subject to different forms of serious violence.
Zahra Joya: As you mentioned, we are not directly able to monitor the violence in Afghanistan. Is that a big concern, do you think?
Richard Bennett: I think it’s difficult, because of a lack of freedom of information and freedom of expression. Also [there are] no longer any safe pathways for women and girls to report violence. In the past, they could have reported to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, or to the special procedures, courts, and prosecutors established under the Elimination of Violence against Women law. There is now no parliament, and there is a significant problem with access to justice because all the judges, whether they’re women or men, have been removed. And there are no women now involved as judges or prosecutors.
However, the women continue to speak out. They are still resisting and continue to share their stories. And I suppose that you, like me, receive stories from women every day, often through direct messaging. Then we talk to them. And so, we are still able to collect critical information.
This happens without going to the country, and you might ask me, ‘Well, now you’re not allowed to go to the country.’ Does that make a lot of difference? I would say not really, actually, because even when I went to the country previously, they were short visits. One had to be very careful not to harm the women by exposing them. And secondly, now the UN has a budget crisis, and even if I were allowed or permitted by the Taliban to go to the country, there is only enough budget for a one 10-day visit a year.
So, what we can get online and in person from women inside the country, but also from speaking to women who have recently left the country and maybe suffered violence, is the major way that we get the information whenever I write a report I consult with Afghans inside the country and ask for written inputs. For my report on access to justice I reviewed 193 submissions from 20 provinces.
Zahra Joya: This is a very big concern. I hope you receive the necessary support, it is very important for us to have you on board as observers.
My next question would be, a year after you reported about the abuse and sexual assault of women in Taliban custody, what is your updated assessment today?
Richard Bennett: We are still getting reports. It’s difficult to document them because our policy is to only document in detail the reports from survivors once they are safe. At the moment, we think they are only really safe after they leave the country, so we document cases and can follow up with in-depth interviews once they are in a safe location.
I think the second thing is that most of the cases that we have heard about have been in the detention of the Taliban intelligence department, which is known as the General Directorate of Intelligence, which arrests people and runs detention centres which are not accessible. I am not aware that any monitoring can take place in those centres.
In the prisons run by the de-facto office of prison affairs, we see less concern about this matter. Additionally, we know that UNAMA and some other agencies are able to visit those prisons, and prison visits are really important, especially without notice.
We have received very concerning reports. But on the positive side, we know that there are now some accountability mechanisms in place at the International Criminal Court. Maybe there will be other accountability processes, possibly at the ICJ and with the Independent Investigative Mechanims that the Human Rights Council recently established. And those people who have been responsible for sexual violence will ultimately be brought to justice and held accountable. So, justice may not happen next week, but I am confident it will happen in due course.
Zahra Joya: Despite the many challenges, what can be done to reduce gender-based violence and discrimination in Afghanistan?
Richard Bennett: Well, I have been promoting what I call an all-tools approach to human rights violations, and this applies also to gender-based violence in Afghanistan. We should remember that when we talk about gender-based violence, it’s violence against all genders, so that it may be violence against women and girls. It may be violence against members of the LGBTI+ community, or it may be violence against boys and men who are standing up for the rights of women and girls, for example the rights to be free and to be able to protest, for example.
So, what we need, I would say, are four things. First, as I mentioned earlier, we need accountability processes for these violations and crimes, which are crimes against humanity. We have begun to establish some of these processes, and to do that, we must be able to document the truth about what is happening.
Second, the civil society in Afghanistan, which is under pressure but is still alive, needs to be properly supported, politically and with funding. Civil society organisations, especially those led by women, require increased funding to support their activities and their work to protect women. There is also a need for increased humanitarian funding for Afghanistan. Humanitarian funding has been decreasing over the last years, and we urge it to be increased again to meet the urgent needs for humanitarian support in Afghanistan. Also, funding is needed to expand education and economic empowerment opportunities for women and girls in Afghanistan. Third, advocacy, where we really look to the international community to impose sustained and principled pressure, including the establishment of clear human rights benchmarks, for engagement with the de facto authorities, and all members of the international community should unify to make it clear that there’ll be no normalisation of the Taliban de-facto authorities unless and until there are demonstrable improvements in human rights, especially for women and girls. And then finally, I think inclusiveness where we need the rights, the voices and the agency of women and girls to be at the centre of all discussions about the future of Afghanistan.
We have seen refugees being returned to Afghanistan, mainly by Iran and Pakistan. Now we’re seeing it by other countries – even in Europe, countries are returning refugees. It is not safe to return refugees to Afghanistan. They are at risk of persecution, and there is also too much economic pressure on the country without this. However, those countries that support and host refugees need more support themselves, particularly the neighbouring countries I mentioned, such as Iran and Pakistan, as well as other northern neighbours, including Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. These countries also require additional support from other nations.
There’s a moral imperative in Afghanistan from Western countries, they intervened in Afghanistan in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks on the US. They invested a lot, and they assured Afghans that they would continue to support their human rights, whether they’re women, girls or minorities, ethnic and religious marginalised groups. And then they withdrew very quickly. I think Afghans knew eventually the international community would withdraw. But they did not expect it to happen in the way that it did.
Zahra Joya: Last but of course not least, women’s rights activists believe that the Taliban have established a system of gender apartheid in Afghanistan. From your point of view, does what is taking place in Afghanistan constitute gender apartheid?
Richard Bennett: I began writing about this topic in June 2023, in collaboration with the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls. I’ve written different reports since then, describing the Taliban’s institutionalised system of gender discrimination, segregation, domination and oppression as meeting the criteria for (gender) apartheid. I have also listened to Afghan women who’ve been describing the situation as gender apartheid. They first started doing that a long time ago, in the 1990s actually, and then for 20 years, it wasn’t really necessary.
But since 2021, many Afghan women feel that the term gender apartheid resonates because it’s so clearly capturing the intentional and ideological nature of the Taliban’s denial of the rights and dignity of women and girls. It also affects men and boys, as well as individuals who identify as gender diverse. So, it is a strong mobilising concept.
However, to is not yet illegal. In international law, there is no such thing as gender apartheid. There is only apartheid, which is defined on the grounds of race. However, a process is underway at the UN headquarters in New York where a new human rights treaty on crimes against humanity is being negotiated, which will take several years. And I’m supporting the inclusion of gender apartheid in that treaty.
However, we should also remember that already gender persecution is a very, very serious offence. It’s a crime against humanity. It is specifically included in the Rome Statute, which establishes the International Criminal Court. It is the law of the International Criminal Court, and the crime of gender persecution can already be prosecuted. We have seen just some months ago that arrest warrants have been issued for the Taliban Supreme Leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada and their Chief Justice, Sheikh Haqqani, for the crime of gender persecution.
Zahra Joya: Thank you so much, Richard. Is there anything you’d like to add?
Richard Bennett: I am in awe of the way Afghan women and girls are resisting, continuing to resist, and not giving up; they are an inspiration to us all. They don’t give up on education; they don’t give up on their other human rights. They offer hope that the situation will improve in the future. They make it clear to all of us that every human being is born equal, regardless of gender. We must start from the premise that every human being is born equal in rights and dignity, and no one can take away your rights or your dignity. They can try, but they will fail.
