End Gender Apartheid: struggles and resistance from Iran and Afghanistan

In Afghanistan and Iran, women and girls live in a reality of systematic oppression and inequality. The regimes of the Taliban and the Islamic Republic of Iran impose rules that deny women fundamental rights, deprive them of any form of social participation and relegate them to a condition of extreme subordination. What we observe in these countries is not simply a series of discriminatory acts, but an institutionalized and structural system of gender apartheid.

Due to its systematic, structural and intentional nature, gender apartheid must be recognised as a crime against humanity: this is the demand made by Iranian and Afghan women activists, who have been calling for this fundamental step for years, most recently with the End Gender Apartheid campaign. The definition of apartheid in international law in fact does not include gender hierarchies, only racial ones. This recognition would not only be symbolic: it would imply the possibility of prosecuting governments internationally, applying sanctions and promoting action to put an end to these injustices. On 10 October, the Treaty on Crimes against Humanity will be discussed again by the United Nations, offering a crucial opportunity to make this demand.

On 10 October, the Crimes Against Humanity Treaty will again be discussed by the United Nations, providing a crucial opportunity to make this demand.

We call on the Italian government and the European Parliament to actively support the recognition of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity.

 Introduces: Celeste Grossi (ARCI – Gender Politics)

Speakers: 

• Ferhesteh Rezaifar (Donna Vita Libertà Roma); 
• Parisa Nazari (Intercultural Mediator and activist of the Donna Vita Libertà movement); Semin Azimi (activist); 
• RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan); Tina Marinari (Amnesty International Italy); 
• Beatrice Biliato (CISDA – Italian Coordination in Support of Afghan Women)

Moderator: Alessandra Fabbretti, DIRE journalist