Letter to the UN for the recognition of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity

To the Sixth Commission

U.N. General Assembly

With this note C.I.S.D.A (Italian Committee Supporting Afghani Women) would like to contribute to the work of the Sixth Commission of the U.N. General Assembly on the Convention on Crimes against Humanity, asking that  the introduction of  the crime of “Gender Apartheid” could be  considered within the drafting of the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity.

We therefore send you our analysis and proposal for the definition of the crime of gender apartheid, hoping that it may be considered in the ways which are deemed appropriate . This proposal has a general scope, for any situation  in which it can be applicable, but it stems from the growing awareness of governments, international institutions, grassroots associations and activists that what is now happening in Afghanistan is a crime against humanity, whose nature is not yet fully recognized in existing Treaties and International Conventions.

The report of June 2024 by the Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan of the Human Rights  Council describes this country as the clearest case of a pervasive, methodic and institutionalized system of oppression and segregation of women and girls, where rules and policies deprive them of  their fundamental human rights  and violently punish them . C.I.S.D.A. is in contact with human rights activists in the country and they report severe mental depression in many women and a high number of suicides among them as the only way to escape a life of fear and reclusion.

We add our voice to the Special Rapporteur’s: we believe that including the crime of gender apartheid in the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity can support the international community in a  strong action to condemn and ostracize whoever – individuals, de facto governments, states or political regimes – creates a system of institutionalized gender oppression.

Since 1999, C.I.S.D.A. has worked together with activist organizations (the most important being R.A.W.A., Revolutionary Association of Afghani Women) who in hiding within Afghanistan have developed for decades projects supporting women, children and civil population in need. These activists combine their humanitarian work with the political denunciation of the severe violation of human rights and of crimes committed in Afghanistan; now by the Taliban and, before them, by fundamentalist groups and warlords who were in important social positions in previous governments of the Islamic Republic. Since the 1970s, regional and international powers have supported and financed criminals who have taken over control of the entire Afghani society for more than 40 years now, which has made it impossible for a lay and  democratic society to develop.

C.I.S.D.A and the women of R.A.W.A. believe that gender apartheid has developed in Afghanistan because of these dramatic events. We believe that it stems from the systemic violence resulting from the tragic combination of religious fundamentalism, armed conflicts, widespread corruption in the de facto government of the country, arms  drugs and human trafficking, climate change, humanitarian crises, forced migrations and terrorism.

What happens now in Taliban-run Afghanistan  is even more serious for the international community, because we are witnessing  the normalization of the  total deprivation of human rights of the Afghani people, women and LGBTQI+ individuals.

For all these reasons we praise the commitment and  leadership of the U.N. Human Rights Council to widen the Convention for the Prevention and Repression of Crimes against Humanity with the recognition and international condemnation of gender apartheid : in this way the principle of equal rights of women and men stated in the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights will be enshrined for every individual in the world, irrespective of their gender.

In line with the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan of the Human Rights Council, however, we believe that the introduction of the crime of gender apartheid cannot be disjointed from the necessity of UN State Members to not recognize in any way the de facto government of Afghanistan , take urgent steps to ban Taliban fundamentalism, prevent  friendly States  from funding and supplying weapons there, exclude the representatives of the de facto government from international diplomatic  relationships and not invite them to United Nation meetings. Doing this would legitimate a regime that keeps violating women human rights and the international legal obligations of Afghanistan.

• We enclose our proposal for the definition of gender apartheid , which has been drafted thanks to the legal expertise of Ms Laura Guercio, Lawyer and Professor, currently SG Universities Network for Children in Armed Conflict, Member of the Council of the European Law Institute, OSCE Expert
• Ms Paolina Massidda, International Criminal Lawyer specialised in gender crimes and crimes affecting children. Principal Counsel of the independent Office of Public Counsel for Victims (OPCV) at the ICC. Member of the Advisory Board of the UNETCHAC.

Yours sincerely

C.I.S.D.A.

LETTER dated December 17, 2024 from Arnold N. Pronto, Secretary of the UN Commission VI acknowledging receipt of the documentation sent by CISDA