Malala Yousafzai calls for end to gender apartheid in Mandela lecture

Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai has called on governments to make gender apartheid a crime against humanity and in that way stand with Afghan girls and women who are being oppressed by the Taliban. 

Yousafzai delivered the 21st Nelson Mandela annual lecture in Johannesburg on Tuesday, 10 years to the day after Mandela passed away. 

“It took a bullet to my head for the world to stand with me. What will it take for the world to stand with the girls and women of Afghanistan?”

Malala said she asked herself what was the injustice that the world was overlooking, where the world allowed inhumanity to become a status quo.

“The answer for me was very clear and personal; the oppression of girls and women in Afghanistan. My family and I know how to live under the Taliban ideology.”

The Taliban took over in Afghanistan in 2021 and this led to the end of schooling for children in secondary schools and higher education institutions.

Yousafzai said that at 15 she was shot and nearly killed for standing up for her right to receive an education.

“Just two years ago, women in Afghanistan were working, serving in leadership positions and travelling freely. Girls of all ages were playing soccer and cricket and learning in schools.” 

She said when the Taliban seized power a second time in 2021, as they first did in the 1990s, they quickly began the systemic oppression of girls and women. She said that for a short time this made headlines but the world has since turned its back on the Afghan people.

“Maybe this reflects the sheer number of crises the world is facing: violence and displacement in Sudan, famine in Yemen, the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine and of course the unjust bombardment of Gaza, where a child is killed every 10 minutes.

“We cannot allow ourselves to buy into the false notion that we can care about one crisis at a time. We must be able to hold space for suffering wherever there is suffering in the world.” 

She said the first imperative was to call the Taliban regime what it really is.

“It is [practising] gender apartheid. Gender-based discrimination exists in every country. Gender-based persecution exists in many countries. But gender apartheid is different.” 

She said apartheid is a system that is imposed and enforced by those in power, the very people who are supposed to protect their citizens. She said in SA, defenders of such a system insisted it was a natural order of things to separate whites from non-whites.

“Similarly in Afghanistan, Taliban says oppressing girls and women is a matter of religion. That is only an excuse and it is also not true. Many Muslim scholars have made it clear Islam does not condone denying girls the right to education and to work.” 

She said the Taliban have issued more than 80 decrees restricting girls’ and women’s rights. 

“If you are a girl in Afghanistan, the Taliban has decided a future for you. You cannot attend high school and university. You cannot leave your house on your own.” 

She said punishment was severe, including forced marriages, beatings and death. “In effect the Taliban has made being a girl illegal.”   

She said gender apartheid has not yet been explicitly codified. 

“I call every government in every country to make gender apartheid a crime against humanity. We have an opportunity to do that right now. The UN is now drafting and debating a new crimes against humanity treaty.” 

She said the international law was not an abstraction but a practical tool that can be used to protect the oppressed and to hold the Taliban to account. 

“As we saw with South Africa, it can spur and strengthen collective action. In these ways codification will help prevent gender apartheid from happening elsewhere. It will send a strong message of support to the girls and women of Afghanistan who have been demanding this.”

Yousafzai said there were many Afghans rising up against the oppression and they should not do this alone

“As we press to make gender apartheid a crime against humanity, there is more we can do now. First, international actors must resist normalising relations with the Taliban.

“This also means companies seeking to make business deals with them, those who prioritise political or financial gains over human rights are condoning gender apartheid.”

She said ways should be found to ensure that Afghan girls are taught at home through digital learning platforms.

She said a global movement against gender apartheid must be built which includes student groups, religious leaders and other human rights activists to build public pressure against the regime.   

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