Malala Yousafzai and President Ramaphosa call for recognition of gender apartheid

Nobel Peace Laureate Malala Yousafzai and a delegation of Afghan women leaders visited South Africa to commemorate National Women’s Day. During the visit, Yousafzai and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called for the international community to recognize the Taliban’s systematic oppression of women in Afghanistan as ‘gender apartheid’.

President Ramaphosa emphasized South Africa’s duty to stand in solidarity with victims of gender persecution, drawing parallels between the current situation in Afghanistan and South Africa’s own history of apartheid. The delegation highlighted the restrictions imposed by the Taliban, which include banning girls from education beyond the sixth grade and severely limiting women’s employment and movement.

Advocates and human rights organizations are pushing for gender apartheid to be formally recognized as a crime against humanity under international law, similar to racial apartheid. The International Criminal Court has previously issued arrest warrants for senior Taliban leaders on charges of gender persecution.