Today Monash University, together with La Trobe University and Deakin University will host a conference: Three Years of Taliban Rule in Afghanistan: Addressing the Human Rights, Humanitarian and Political Crises. The purpose of today’s conference is to shed light on the multiple crises that have emerged in Afghanistan since the Taliban regained control three years ago.
The conference brings together experts, policymakers, activists, government officials and members of the diaspora community from Afghanistan to engage in in-depth discussions on the intersecting political, human rights and humanitarian crises under the Taliban rule.
Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in
Afghanistan, will deliver the keynote speech, providing an overview of the human rights situation under the Taliban in the country.
A Monash expert is available to talk about the multiple crises currently impacting Afghanistan, particularly the rights of women and girls in the country.
Dr Farkhondeh Akbari, Postdoc Fellow, Monash Gender, Peace and Security
Contact: +61 435 918 908 or farkhondeh.akbari@monash.edu
farkhondeh.akbari@monash.edu | +61 435 918 908
Read more of Dr Akbari’s commentary at Monash Lens
The following can be attributed to Dr Akbari:
“Afghanistan under the Taliban is the only country in the world where girls are banned from attending secondary school. The Taliban regime has imposed a system of gender apartheid, severely restricting all aspects of women’s lives, both public and private. These restrictions on women’s rights are the salient feature of the Taliban rule, which challenges the international norms on gender equality, and the Women, Peace and Security agenda. In an era of efforts to advance gender equality and feminist foreign policies, the girls of Afghanistan ask: ‘what is the world doing to address the gender crisis in Afghanistan?’.
“The multiple crises in Afghanistan require a multifaceted and cohesive international approach to support the women and girls in Afghanistan and amplify the voice of women’s rights activists inside the country, resisting Taliban rule. It is imperative that after three years of Taliban rule, the world considers and employs a range of measures to respond to the deepening gender apartheid.”
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