Treaty On Crimes Against Humanity: States Must Give Afghan Women A Central Voice And Recognise Gender Apartheid

GENEVA (19 January 2026) – States must ensure the meaningful participation of Afghan women leaders and gender justice activists in the imminent negotiations on the new Treaty on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity in Afghanistan, UN experts* said today. They issued the following statement:

“For the treaty on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity to be a transformative instrument of justice, it cannot be drafted in a vacuum. Its legitimacy will depend on whether it enables the meaningful participation of those who are living under the very atrocities the treaty seeks to address and prevent. States must therefore stand in solidarity with Afghan women, girls and others targeted on the basis of their gender by ensuring their meaningful inclusion, and with serious consideration of the lived realities on the ground in Afghanistan.

We urge Member States to heed the calls of Afghan women, LGBT+ and other activists to include the crime of gender apartheid within the new treaty.

Afghanistan stands as one of the clearest and most urgent examples of why inclusive survivor participation is indispensable. Since retaking power in 2021, the Taliban has instituted a systematic and institutionalised campaign aimed at erasing Afghan women and girls, including through a plethora of restrictive edicts. The de facto authorities have banned girls from education beyond grade 6, severely restricted women’s right to work, and effectively criminalised their presence in public life.

The voices of Afghan women in civil society are not merely testimonies; they are authoritative sources and primary experts on the oppression they face. Their participation is essential to ensuring that international law evolves to address the realities of the atrocities unfolding today.

We call on all negotiating States and the UN to guarantee the inclusive and safe participation of women’s organisations, including through ensuring equal opportunities for participation of non-ECOSOC accredited organisations and individuals with the right to speak. States should support the codification of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity, and uphold gender-responsive provisions throughout the treaty. At the same time, we urge States to strengthen other modes of support for Afghan women, girls, and gender-diverse persons, including through actively preventing normalisation of the Taliban de facto regime, establishing safe, legal and long-term immigration pathways and providing sustained funding for women-led civil society.

Naming gender apartheid is a necessary step toward dismantling it.

We must stand in solidarity with those on the front lines by providing a legal name for their lived reality, ensuring the international community can hold perpetrators accountable for the totality of their crimes.”

*The experts:

• Claudia Flores (Chair), Ivana Krstić (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Estrada Tanck, Haina Lu, and Laura Nyirinkindi, the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls
• Richard Bennett, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan

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