Gender Apartheid

In Iran, the home country of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, women have lived under systematic and structural oppression by the regime since 1979. In Afghanistan, Taliban has implemented a range of laws and practices to oppress women, girls, and LGBTQ+ persons.

This treatment should be called Gender Apartheid, an international group of jurists and human rights defenders claim.

On International Women’s Day in 2023 they started the campaign End Gender Apartheid, calling for systematic oppression based on gender to be recognized as a form of apartheid under international law. The campaign is supported by Nobel Peace Prize laureates Narges Mohammadi, Shirin Ebadi and Malala Yousafzai, as well as a range of international experts and women’s activists.

In this event during the week of International Women’s Day, we ask:

Is “Gender Apartheid” the right word to describe the situation for girls and women in Iran and Afghanistan? And can an international law against gender apartheid help those suffering from systematic gender oppression?

You will meet:

Azadah Raz Mohammad, Legal Advisor, Atlantic Council

Shah Gul Rezaie, Afghan Human Rights Activist and former Member of Parliament in Afghanistan

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, Head of Iran Human Rights

Cecilie Hellestveit, Lawyer, Norwegian Academy of International Law 

Hoda Khamosh, Afghan activist

Moderator: Ingeborg Moa, Norwegian Human Rights Fund