Taliban’s treatment of women may be crime against humanity

The Taliban’s treatment of Afghan women and girls, including their exclusion from parks and gyms as well as schools and universities, may amount to a crime
against humanity, a group of U.N. experts said on Friday.
The assessment by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan Richard Bennett and nine other U.N. experts says the treatment of women and girls may amount to ‘gender persecution’ under the Rome Statute to which Afghanistan is a party.
There was no immediate response from a Taliban spokesperson to a Reuters request for comment on the experts’ assessment.
“Confining women to their homes is tantamount to imprisonment,” the experts said in a statement, adding that it was likely to lead to increased levels of domestic violence and mental health problems. The experts also cited as an example the arrest earlier this month of female activist Zarifa Yaqobi and
four male colleagues.
They remain in detention, the experts said.
The Taliban took over from a Western-backed government in Aug. 2021. They say they respect women’s rights in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law.