Women

Activists’ hunger strike in Germany against Taliban restrictions enters fourth day

Tamana Zaryab Paryani, left, the organizer of the hunger strike, poses for a photo near her protest camp in Germany. Sept. 3, 2023.

A group of women’s rights activists in Germany have embarked on the fourth day of their hunger strike, demanding global recognition of what they call the “gender apartheid” perpetrated by the Taliban against women in Afghanistan.

Tamna Zaryab Paryani, the organizer of the protest, took to social media to assert that the United Nations should shed its “conservatism” and acknowledge the presence of “gender apartheid” in Afghanistan.

Undeterred by physical hardships, the activists remain resolute, declaring their intent to maintain their hunger strike until September 12, while simultaneously castigating the international community for its perceived “indifference” toward the dire plight of women and girls in Afghanistan.

Paryani poignantly articulated that formal or informal meetings with women residing beyond Afghanistan’s borders do little to change the grim reality faced by millions of “captive women” within the country.

Remarkably, as of yet, no envoy or official representing the international community or the United Nations has offered any commentary on the hunger strike staged by the women’s rights advocates in Germany.

In Afghanistan, women have been barred from higher education since December of the preceding year, while girls have been deprived of access to secondary school education for the past two years.

Human rights activists across the globe have characterized the Taliban’s treatment of Afghan women and girls as a grave “gender-based crime against humanity” and a stark manifestation of “gender apartheid.”

This intensifying international outcry has led United Nations experts to underline the imperative of addressing the issue of “gender apartheid” in Afghanistan.