Women’s rights activist, Tamana Zaryab Pariani, said that she will continue her sit-in until the international community recognizes the “gender apartheid” that is being committed by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Pariani started a sit-in on Friday night, September 29, in the city of Wipperfürth, in Germany. She called on women’s rights defenders in Europe and around the world to support Afghan women and stop “gender apartheid” in Afghanistan.
She said her “sit-in is in protest against the world’s lack of attention towards millions of women in Afghanistan” who have been virtually erased from public life.
Women and girls in Afghanistan also voiced their frustration over the situation and said the Taliban has been systematically erasing women from society for the past two years.
Early this month, Pariani carried out a 12-day hunger strike in a bid to garner attention around the plight of women in Afghanistan.
Pariani’s sit-in comes just days after the Taliban detained two women’s rights activists, Neda Parwani and Zholia Parsi, along with members of their families, including their children.
A women’s rights movement called, Junbish Zanan-e Adalat Khwah, issued a statement in Tehran, calling for the immediate release of women’s rights defenders in Taliban custody.
The statement also criticized the arbitrary detentions and torture of female protestors as well as the closure of schools and universities for girls. It urged the international community to recognize gender apartheid in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August 2021. Since then, the group has imposed severe restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan. According to the UN, at least 50 edicts and decrees have been issued against women by the Taliban.
