Organizations and Protest Movements On International Women's Day (March 8): "Denying Internal Resistance is an Attempt to Whitewash Terrorism and Perpetuate Gender Apartheid"

On the eve of March 8, International Women's Day, we, the undersigned, raise our voices in protest and justice against the misogynistic and despotic Taliban regime. This year, Afghan women face an existential crisis at the intersection of systematic erasure and global oblivion, a situation that has moved beyond mere deprivation to a total assault on human dignity and the right to exist.

This statement is a direct response to the irresponsible remarks made by certain EU representatives who, by deliberately ignoring bloody crackdowns, claimed "there is no opposition to the Taliban regime inside Afghanistan." We consider this claim not only a blatant lie but an attempt to pave the way for engagement with terrorism and an insult to the sacrifices of women standing against this darkness in safe houses, streets, and prisons.

Legal Citations and Gross Violations of International Law:

We remind the international community that the silence of the people is not consent, but the product of a modern-day slavery system:
• The Law on the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (August 2024): By banning women's voices and faces in public (Articles 13 and 14), this law effectively dehumanizes women, turning them into objects. This is a clear manifestation of Gender Apartheid and a violation of the CEDAW convention.
• The Taliban's Penal Code: This document destroys equality before the law by classifying citizens into "clerics, nobles, and lower class." By legitimizing the term "slave" and allowing punishment by owners, it formalizes slavery in violation of the 1926 Slavery Convention.
• Systematic Religious and Ethnic Discrimination: Non-Hanafi followers (Shias and Ismailis) are labeled as "innovators" (Mubtadi), paving the way for religious genocide and the total exclusion of minorities.
• Denial of Identity for Survival: The tragedy is so deep that women like "Nouriya" must deny their female identity and gender just to work and escape starvation—a testament to the absolute desperation imposed by this regime.

Urgent and Fundamental Demands:
1. Stop Lobbying for the Taliban: We demand the EU listen to protesting women and UN Special Rapporteurs instead of repeating Taliban narratives.
2. Recognize Gender Apartheid: We call on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to accelerate the prosecution of Taliban leaders for crimes against humanity and gender apartheid under the Rome Statute.
3. Support Legal Proceedings in Spain: We support the Spanish court’s brave move to prosecute Taliban crimes and urge all EU member states to cooperate.
4. Warning Against Legitimacy: Any international meeting without the real representatives of women and protest groups lacks legitimacy and its outcomes will not be accepted.