Report 'Naming to Act: Towards the International Recognition of Gender Apartheid' has been published

The International Baltasar Garzón Foundation (FIBGAR) presents the report “Naming to Act: Towards the International Recognition of Gender Apartheid”, prepared within the framework of the RAGAA initiative – Rise Against Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan. The document examines the current situation of Afghan women and girls under the Taliban regime and analyses the legal and political foundations for advancing towards the recognition of gender apartheid as an autonomous crime against humanity in international law.

The report has been developed by the research team composed of Alessia Schiavon, Sara Zanon, Yaiza Álvarez Reyes and Federica Carnevale, under the coordination of Alessia Schiavon, as part of the research and advocacy work promoted by RAGAA to raise awareness of and denounce the systematic oppression faced by women in Afghanistan since August 2021.

Since the Taliban’s seizure of power, Afghanistan has become one of the most extreme contemporary contexts of institutionalised discrimination against women and girls. Through a series of decrees, administrative restrictions and mechanisms of social control, the de facto authorities have imposed a normative system that profoundly limits women’s autonomy and restricts their participation in public life. Among the most significant measures are the prohibition on girls’ access to secondary and higher education, the exclusion of women from numerous sectors of public and private employment, restrictions on their freedom of movement, and the imposition of systems of male guardianship over multiple aspects of everyday life. These policies are accompanied by strict regulations governing women’s presence in public spaces and by limitations on their rights to assembly, expression and social participation.

The report argues that these measures do not constitute isolated decisions but rather form part of a structural regime of segregation and domination based on gender, aimed at systematically excluding women from full citizenship and confining them to the private sphere. The accumulation of these restrictions, their ideological coherence and their systematic enforcement reveal a pattern of institutionalised oppression that shares defining characteristics with other historical systems of apartheid.

Within this context, the document examines the concept of gender apartheid, a category that has gained increasing relevance in international legal and political debates in recent years. It argues that naming this reality enables a more precise description of the structural nature of the violations taking place and opens the door to new forms of international accountability.

The report further analyses how international criminal law currently recognises the crime of apartheid in relation to racial discrimination, particularly through the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. However, the existing legal framework does not explicitly address apartheid based on gender.

In light of this normative gap, the document examines the legal foundations that could support the recognition of gender apartheid as an autonomous crime against humanity. To this end, it analyses legal doctrines, recent developments in the field of human rights, and contemporary debates within international law.

The report maintains that the legal recognition of gender apartheid would have significant implications for the protection of human rights. In particular, it would strengthen accountability mechanisms, expand the tools available to the international community, and consolidate a more robust normative framework for addressing systems of structural oppression based on gender.

In addition to its legal analysis, the document examines recent developments in international mobilisation around this concept. In recent years, civil society organisations, academics, human rights experts and Afghan activists have promoted campaigns and debates aimed at advancing the recognition of gender apartheid as a distinct legal category.

Within this process, the RAGAA initiative – Rise Against Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan, promoted by International Baltasar Garzón Foundation (FIBGAR) and People Help (PH) – has emerged as a platform for research, advocacy and international mobilisation. Its objective is to raise awareness of the situation of Afghan women, strengthen knowledge production on this form of oppression, and promote legal reforms capable of recognising and sanctioning gender apartheid.

The report 'Naming to Act' forms part of this collective effort. It asserts that the recognition of gender apartheid is not merely a terminological issue. Naming this system of oppression constitutes a fundamental step in activating international legal obligations, mobilising the political will of States and strengthening the mechanisms available to demand accountability.

The document concludes with a call to the international community to intensify efforts to highlight the situation of Afghan women and girls and to advance towards the recognition of gender apartheid as a crime under international law.

In a global context marked by multiple crises, the report recalls that the situation in Afghanistan represents one of the most urgent challenges facing the international human rights protection system. Recognising the structural nature of these violations is the first step towards building effective responses.

In words that capture the spirit of this research: naming is the first step towards action.

Consult the full report here.