Leading human rights campaigner Malala Yousafzai has urged world leaders to show their “support and solidarity” for Afghan women and girls living under the Taliban regime as she pushed for the criminalisation of “gender apartheid”.
Since the Taliban took charge of the country almost five years ago, Ms Yousafzai said others have been “looking away” from the issues facing women in Afghanistan.
The Nobel laureate was thrust into the global consciousness when, aged just 15, she was shot by the Pakistani Taliban over her advocacy for education rights for women and girls, making her a figurehead of a global movement.
She has since sought to ensure gender apartheid – the practice of systemically blocking women and girls from seeking an education, working or participating in public life – is criminalised at an international level.
She met Scottish First Minister John Swinney – who faces an election in just over a week’s time – on Wednesday at his official residence in Edinburgh, where he pledged the support of any government he leads to her campaign.
Speaking to the Press Association, Ms Yousafzai said: “This is a very critical moment for us to gain more support and solidarity for Afghan women and girls because, right now, they have been living under the Taliban’s brutal regime of gender apartheid – we need more support and solidarity for them.
“Girls cannot go to school, women are banned from work and I want to thank Scotland for the support that they have given to Afghan women and girls.”
Ms Yousafzai pointed to the 19 female medical students – two of whom she met during her visit to Edinburgh – who were brought to Scotland in a joint effort by the Scottish and UK governments in 2024, along with the Linda Norgrove Foundation.
Taliban rule in Afghanistan, she said, was “worsening”, with the move to criminalise gender apartheid being about “accountability”.
“The Taliban are committing horrible crimes, they are punishing women for daring to step out of their house, to be in public spaces or to dare to get an education,” she said.
“The most recent decree of the Taliban was that it is permissible for a husband to beat his wife or daughter.”
She added: “When we have mechanisms in international law, such as the recognition of gender apartheid, it helps us hold the Taliban, the perpetrators, accountable.
“It also helps to make countries obliged to act because, right now, I feel like more countries are looking away.
“Nobody is talking about Afghanistan any more because it’s already nearly been five years and people are getting distracted by other issues right now and there is just a lot of silence and quietness when it comes to people expressing support and solidarity with Afghan women.”
She urged other countries to lend their voices to her campaign, saying: “This is an Afghan women-led movement.
“We need voices from all around the world, I don’t think it’s a cause that you can call a Western cause or an Eastern cause – this is a human rights cause.
“We need the voices of all countries, all democracies, we need the voices of more Muslim countries to step forward and say that they care about Afghan women, they are here in solidarity with them.”
The voices of women in Afghanistan should be included in international negotiations with the Taliban regime, she added, urging world leaders not to “submit” or “accept” demands that they are excluded.
Both the First Minister and Ms Yousafzai released a joint statement on Wednesday, saying: “A society that strips women and girls of their rights – to education, employment, freedom of speech and political participation – cannot thrive. When half the population is excluded from public life, the societal, economic and political costs are borne by everyone.
“We condemn the Taliban’s deliberate and institutionalised system of domination of women and girls in Afghanistan.
“This is a coherent and sustained effort to exclude women and girls from every aspect of society and to deny them their fundamental rights and dignity.
“We believe that this demands urgent international attention and action, including recognising gender apartheid as a crime against humanity.
“We stand in solidarity with Afghan women and girls, whose courage and leadership continue in the face of extraordinary repression as they fight to secure justice, accountability and the full restoration of their rights.”
