Afghan women made plea at the UN to address the ‘gender apartheid’ in their country.

At the UN on Monday, Afghan women fervently argued for strong international action to solve the ‘gender apartheid’ that has existed in their nation since the Taliban seized power last year.

Afghan journalist Mahbouba Seraj stated before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva that ‘human rights do not exist in Afghanistan now.’

The outspoken journalist and rights campaigner declared that she was ‘sick and weary’ of raising awareness about the destruction of women’s and girls’ rights, particularly in Afghanistan, and then doing nothing about it.

Since retaking power in August of last year, the Taliban have severely restricted girls and women in order to conform to their austere interpretation of Islam, effectively shutting them out of public life.

The extreme In most provinces, girls’ secondary schools have been closed by Islamists, and many government posts are now off-limits to women.

They have also mandated that women cover completely in public, ideally with a burqa.

Razia Sayad, an Afghan lawyer and former commissioner of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, addressed the council and stated that ‘the women of Afghanistan are now at the mercy of a group that is innately anti-woman and does not recognise women as human beings.’

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan has accused the Taliban authorities of intimidating and harassing its female staff, including detaining three women for questioning on Monday.