Global: Gender apartheid must be recognized as a crime under international law

Gender apartheid must be recognized as a crime under international law in order to intensify efforts to combat institutionalised regimes of systematic oppression and domination based on gender, Amnesty International said today.

“The international community has failed to adequately recognize and address the institutionalized and systematic domination and oppression of women, girls and LGBTI people. We call for the recognition of gender apartheid in international law to close a major gap in our global legal framework. No one should ever be allowed to harm, segregate, silence or exclude people because of their gender,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

“Yet generations of women and girls around the world have been subjected to institutionalised and systematic violence, domination and oppression. Countless people have been killed and many more have been denied their dignity, freedom and equality in their daily lives. It is truly shameful that the world has failed to recognise systematic gender-based oppression and domination as a crime under international law and has failed to respond adequately to the gravity of these crimes.

No one should ever be allowed to hurt, segregate, silence or exclude people because of their gender.

Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International

“Today we join the calls of courageous trailblazers, including women from Afghanistan, Iran and elsewhere, who have led the way in calling for the recognition of gender apartheid in international law.

“States must heed this call. This form of institutionalised oppression must be named. A mandate for its investigation and prosecution must be affirmed, and an appropriate punishment for its commission must be established. We owe this recognition, rigour and respect to the activists on the front lines of the struggle for gender rights and equality, and we owe this justice to the victims and survivors of gender apartheid.”

Amnesty International is calling for the legal recognition of gender apartheid – the institutionalised pattern of systematic domination and oppression based on gender – to close a major gap in international law.

The closest thing to this in the current international context is persecution on the basis of gender, which is recognised as a crime against humanity in international law, such as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. However, the intent and scope of this crime differ in important ways from that of apartheid. While both crimes may target specific groups, the concept of persecution alone does not fully capture the scope and reach of systematic domination or the institutionalised and ideological nature of the abuses that can be committed under an apartheid system.

Today, we join the calls of courageous trailblazers, including women from Afghanistan, Iran and other countries, who have pushed for the recognition of gender apartheid in international law.

Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International

“The world must finally recognize gender apartheid in international law to give women, girls and LGBTQI people the full protection of the law and to unite and support efforts to eradicate this heinous crime wherever it occurs,” said Agnès Callamard.

“The draft Convention on Crimes Against Humanity, a key draft treaty currently under discussion at the United Nations, represents an important opportunity to revitalize the struggle for gender justice. UN member states must seize this opportunity to integrate gender apartheid into international law, while also looking for other opportunities, such as in the Human Rights Council, to strengthen the concept.”

background

The concept of gender apartheid was first formulated by Afghan human rights activists and feminist allies in response to the oppression of women and girls and systematic attacks on their rights under the Taliban in the 1990s. It has been used with increasing frequency since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in 2021. A number of Iranian feminists and UN experts have also argued that institutionalised discrimination or oppression against women in the Islamic Republic of Iran amounts to, or could amount to, gender apartheid. An international campaign to recognise gender apartheid in international law has received widespread support from feminist activists and allies around the world, including four Nobel Peace Prize winners.