Calling on the Government to Recognize the Erasure of Afghan Women/Girls from Public Life as Gender Apartheid

On May 9, 2024, Senator Omidvar spoke to a motion that the Senate call upon the government to recognize the erasure of Afghan women and girls from public life as gender apartheid. Watch:

Hon. Ratna Omidvar: Honourable senators, as I stand today to address you on this motion, it occurs to me how incredibly fortunate we are in this chamber. In this one session, we have addressed issues ranging from environmental racism to the complexity of being a juror to regulating casinos. I will add to that richness, I hope, by transporting you to a different place and a different reality — namely, to Afghanistan — as I rise to speak on Motion No. 139 that the Senate call on the Government of Canada to recognize the erasure of Afghan women and girls from public life as gender apartheid. I want to thank Senator Ataullahjan for bringing this urgent motion forward.

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It is hard to imagine how a woman or young girl lives her daily life in Afghanistan. Let me try to paint you a picture. She is not allowed to go outside her home without a male member of her family. She is not allowed to go to a park or a gym. She is not allowed to go to school beyond Grade 6, giving Afghanistan the dubious distinction of being the only country in the world to deny education to women and girls. Education — the door to empowerment, self-reliance, agency and economic independence — has been slammed shut for her.

She is not allowed to go to a beauty salon because these have been banned. She is not allowed to work as a judge, a parliamentarian, a researcher, a teacher or even in community service. She is not allowed to listen to music, and — of course — dancing is prohibited. There is no recourse to her if she is threatened by violence.

But nothing gets the Taliban more riled up than what a woman wears. Now, she must wear a head-to-toe burka, which has small slits that you can barely see through — I have tried one on — and I understand that even the colours of these burkas are determined by the Taliban. If these decrees are flaunted, punishment is meted out to the male member of the family, thus creating a toxic environment in the home.

To add to all this misery, famine is raging in Afghanistan, and it is the women and girls who are left vulnerable as impoverished Afghans resort to drastic measures for survival. A report by the United Nations Development Programme, or UNDP, highlights instances where individuals are forced to sell their homes and assets, turn their children into labourers and sell their daughters for survival.

What future is there for this country when half its population is put into a metaphorical and literal prison?

You have to ask yourself, “Why?” The answer is actually quite simple: “Because she is a woman.”

Therefore, Senator Ataullahjan is right in calling it what it is — gender apartheid — and asks Canada to recognize it as such. I like the choice of words that the motion uses — “erasure” — and I hope the picture I have painted for you today in words enables you to understand that it results in the erasure of women from public life and public space.

“Apartheid” is a loaded word. It takes us back to a dark and distressing era of segregation, where fundamental human rights were denied based on race and where there were different laws for different people based on race.

Sadly, it has been revived in Afghanistan in a vicious manner, and it puts gender in its crosshairs. Race also plays a role because there is a significant Hazara minority that lives in Afghanistan, so Hazara women are in double jeopardy: first as Hazaras and then as women.

Colleagues, this is not mere discrimination; it is active persecution. When laws, decrees and policies exclude girls and women from public spaces, it is institutionalized, systemic oppression and domination of one gender over another, and there are only two words for it: gender apartheid.

Many female leaders in Afghanistan — judges, parliamentarians, lawyers, journalists, women in hockey and sports, orchestra players — have left. This includes leaders like Nargis Nehan, Homaira Ayubi, Nilofar Moradi and Zefnoon Safi, who were parliamentarians, lawyers, judges and journalists. They are now living in Canada. Listening to them is actually far more interesting than listening to me.

An excellent documentary entitled An Unfinished Journey captures their voice. Even as they struggle in a strange society and face the challenges of integration and suffer a loss of face — because it’s hopeless for them to try to find work commensurate with their experience — even as they struggle to learn English, they are united in giving voice to the persecuted sisters they left back in Afghanistan. I want to give enormous credit to our colleague Senator Marilou McPhedran for her tireless efforts in supporting the creation of Canada’s Feminist Forum for Afghanistan, where Canadian and Afghan women are coalescing to fight against these monsters in Afghanistan.

Canada cannot and must not engage with the Taliban, but at the same time, we cannot abandon the women of Afghanistan.

There are actions we can take. For one, we can provide support to Canada’s Feminist Forum for Afghanistan, which is hosting an event here on the Hill on May 21. I encourage you all to attend because — as I said — listening to them is far more interesting than listening to me. We can support them as they build their capacity, as they reach out to their sisters in Afghanistan and as they become their voice, not just in Canada but across the world.

Second, Canada can take a leading role on the global stage with these women at its side, in amending, inserting and so codifying the terminology of gender apartheid into a UN crimes against humanity treaty. In March, many of us in this chamber attended the UN Status of Women conference, where multiple sessions focusing on the situation of Afghan women were held. There was standing room only. Senator Petten and I had to use our elbows to try to find a spot to listen to Afghan journalists and lawyers. It was clear to me that this global campaign to insert gender apartheid into the crimes against humanity treaty has legs and is picking up speed.

It is not an abstract idea. What difference does it make if there is a multilateral treaty saying this or that? But this has teeth. According to the Atlantic Council, the codification of gender apartheid offers new avenues to bring both state and individual perpetrators to justice. Countries that are signatories of the treaty would be obliged to criminalize gender apartheid and implement measures to prevent and punish crimes against humanity within their domestic legal frameworks. This could potentially pave the way for prosecution based on the principle of universal jurisdiction, which asserts that certain egregious crimes can be tried in any court, regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator, victims or the location of the acts.

The inclusion of the crime of gender apartheid in the crimes against humanity treaty would additionally reinforce the obligations of states and international organizations to prevent and punish gender apartheid, even if they are not direct parties to the treaty. This — it is hoped — will galvanize diplomatic, legal and social movements of resistance in Afghanistan, as well as in other crisis situations, both presently and in the future.

This motion, when approved, will be the beginning of a concerted multilateral action. International pressure and diplomatic efforts are crucial to influence policy change in Afghanistan. At some point, colleagues, even the Taliban will need to engage. Any economic support or aid must be contingent upon tangible improvements in gender equality, ensuring that progress is not just rhetoric, but a reality experienced by every Afghan woman.

Where does this start? I submit to you, colleagues, that it starts here. Each one of us here has a mother. Many of us have sisters and daughters. Each one of us should therefore be appalled and outraged by the behaviour of this rogue government. Each one of us should therefore support Senator Ataullahjan’s motion before us. Each one of us should want to do this very quickly because each and every day is a dark day for women and girls in Afghanistan. Thank you.

The Hon. the Speaker: I believe there are two people who wish to ask questions. Would you accept a question?

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Hon. Frances Lankin: Senator Omidvar, I appreciate your speech so much, as well as the work that Senator Ataullahjan has done in bringing this forward. I appreciate that you mentioned Senator McPhedran — not just with respect to the establishment of the forum, but also to add our thanks to her for the brave action she took with the network of women to get women out in the dying hours of the Kabul airport before it closed.

I want to ask you about the steps that will be taken once this is approved and accepted here in Canada with respect to the international lobby to insert this into UN documents and definitions with real teeth, as you said. What will be the next steps? What is the timeline that people are working towards? Is there an upcoming decision point at the UN? If you don’t have that information now, is that something you can circulate to us? Also, what efforts can we make as individual senators and through our own networks to support bringing this about?

Thank you again, Senator Ataullahjan. It is very important work that you are leading here, with strong voices like Senator Omidvar supporting you.

Senator Omidvar: Thank you very much, Senator Lankin, for your question. I too wish to underline the contributions of Senator McPhedran, which she has made, as we know, at some significant cost to herself.

The timeline of the campaign is moving towards the next summit in March 2025. All member states have to sign on to the crimes against humanity treaty. We all know there are some states that are members of the UN that will provide a great deal of resistance. I understand there is a pathway to circumvent that; I don’t have the details. An important benchmark will be the March summit at the UN.

Hon. Andrew Cardozo: Would the Honourable Senator Omidvar take a question?

Senator Omidvar: Yes.

Senator Cardozo: Thank you. As perhaps one of the few senators who has been to Afghanistan — as a child on a summer holiday, if you can imagine that. It was in 1969, and I have only the most wonderful memories of a beautiful, peaceful country. I want to congratulate you on your speech, and convey special compliments to Senator Ataullahjan for leading this motion.

Do you have hope that before the United Nations could make this happen, our speaking out might have any kind of effect on the Government of Afghanistan? Does it help if we make whatever efforts we can to send these messages?

Senator Omidvar: I actually don’t have an answer to that question. I don’t know how the Taliban hears or doesn’t hear things. I don’t know if they have a foreign minister. I know they have a minister for vice, which you can understand given their context. I don’t really know. They have isolated themselves to an extent. On the other hand, they are in contact with regional governments. I understand Qatar has a role to play, as do other countries in the Middle East. If we speak out and speak to these other jurisdictions, the message may be received.