The Afghan government today dismissed as “baseless” and the product of “propaganda” criticism of the Taliban’s violations of women’s rights at the United Nations General Assembly.

“The accusations made by some countries or sides against Afghanistan for human rights violations and gender discrimination are baseless,” Taliban deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat told AFP.

The UN accuses the Taliban of establishing a “gender apartheid” after returning to power in 2021, gradually driving women out of the public sphere.

“No one is a victim of discrimination in Afghanistan, which protects human rights,” the spokesman continued, denouncing a “propaganda based on the words of some exiled (Afghan) women, according to which the situation is not good.”

Australia, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands announced at the UN General Assembly that they had launched a process that could lead to a trial at the International Court of Justice in The Hague against the Taliban for their “despicable” treatment of women. The four countries intend to highlight the fact that Afghanistan does not respect the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, to which the country is a signatory.

UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett today welcomed the move in a post on Platform X, calling it a “significant step towards justice for the Taliban’s crimes against women and girls”.

Bennett, who is denied entry into Afghanistan by the Taliban, called on other countries to join the effort and “send a clear message that gender-based persecution and oppression is unacceptable.”

Afghan women are currently unable to continue their education beyond primary schools, go to parks, gyms, beauty salons, hardly even leave the house unaccompanied.

A recent law includes a ban on speaking out in public as well as other orders under a particularly strict application of Islamic law.

“A squirrel has more rights than a girl in Afghanistan today because the Taliban have banned women and girls from public parks,” Meryl Streep commented yesterday during a debate on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. .