Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai speaks during the 21st Nelson Mandela Annual Peace Lecture in Johannesburg
By Tannur Anders
Johannesburg: Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai on Tuesday likened restrictions the Taliban have placed on women in Afghanistan to the treatment of Black people under apartheid in a lecture in South Africa organized by Nelson Mandela 's Foundation.
Yousafzai survived being shot in the head when she was 15 in her native Pakistan by a gunman after campaigning against the Pakistani Taliban's moves to deny girls education.
Since winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, Yousafzai, now 26, has become a global symbol of the resilience of women in the face of repression.
"If you are a girl in Afghanistan, the Taliban have decided your future for you. You cannot attend a secondary school or university. You cannot find an open library where you can read. You see your mothers and your older sisters confined and constrained," Yousafzai said during the 21st Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg.
Yousafzai said the Taliban's actions should be considered "gender apartheid" and that it had "in effect ... made girlhood illegal".
She said international actors should not normalize relations with the Taliban, which returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 as US-led forces withdrew after 20 years of war.
A Taliban spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Yousafzai's remarks.
Since returning to power, the Taliban have also stopped most Afghan female staff from working at aid agencies, closed beauty salons, barred women from parks and curtailed travel for women in the absence of a male guardian.
The Taliban say they respect women's rights in line with their interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan custom and that officials are working on plans to open girls' high schools, but after over 18 months they have not provided a timeframe.
In an interview after her lecture, Yousafzai said she was concerned the Taliban would take away sciences and critical thinking even from boys.
"It's so important for the international community to not only step up to protect access to education for girls but also ensure that it is quality education, it is not indoctrination," she said.
Referring to the war in Gaza, she said she wanted to see an immediate ceasefire and for children to be able return to school and their normal lives.
She added: "We look at wars, ... especially the bombardment that has happened in Gaza, ... that has just taken that normal life away from children." - Reuters
AP adds: The 26-year-old activist spoke to The Associated Press after delivering the annual Nelson Mandela lecture in Johannesburg on the 10th anniversary of the death of South Africa's anti-apartheid leader and Nobel laureate.
Yousafzai is also the youngest person to give the lecture, following in the footsteps of past lecturers, including former President Barack Obama, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and philanthropist and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
She dedicated her speech to Afghan women and girls, hoping to re-focus the world’s attention on their oppression amid the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
“It took a bullet to my head for the world to stand with me," she said. "What will it take for the world to stand with girls in Afghanistan?”
Yousafzai also described as “heartbreaking” Islamabad’s new policy of forceful deportations of Afghans who are in Pakistan illegally, saying that deporting them would put the lives of women and girls who are forced to go back at risk.
She also called for an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war and decried that “so many children's and women’s lives (have been) lost” in besieged Gaza.
Yousafzai said the world must hold accountable those on both sides who have violated international law and committed war crimes.
“We need to make sure that we always are on the side of the innocent people,” she said. “And we are advocating for protecting them and we are advocating for stopping more wars and conflicts.”
Yousafzai praised the awarding of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to Iranian women's rights and pro-democracy activist Narges Mohammadi, who remains imprisoned in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison . Mohammadi's children are due to accept the Nobel medal and diploma on her behalf on Sunday.
“When we see more women being appreciated for their tireless efforts to bring justice, to fight against oppression and to fight against gender discrimination, it gives us hope because you realize that you are not alone," Yousafzai said.
She had a heartfelt message for young girls today, urging them to find their voice.
“Don’t wait for anyone else to speak for you,” she said. “You have the power to stand up for yourself.” - AP
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Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.
