AISS, together with a coalition of academic and civil society partners, will host the virtual launch of the Experts Declaration on Gender Apartheid on Thursday, 13 August 2026, from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM (ET). The webinar marks five years of Afghan women's struggle against Taliban rule since the group's return to power.

The panel will be chaired by Zubaida Akbar, a leading Afghan women's rights and civil society activist, and will feature Zarqa Yaftali, Founder and Executive Director of the Women and Children Research and Advocacy Network; Ambassador Manizha Bakhtari, Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to Vienna and International Organizations and former Chief of Staff for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan; Professor Hannah Garry, Clinical Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Gilbert Global Justice & Human Rights Center at USC Gould School of Law; and Professor Karima Bennoune, Lewis M. Simes Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School and former UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights (2015–2021).

A video address will be delivered by Professor Penelope Andrews, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law and Director of the Racial Justice Project at New York Law School, and former Dean of the University of Cape Town Faculty of Law.

The event will explore the Experts Declaration on Gender Apartheid and its significance for the international legal and policy response to the situation of women and girls under Taliban rule. Register via the link.