Gender Disinformation as an Instrument of Gender Persecution

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between gender disinformation and gender persecution as a crime against humanity. The author analyzes how autocratic regimes and extremist movements systematically use false claims about gender issues to silence critics and consolidate their power. The research reveals the main manifestations of gender disinformation: portraying gender equality as a foreign phenomenon, using pseudoscience to restrict women’s rights, provoking moral panic against gender minorities, and religious-extremist justifications for violence. Special attention is paid to the situation in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, where gender disinformation has become an instrument for establishing a regime of «gender apartheid.» The article analyzes the landmark decision of the International Criminal Court from July 2025 to issue arrest warrants for Taliban leaders for crimes against humanity in the form of gender persecution. This decision confirms that manipulating narratives and spreading disinformation to legitimize human rights violations can constitute an element of international crime. The article demonstrates that combating gender persecution requires countering the disinformation that enables it, as uncontrolled false claims can transform into «truths» that justify repression and international crimes. The ICC’s intervention establishes that systematic deprivation of women’s rights through propaganda and institutional policies constitutes persecution as a crime against humanity, expanding the understanding of how narrative control facilitates gender-based crimes.