Malala Yousafzai called on Muslim leaders to oppose the Taliban government in Afghanistan and its repressive policies against girls and women.
“Simply put, the Taliban in Afghanistan do not see women as human beings,” she said at an international summit hosted by Pakistan on girls' education in Islamic countries.
Ms Yousafzai told Muslim leaders there was “nothing Islamic” about the Taliban's policies, which included banning women from education and stopping women from working.
The 27-year-old was evacuated from Pakistan aged 15 after being shot in the head by a Pakistani Taliban gunman who targeted her for speaking out about girls' education.
Addressing the conference in Islamabad on Sunday, the Nobel Peace Prize winner said she was “devastated and happy” to return to her home country. She has returned to Pakistan only a few times since the 2012 attack is making its first comeback in 2018.
On Sunday, she said the Taliban government had once again created a “system of gender apartheid”.
The Taliban “punish women and girls who dare to violate their vague laws by beating, detaining and injuring them,” she said.
She added that the group “cloaks its crimes in cultural and religious justification” but in fact “goes against everything that supports our faith”.
The Taliban declined to respond to a BBC request for comment on the lawyer's remarks. They have previously said they respect women's rights in accordance with their interpretation of Afghan culture and Islamic law.
The group's leaders were invited to the summit organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) by the Pakistani government and the Muslim World League, but did not attend.
Participants at the conference included dozens of ministers and academics from Muslim-majority countries advocating for girls' education.
Since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in 2021, its government has not been officially recognized by any foreign government. Western powers said the group's policies restricting women must be changed.
Afghanistan is now the only country in the world where women and girls are banned from secondary and higher education – about a million and a half are deliberately deprived of schooling.
The Taliban have repeatedly promised they will be allowed back into school once a number of issues are resolved – including ensuring the curriculum is “Islamic”. That has yet to happen.
In December, women were also banned from training as midwives and nurses, effectively closing their last route to further education in the country.
Ms Yousafzai said girls' education was at risk in many countries. She said that in Gaza Israel had “destroyed the entire education system”.
She urged those present to “call out the worst violations” of girls' right to education and pointed out that crises in countries including Afghanistan, Yemen and Sudan meant that “the entire future of girls has been stolen”.