Noble Peace Prize winner and Afghan refugee Malala Yousafzai has spoken out about the erosion of women’s rights in Afghanistan under the Taliban.

Malala survived being shot by a Taliban extremist as she sat on a school bus in 2012. The experience led to her becoming a campaigner for gender equity.

In just the three years since the Taliban retook control of the country, women’s rights have been eroded to the point where even singing is banned.

Since Western forces left the country, “morality laws” have meant women in Afghanistan have lost dozens of rights.

A dress code means they must be fully covered, and strict rules have banned them from travelling without a male chaperone or looking a man in the eye unless they’re related by blood or marriage.

The United Nations (UN) says the rules amount to “gender apartheid” – a system where people face economic and social discrimination based on their sex and something human rights group Amnesty International wants recognised as crime under international law.

“I never imagined that the rights of women would be compromised so easily,” Malala told the BBC.

“A lot of girls are finding themselves in a very hopeless, depressing situation where they do not see any way out,” the 27-year-old said.

“The future looks very dark to them. The restrictions are just so extreme that it does not even make sense to anybody.

“Women lost everything. The Taliban know that to take away women’s rights you have to start with the foundation, and that is education.

“Afghan women live in very dark times now. But they show resistance,” Malala said.

The Pakistan-born activist, who became the youngest person ever to win a Nobel Peace Prize, is an executive producer of a new film, ‘Bread & Roses’, that documents the lives of three Afghan women living under the Taliban regime.

Malala: I never imagined women’s rights would be lost so easily