Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a report on Friday called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute what it said was crime against humanity of gender persecution against women and girls in Afghanistan.
The report said that since taking over the country in August 2021, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) have imposed laws and policies intended to deny women and girls throughout the country their fundamental rights because of their gender.
“Coordinated support by concerned governments is needed to bring the Taliban leaders responsible to justice,” Elizabeth Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch
HRW noted that ICC defines crimes against humanity as a range of prohibited acts committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.
HRW said that its research on Afghanistan since 2021 has found that the crime against humanity of persecution targeting women and girls has been imposed through various written or announced decrees. “These decrees have placed severe restrictions on freedom of movement, expression, and association; prohibitions on virtually all employment; bans on secondary and higher education; and permitted arbitrary arrests and violations of the right to liberty,” the report said.
HRW noted that Afghanistan is a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. On October 31, 2022, the court authorized the ICC prosecutor to resume its investigation into the Afghanistan situation, which was first authorized in 2020.
“The International Criminal Court’s investigation in Afghanistan could provide a path toward accountability for the crime against humanity of gender persecution,” Evenson said.
“Governments should ensure that the court has the resources and needed cooperation so that its prosecutor can investigate this crime alongside other grave rights violations committed.”
This comes as the Islamic Emirate has rejected claims of rights violations against women and girls, saying it is committed to ensuring their rights based on Sharia law.
