Relentless Advocacy Propels Legal Challenges to Taliban Abuses

Researcher, Women's Rights Division

This International Women’s Day we celebrate Afghan women’s bold resistance. Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, women have fought for their rights in a country where even their voices are deemed sinful and illegal, and their activism has been punished with torture.

But over the last year, thanks to their relentless courage and advocacy, we have witnessed important – if insufficient – steps toward holding the Taliban accountable.

In September, Australia, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands pledged to hold the Taliban to account for violations of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. This process could lead to proceedings against Afghanistan at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague.

The European Court of Justice ruled in October that all Afghan women qualify for asylum in countries in the European Union because of the Taliban’s systematic persecution. While the ruling is important, greater protections are needed: Afghan women and girls fleeing Taliban persecution need safe and legal pathways to asylum throughout Europe, North America, and other safe places that do not currently exist.

Also in October, 83 countries called out Taliban acts of gender persecution. And in November, six International Criminal Court (ICC) member countries referred Afghanistan to the ICC prosecutor for investigation, expressing concern about Afghanistan’s severely deteriorating human rights situation, particularly for women and girls. This January, the ICC Office of the Prosecutor filed requests before the court for arrest warrants against two Taliban leaders, including their “supreme leader,” for the crime against humanity of gender persecution.

Advocacy by Afghan women and their allies has driven increasing momentum towarddefininggender apartheid as a crime under international law. One critical opportunity to achieve this is through the draft crimes against humanity treaty currently being discussed at the UN General Assembly. A growing list of states support this effort.

Despite grave hardships, Afghan women have taken their fate into their own hands. They are organizing, protesting, and exposing the Taliban’s abuses, even as they continue to pay a devastating price for their quest for freedom. Now the international community and courts should move these legal processes forward, hold the Taliban accountable, and put an end to these violations.

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