The “policy of persecution” against women and girls in Afghanistan constitutes a “crime against humanity”

May 26. (EUROPE PRESS) –

A new legal report from the NGO Amnesty International (AI) and the International Commission of Jurists details that the “persecution policy” of the authorities established by the Taliban in Afghanistan against women and girls constitutes a “crime against humanity” that must be stand trial under the Rome Statute.

“Restrictions against women and girls are clearly designed to target them specifically. Their rights have been violated and they have been excluded from participation in society. Afghan women and girls are forced to live as citizens of second, silenced and invisible”, has sentenced the general secretary of AI, Agnès Callamard.

For his part, the Secretary General of the International Commission of Jurists, Santiago Cantón, has affirmed that the policies of the ‘de facto’ authorities in Afghanistan are a “system of repression that aspires to subjugate and marginalize women and girls throughout the country”.

The legal analysis published by AI and the Commission, which covers events between August 2021 and January 2023, details that the “draconian restrictions” imposed by the Taliban against women and girls “meet the necessary criteria” to be considered ” crime against humanity”, highlighted Cantón.

Specifically, these actions, which are “organized, generalized and systematic”, range from the prohibition to work to arbitrary detention, forced disappearance and imprisonment, including torture or ill-treatment.

“There is no doubt that this is a war against women: they are deprived of public life; they are prevented from having access to education; they are prohibited from working; they are disabled from moving freely; they are imprisoned, tortured and subjected to forced disappearance, even for being against these policies and resisting repression,” Callamard said.

Both AI and the Commission stress that the Taliban carry out these acts “through the security apparatus of the previous government”, as well as with the “involvement” of the Afghan Police and the Taliban security forces.

“Holding the Taliban to criminal account and addressing rampant impunity for the serious crimes documented in this report is a necessary step to ensure justice for those who survive their heinous practices,” Cantón stressed.

Along the same lines, Callamard has stressed that “the seriousness” of the crimes requires a “much more energetic international response than that observed to date.” There is only one admissible outcome: this system of oppression and persecution based on reasons of gender”, has settled.

For all these reasons, the two organizations propose establishing an independent international accountability mechanism, at the dawn of the United Nations, to investigate crimes under International Law committed against women and girls in Afghanistan.