Deputy Kohsar / AFP
Talibã goes through a beauty salon with images of disfigured women in Cabul, Afghanistan
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued, for the first time, warrants of capture against the Taliban leaders in Afghanistan for the treatment they give to women.
On June 8, the TPI Pre-Julge II Chamber in The Hague (Netherlands) cited reasonable reasons to believe that the Supreme Leader Taliban, Haibatullah is now considerableand the president of the Supreme Court ABDUL, Hakim Haqqanithey were guilty of “ordering, inducing or requesting the crime against the humanity of gender persecution”.
The arrest warrants – the First always for persecution based on gender – They are being greeted as a “important claim and recognition of the rights of Afghan women and girls.”
But – questions Yvonne Breitwieser-FariaProfessor of Criminal Law and International Law, University of Curtin (Australia), in an article No – will they improve the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, since the Talibans do not recognize the court or their jurisdiction?
The talibans deny the allegations and condemn the warrants as a “clear act of hostility and an insult to the beliefs of Muslims from around the world”.
Eliminated from public life
Since the return of the Taliban to power in August 2021, the Afghan people have been imposed on a set of new rules and strict prohibitions.
Women and girls have been the target of even worse treatment due to their genre.
According to the warrants, the Talibans “They were severely deprived, through decrees and edicts, girls and women of rights to education, privacy and family life and freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion”..
As women are prohibited from entering public places and the girls to attend school when they turn 12.
Nadereditor-in-chief of the Zan Times writing, which investigates human rights violations in Afghanistan, says that women and Afghan girls are being silenced, restricted and deprived of their basic human rights.
It is this discriminatory system for controlling women and girls in Afghanistan that is in the Court’s Center.
The warrants also accuse the Talibans of pursuing “other people who do not conform to the ideological expectations of the Taliban in the matter of gender, identity or expression of gender; and for political reasons against people considered” allies of girls and women. “
Crimes Against Humanity
International law clearly defines infractions that constitute crimes against humanity. The definition of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court includes the serious deprivation of personal freedom, the murder, slavery, violation, torture, forced deportation or apartheid.
Specifically, the Taliban leaders are accused under article 7 (1) (h) of the Rome Statute, which establishes the following “Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity for political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious reasons gender […] or other universally recognized reasons as inadmissible by international law. ”
Physical and direct violence is not necessary to establish persecution by “reasons of gender […]”. There are enough systemic and institutionalized forms of damage, which may be the imposition of discriminatory social norms.
Women and girls are often disproportionately affected by Taliban policies and standards. But proving that gender -based crimes have occurred is not enough. The discriminatory intention must also be established.
The talibans have been open to their religious beliefs and interpretations, which suggests a clara intention of persecution based on gender.
Afghan women want more than “symbolism”
Like in other cases, the court depends on state cooperation to execute and deliver the accused.
Cabul’s provisional government, formed after the US led invasion in 2001, became part of the Rome Statute in 2003.
O Afghanistan continues to be legally obliged to sue The perpetrators of these crimes – have to accept the jurisdiction of the court in this matter.
Purple Saturdays Movement (Purple Saturdays), a protest group led by Afghan women, is warning that the detention warrants should be more than merely symbolic.
The fact that the prosecution would probably probably result in a climb of human rights violations: “Taliban have responded to international pressure not with reforms, but with the intensification of their repressive policies.”
It is important to note that strict policies and widespread abuse against women and girls in Afghanistan continue, despite the intervention of the International Criminal Court.
The Afghan Women’s Movement in Exile aims to create an independent international judicial committee to monitor and accelerate the judicial process.
It is still unclear if the warrants will effectively lead to arrests and lawsuits in The Hague. However, the warrants of detention are a step of hope for the accountability of Taliban and justice for women and girls of Afghanistan.
