Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Court announced Thursday that he was seeking arrest warrants for the two top leaders at The Taliban regime rules Afghanistan for crimes against humanity across the organization treatment of women and girls.
Prosecutor Karim Khan said that after a thorough investigation and review of evidence, his office found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and the Chief Justice of the Abdul Hakim Haqqani group for crimes against humanity for persecution of sex. reasons,” under the convention that established the ICC, known as the The Rome Statute.
Khan said his office had determined the two men were “criminally responsible for persecuting Afghan girls and women, as well as people the Taliban saw as not ' adhere to their expectations of gender identity or expression, and people the Taliban saw as his friends. girls and women.”
The statement said the alleged crimes were committed between “at least” since the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in August 2021 “until today,” across the country.
“This ongoing persecution involves a number of serious violations of the basic rights of victims, contrary to international law, including the right to physical integrity and self-determination, the movement of the -free and free expression, on education, on private and family life, and on free assembly. said Khan.
There was no immediate response to Khan's request from the Taliban leadership.
Since Take control of Afghanistanthe Taliban has imposed a long list of harsh laws targeting women and girls. The measures have seen women pushed out of public life and drawn criticism from much of the international community, including accusations of gender-based apartheid.
Under Islamic Sharia law, the measures have given girls and women from the age of 12 formal education, the right to visit public parks or travel alone, or even see a doctor if they are not accompanied by a male guardian.
Last month, the Taliban banned the training of women to become midwives and nurses – another devastating blow in a country that has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world as- Yes. According to data from the World Bank, 620 women die for every 100,000 live births in Afghanistan due to pregnancy-related complications.
Akhundzada recently ordered that windows in homes overlooking areas used by women, such as kitchens, gardens or water wells, be covered.
Elizabeth Evenson, Director of the New York-based International Justice Program
Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Thursday that it hoped the request for ICC warrants against key Taliban figures would “reverse the systematic exclusion of women and girls from public life and the targeting of LGBT people.” radar of the international community.”
Evenson said that the Taliban's gender repression had “accelerated with complete voluntariness” since the summer of 2021, and “without justice in Afghanistan's view, the warrant requests offer a necessary path to a measure of accountability.” “
She also called on the ICC prosecutor to revisit his decision to “deprioritize an investigation into abuses by former Afghan government forces and US personnel” stationed in the country. For two decades, the investigation into the actions of US soldiers launched by his predecessor Khan.
Khan said the request for international arrest warrants reflects the ICC's commitment to holding those responsible for sex crimes accountable, with more arrests and warrants being served for other senior Taliban members expected to be arrested. continue while the court's investigation into the situation in Afghanistan continues.
“The judges of the International Criminal Court will now decide whether these requests for arrest warrants establish reasonable grounds to believe that the named persons committed the alleged crimes.” to arrest the individuals,” Khan said, adding, “as in all cases, I call on States Parties to fully cooperate with the Court and assist it with to enforce any lawful order.”
Although the ICC has the power to issue arrest warrants – and has done so recently for both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuthe former head of the country's defense and the supreme leader of Hamas—she has no means of independently executing such warrants.
It is up to individual countries that sign the treaty establishing the court decision whether individuals who want to be arrested on ICC warrants, when they enter the territories of that country.
The United States is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, so it is under no obligation to detain anyone on an ICC warrant.
Even if the ICC issues warrants for Akhundzada or other Taliban leaders, it is highly unlikely that they would attempt to visit any country where they could be arrested. Almost the entire world has refused to accept the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan after they took control of the country.
Khan himself has faced accusations that he tried for more than a year to force a female assistant to have sex against her will. He has denied the allegations, saying there was “no truth to suggestions of misconduct”. ICC officials have said the claims may have been made as part of an Israeli information smear campaign.
