Human Rights Watch has issued a report accusing Taliban authorities in Afghanistan of committing crimes against humanity, specifically gender persecution targeting women and girls, since taking control of the country in August 2021.
The report asserts that the Taliban have implemented laws and policies designed to deny women and girls their fundamental rights based on their gender. These actions, according to Human Rights Watch, amount to the crime of persecution as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Rome Statute characterizes 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.
Persecution, within this framework, involves the intentional and severe deprivation of fundamental rights contrary to international law based on the identity of the group and its recognized impermissible grounds.
Human Rights Watch's research on Afghanistan since 2021 has identified numerous decrees issued by the Taliban, imposing gender persecution on women and girls through severe restrictions on freedom of movement, expression, and association; bans on employment; prohibitions on secondary and higher education; and allowances for arbitrary arrests and violations of the right to liberty. Afghanistan is a signatory to the Rome Statute of the ICC, which authorized the ICC prosecutor to resume investigations into the situation in Afghanistan on October 31, 2022.
The report calls for the dismantling of all forms of repression and discrimination by Taliban authorities to restore fundamental rights to women and girls. Human Rights Watch urges governments to support the ICC's investigation in Afghanistan, emphasizing the potential for the court to address the crime against humanity of gender persecution alongside other serious human rights violations committed in the country.
Earlier Daryo reported that Taliban shaved heads of 29 Afghan students accused of playing music.
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