UN member states should do more to protect the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in an oral statement on Thursday at the 61st Session of the UN Human Rights Council.
These calls for urgent action come amidst a recent decree enacted by Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. The decree, known as the “Criminal Procedure Code for Courts,” has gained media attention for its provisions regarding violence against women. Specifically, the penal code restricts criminal liability in instances of domestic violence. The inflicted violence must result in a visible wound to the wife for a husband to be charged criminally. In the instance where a man is charged, the wife bears the burden of proving the violence to the judge. Upon conviction, her husband may be imprisoned for only 15 days. The Code additionally imposes restrictions on a woman’s ability to visit family members without her husband’s permission. If she is found in breach, she faces a three-month prison sentence.
Experiences of Afghan women are at the forefront of recent human rights discussions, as after over four years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, the regime is accused of “intensifying restrictions on the rights of women and girls, detaining journalists, and silencing all dissent,” sinking the country into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Rights groups have regularly called on the international community to hold the Taliban accountable for their routine human rights breaches. In response to Taliban actions, experts have advocated for the recognition of “gender apartheid” as a crime against humanity within the draft treaty on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity. While the Taliban has been found guilty of gender persecution, which is recognized as a crime against humanity pursuant to Article 7 of the Rome Statute, experts claim that it does not go far enough to recognize systemic gender-based oppression.
Amidst the worsening conditions in Afghanistan, international institutions are beginning to take action. The International Criminal Court issued warrants of arrest for the country’s de facto leader and other high-level Taliban leaders in response to documented systemic acts of gender based oppression. The United Nations Human Rights Council subsequently passed a resolution to establish an independent investigative mechanism for Afghanistan, which HRW claims will be “a key tool in holding perpetrators of grave abuses to account.”
