Amnesty International accuses the Taliban of committing crimes against humanity

Amnesty International accuses the ruling Taliban movement in Afghanistan of committing crimes against humanity for ignoring women’s basic rights.

Today Amnesty International, in conjunction with the International Judicial Commission, called on the International Criminal Court to get involved. According to the report published in Geneva, all criteria for gender-based persecution and thus a crime against humanity have been met.

Since the return of hardline Islamists to power in the summer of 2021, women and girls in Afghanistan have once again been pushed out of public life. They are not allowed to attend universities or higher schools. They are also no longer allowed to practice many professions. Other restrictions include a ban on visiting public parks and gyms.

Systematic crimes against humanity

“The Taliban severely and systematically persecute women and girls on the basis of their gender,” said Santiago Canton, Secretary General of the International Commission of Jurists. Women protesting against the restrictions were subjected to arbitrary arrest, disappearance and torture.

Amnesty expert Teresa Bergman spoke of “organised, widespread and systematic crime against humanity”. The two organizations appealed to the German federal government to speed up the admission of those coming from Afghanistan.

There has been repeated international criticism of the oppression of women and girls in Afghanistan. Earlier this month, the United Nations spoke of a system of “gender apartheid”.

The term apartheid refers above all to the earlier decades of oppression of blacks in South Africa. The Taliban generally dismiss criticism of basic human rights violations as “propaganda”.