Amnesty International: Investigate Taliban for Restrictions on Women

A Friday report by Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists calls for Afghanistan’s Taliban to be investigated for possible crimes under international law because of severe restrictions on females.  

The report, the groups said, provides “a detailed legal analysis of how the Taliban’s draconian restrictions on the rights of Afghanistan’s women and girls, together with the use of imprisonment, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment, could amount to the crime against humanity of gender persecution.”

“These are international crimes. They are organized, widespread, systematic,” Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International secretary-general, said in a statement, “Let there be no doubt: this is a war against women.” 

Santiago A. Canton, secretary-general of the International Commission of Jurists, said the joint investigation, covering the period from August 2021 to January 2023, indicates Taliban repression of women meets all the criteria to qualify as a crime against humanity of gender persecution.

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