UN envoy calls on international community to restore Afghan women's rights

The United Nations' global education envoy has called on the International Criminal Court to prosecute gender discrimination in Afghanistan, saying the Taliban-led government's denial of fundamental rights to women remains a pressing concern that demands international intervention.

"This is the worst example of the abuse of human rights against girls and women around the world. And if we allow this to happen and continue with impunity, then others may try to do exactly the same," Gordon Brown, UN global education envoy said on Tuesday.

While speaking to the media virtually on the second anniversary of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Brown said the Taliban rulers are responsible for “the most egregious, vicious and indefensible violation of women’s rights and girls rights in the world today.”

Brown, a former British prime minister, stated that he has penned a letter to ICC prosecutor Karim Khan to present his opinion about the state of affairs in Afghanistan.

Khan is examining alleged war crimes that have taken place in Afghanistan during the last two decades.

"The International Criminal Court should recognize this gender discrimination as a crime against humanity and investigate it with a view to the arraignment and prosecution of those responsible," Brown said.

"We've got to persuade these clerics that it's a false interpretation of Islam to suggest that girls and women should not be able to have the basic rights enjoyed by men,” he added.

He urged Muslim-majority countries to send a delegation to Kandahar to persuade the Taliban leadership to remove the ban on girls' education and women's employment.

Brown said he believes “there is a split within the regime,” as many people in the education ministry and the government in Kabul support female education and want the ban to be revoked.

“I believe the clerics in Kandhar have stood firmly against that, and indeed continue to issue instructions, ” Brown told the reporters.

Brown said 54 out of 80 orders issued by the Taliban government have directly targeted women and girls crushing their freedom, the most recent being the ban that bars them from taking university exams and also stops them from visiting public places including cemeteries of their loved ones.

The former British prime minister urged for global action and pressure and not mere words to convince the Taliban to restore the rights of women and girls.

“We have not done enough in the last two years,” he said.

Brushing aside the questions about restrictions on women and girls, spokesperson of the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that the status quo will not change.

Since the Taliban assumed power, girls more than 12 years of age have been banned from attending school. The Taliban have also put restrictions on the working of Afghan women, shut beauty salons, restricted their movement without a male relative and also put prohibitions on their visit to parks.

According to experts, women have been the unseen victims of the United States "war on terrorism". Claiming to be the champion of democracy and women’s rights, the United States in reality has trampled upon women’s security in Afghanistan, the say.

According to a report by Peace Women, an organisation for women's  peace and freedom, the “war on terrorism” affected women in multiple ways. Gender-based violence increased in Afghanistan and gender stereotypes were reinforced during the US presence in the country.

Experts believe that there has been a total silence surrounding this fundamental violation of human rights that took place during the two decades of the “war on terror.” 

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