Afghan women wait to receive fiscal aid from Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) in Kohsan district of Herat province on Sept. 25. The legal initiative, of which Canada is part, raises the harms that the Taliban have brought on Afghan women since seizing power in 2021.MOHSEN KARIMI/AFP/Getty Images
Canada, Germany, Australia and the Netherlands have initiated a legal process to hold the Taliban accountable for discrimination against women in an unprecedented case that could end up before the International Court of Justice.
The four countries have brought the case forward under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), a treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979, of which Afghanistan is a state party. The convention has a mechanism for settling disputes that arise over its application, and the countries are using it to try to bring an end to the violations against women.
The joint initiative was announced on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday and the four countries signed a declaration. It raises the harms that the Taliban have brought on Afghan women since seizing power in 2021. They have stripped women of all of their rights, preventing girls from going to school, and most recently, barring their voices from being raised in public, and their bare faces from being shown.
“Life for many women and girls in Afghanistan is like life under house arrest. They are being deprived of their very dignity,” the declaration says.
The four countries said they have “formally reminded” Afghanistan of its obligation to cease these violations. The petitioning countries said they do not politically recognize the Taliban as the legitimate representation of the Afghan population, adding that Afghanistan’s failure to fulfill its human rights treaty obligations is “a key obstacle to normalization of relations.”
However, they have notified the Taliban that they are prepared to negotiate with Afghanistan, which is the first step of the dispute settlement process. If that is unsuccessful, the convention stipulates additional methods of settlement, including an attempt to establish terms of arbitration, and finally, if the first steps are unsuccessful, the submission of the dispute to the International Court of Justice.
A coalition of legal experts and Afghan and Iranian women that has been calling for international accountability for the Taliban welcomed the announcement, but emphasized that Afghan women need to be at the core of the process.
Payam Akhavan, human rights chair at Massey College and former UN prosecutor who is part of the coalition, said the legal initiative could be a means of exerting pressure on the Taliban. He said it’s also a way of bringing together Afghan women in exile and giving them some hope.
Mr. Akhavan said part of the reason the coalition was created was to ensure Afghan women in exile had a voice and agency, so it is important the four governments give them a meaningful role in the process: “Everything from formulating the legal arguments and strategy, to gathering evidence, to devising a communication strategy,” he said.
Ghizal Haress, who served as Afghanistan’s first ombudsperson before the Taliban takeover and is now a visiting scholar at York University in Toronto, called the initiative “a very positive step.”
She said the coalition has discussed the possibility of a case being brought under CEDAW for more than a year and now it is seeing it come to fruition.
“Now, if the Taliban decides to ignore or overlook a decision of an international court, then it speaks to what kind of government they are and what role can they play as a member of the international community.”
Ms. Haress said she is happy that Canada is part the effort, noting there’s a large Afghan diaspora here, including many Afghan female activists. She said she’s hopeful Canada will include them in the process.
“They could not bring the case to court because they’re not a state, but it is about them and at the end of the day, they cannot be sidelined.”
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Naheed Farid, a former Afghan lawmaker who is also part of the coalition, said it’s a wonderful idea to hold the Taliban accountable, but raised concerns.
Ms. Farid said she wants the countries to ensure the legal initiative can proceed without legitimizing the Taliban, and that all procedures and requirements are strictly adhered to. She also said it is important to have a Muslim-majority state support the effort.
Such a country, she said, is needed to “stand in front of the Taliban and say that whatever you’re doing is not Islam.”
“I am also very concerned about this combination of countries in front of the Taliban, that the Taliban may definitely have a counter argument – that these are Western values that you’re fighting for.”
She said the legal initiative is what Afghan women have been asking for, and she really wants it to be effective.
“I don’t want this to be a flawed failure of the international community. I want them to win.”
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