Afghanistan’s Taliban have ‘weaponized’ the judicial system to oppress ladies, UN skilled says
UNITED NATIONS — Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have “weaponized” the authorized and judicial system to oppress ladies and women in what quantities to “crimes towards humanity,” the impartial U.N. investigator on human rights within the nation mentioned.
Richard Bennett mentioned in a report back to the U.N. Basic Meeting circulated Wednesday that after seizing energy in 2021 the Taliban suspended the 2004 structure and legal guidelines defending the rights of girls and women. These embody a landmark legislation that criminalized 22 types of violence towards ladies, together with rape and youngster and compelled marriage.
The Taliban dismissed all judges underneath the earlier U.S.-backed authorities, together with roughly 270 ladies, changing them with males who share their excessive Islamic views, lack authorized coaching and hand down choices based mostly on edicts issued by the Taliban, he mentioned.
As well as, he famous that the Taliban have assumed full management over legislation enforcement and investigative businesses, systematically purging Afghans who labored for the earlier authorities.
Bennett, who was appointed by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, targeted on entry to justice and safety for ladies and women in his report. He mentioned he held conferences, focus-group discussions and one-on-one interviews with extra that 110 Afghans inside and outdoors the nation. He did so remotely as a result of the Taliban have refused to grant him a visa to journey to Afghanistan.
For the reason that Taliban took management of Afghanistan, their crackdown on ladies and women has been extensively reported and globally denounced.
Taliban leaders have barred training for ladies and women past sixth grade, banned most employment, and prohibited ladies from many public areas, together with parks, gyms and hairdressers. New legal guidelines ban ladies’s voices and naked faces outdoors the house.
The Taliban stay remoted from the West due to their restrictions on ladies and women and have solely been acknowledged by Russia.
Bennett mentioned the Taliban didn’t reply to an advance copy of the report and a request for details about their efforts to make sure entry to justice and safety for ladies and women.
The Taliban defend their strategy to justice by claiming they’re implementing Islamic sharia legislation, however Islamic students and others have mentioned their interpretation is unparalleled in different Muslim-majority international locations and doesn’t adhere to Islamic teachings. They are saying defending the authorized rights of girls is a precedence.
Bennett mentioned, nevertheless, that girls have nearly no rights.
“Right this moment, there aren’t any ladies judges or prosecutors and no formally registered feminine legal professionals, leaving ladies and women with fewer protected channels to report abuse or search redress,” he wrote. “Coupled with a scarcity of feminine officers within the police and different establishments, the result’s widespread underreporting of violence and discrimination towards ladies and women.”
Bennett mentioned entry to justice for women “is additional undermined by the dismantling of key authorized safeguards and establishments defending the rights of kids,” together with juvenile courts and juvenile rehabilitation facilities.
The Taliban requirement {that a} lady should be accompanied by a male family member additionally creates obstacles to submitting complaints and attending court docket proceedings, he mentioned, and disproportionately impacts widows, ladies who’re the heads of their households, the displaced and disabled.
“Ladies who interact with the Taliban court docket system — whether or not as victims searching for redress, to resolve household points, to acquire official paperwork or as alleged offenders — face a hostile surroundings,” Bennett mentioned. “Courts usually reject complaints made by ladies and are particularly reluctant to just accept instances regarding divorce, youngster custody and gender-based violence.”
Dealing with these obstacles, Bennett mentioned, ladies more and more flip to conventional and casual justice mechanisms, together with formal jirgas and shuras — group councils of elders — and casual mediation by non secular leaders, group elders or household. However these are all male-dominated and lift “severe considerations in regards to the rights of girls and women,” he mentioned.
He mentioned worldwide boards supply the very best hope for justice. He pointed to the Worldwide Legal Court docket’s request on Jan. 23 for arrest warrants for 2 senior Taliban leaders accused of crimes towards humanity for persecution “on gender grounds.” And he urged all international locations to help efforts to carry Afghanistan earlier than the Worldwide Court docket of Justice, the U.N.’s highest tribunal, for violating the Conference on the Elimination of All Types of Discrimination towards Ladies.
