Amnesty International on Tuesday welcomed the International Criminal Court’s issuance of arrest warrants for two Taliban leaders, calling the decision a “vital step” toward holding those responsible for gender-based crimes in Afghanistan to account.
The ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber II issued warrants for Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the Taliban’s chief justice. The court accused both men of committing crimes against humanity—specifically, gender persecution—through policies that have systematically oppressed women and girls since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021.
“The warrants allege individual responsibility for gender-based persecution imposed on women and girls through widespread and institutionalized discrimination,” Amnesty said in a statement. “This is a vital step toward ensuring accountability for those responsible for depriving women and girls of fundamental rights.”
Amnesty International urged the international community to recognize gender apartheid as a distinct crime under international law, arguing that doing so would help combat regimes that impose systemic oppression based on gender.
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary general, said in the statement that the Taliban’s policies have stripped Afghan women and girls of essential rights, including access to education, freedom of movement and expression, the right to family and private life, bodily autonomy, and freedom of assembly.
“This is a vital step toward ensuring accountability for those who are said to be responsible for gender-based deprivation of core human rights,” Callamard said.
Since regaining control of Afghanistan, Taliban have issued dozens of edicts restricting women’s and girls’ access to education, employment, public life, and humanitarian work. Amnesty stated that these measures constitute a form of organized repression that should be recognized as a crime under international law.
The rights group called on governments and international bodies to formally define gender apartheid as a legal category in international law and to take coordinated action to protect Afghan women and girls.
“Women’s human rights are not negotiable,” the organization said, adding that immediate international action is required to safeguard women’s rights and address the broader human rights crisis in Afghanistan.
