IBAHRI urges action on ‘gender apartheid’
The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) has reiterated a call for gender apartheid to be recognised as a crime under international law.
The human-rights body’s call came in a statement highlighting “systematic rights violations and a worsening humanitarian crisis” facing Afghan women and girls, four years after the Taliban regained control of the country.
The IBAHRI said that the Afghan authorities had issued nearly 100 decrees that had “severely curtailed” women’s and girls’ rights – including freedom of movement, participation in public affairs, access to education, work and healthcare, and the right to justice.
In 2023, an inquiry led by the institute called for the recognition of gender apartheid as a crime under international law, with the possibility of codifying it under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and under article 2 of the UN’s Draft articles on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity.
Safe refuge
IBAHRI director Baroness Helena Kennedy said that developing multiple accountability mechanisms and codifying gender apartheid into international law was “essential” to hold the perpetrators of what she described as “this systematic repression” responsible.
“We continue to emphasise the urgent need for the international community to provide safe refuge to Afghans fleeing repression,” she added.
The IBAHRI has called for a UN-mandated accountability mechanism to uncover the full scope of human-rights violations in Afghanistan.
It says that these remain unclear, due to Taliban restrictions, a travel ban imposed on the UN-appointed Special Rapporteur on the issue Richard Bennett, and the targeting of journalists and civil society.
Expulsions
The institute also expressed “grave concern” about the expulsion of 1.9 million Afghan refugees from Iran and Pakistan since January 2025.
“These actions violate international obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention and endanger vulnerable populations,” it stated.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against the Supreme Leader of the Taliban and its chief justice, while Australia, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands have signalled intentions to initiate proceedings before the International Court of Justice against Afghanistan for violations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.