Rangita de Silva de Alwis discusses the historic mobilization of international efforts to hold Afghanistan accountable for its systematic repression of women and girls under the Taliban’s de facto authority before the ICJ.
On September 25, 2024, during the High-Level Week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, a historic moment unfolded in the fight for women’s rights in Afghanistan. The governments of Australia, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands announced legal proceedings under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in response to the Taliban’s egregious violations of Afghan women’s human rights.
This action marks the first time that Article 29 of CEDAW—the interstate jurisdictional clause of the treaty providing for dispute resolution through negotiations, arbitration, and ultimately the International Court of Justice (ICJ)—is being invoked by member states.
Rangita de Silva de Alwis is faculty at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, a member on the United Nations CEDAW Treaty Body, and a globally renowned expert on gender justice who has been at the forefront of mobilizing international efforts to hold Taliban’s de facto authority accountable for its systematic repression of women and girls in Afghanistan.
The New York Times, reporting immediately after the announcement made at UNGA yesterday, quoted de Silva de Alwis: “This is momentous; it will give Afghan women a new important platform before world opinion and make them protagonists in their struggle.”
Further, de Silva de Alwis has urged governments: “In the first ever case on the CEDAW before the ICJ, Afghan women are the actors of international justice and not its passive recipients. We must avoid a narrative of Afghan women’s victimhood. In the words of ICJ Justice Hillary Charlesworth, ‘We must insist that the equal participation of women in the international legal system and its institutions is a condition of their legitimacy.’”
Baroness Helena Kennedy KC; Catherine Amirfar, a former president of ASIL and Partner at Debevoise & Plimpton; and Payam Akhavan from the ICJ Bar are working together with de Silva de Alwis to help build and support the first ever Afghan Women’s Justice Coalition consisting of over 100 women. The Coalition for Justice is a diverse group of women from various sectors and ethnic backgrounds in Afghanistan, including Shia, Sunni, Hindus, Pashtun, Uzbek, Tajik, Hazara, Turkmen, Baloch, and others. This Coalition reflects the broad ethnic and religious diversity of Afghanistan. The members include Afghan judges, lawyers, parliamentarians, journalists, human rights defenders and women in medicine and science among other areas.
Fawzi Koofi, a member of the Justice Coalition, works closely with de Silva de Alwis. Koofi intended to run for president in 2014, and in 2020 was part of the 21-member team representing the Afghan government in peace talks with the Taliban. Before the talks, she narrowly survived an assassination attempt. This week, Koofi spoke with Meryl Streep at the UNGA on the erasure of Afghan women and the silencing of their voices through the vice and virtue laws. On September 26, she spoke with CNN’s Christiana Amanpour on the ICJ case on CEDAW.
In a statement to Penn Carey Law, Koofi said, “This is not 2004 when international experts spoke on behalf of Afghan women. Twenty years later, we will claim our voice in a global court of justice.”
Catherine Amirfar has stated, “Afghan women themselves have shown courageous leadership in calling for accountability. States must recognize their vital role and heed their call.”
On the heels of the announcement by Australia, Canada, Germany, and Netherlands, the Afghan Women’s Coalition for Justice released a statement that “calls upon the international community to insist that any participation of the Taliban de facto authorities in international fora must be conditioned on, among others, the meaningful participation of women and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms of all Afghans.”
Several Penn Carey Law students will assist with the Afghan Women’s Justice Coalition as well.
The official announcement made at UNGA by Albania, Andorra, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, Finland, Honduras, Ireland, Iceland, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Morocco, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Australia, Canada, Germany and the Kingdom of the Netherlands is as follows:
Since the seizure of power by the Taliban de facto authorities, the women and girls of Afghanistan have been subjected to the most severe systematic human rights violations. Various decrees, ordinances and other measures taken by Afghanistan grossly and systematically ban women and girls from public life and subject them to systematic gender discrimination. As a result of these deliberate actions by the Taliban de facto authorities, the human rights of Afghan women and girls are being violated by public and private institutions. Afghan women and girls are being socially, politically, economically and legally marginalized. The recently enacted so-called “vice and virtue” law seeks to silence half the population and erase women and girls from public life. Women and girls are not allowed to travel alone, raise their voices in public or show their faces in the streets. Life for many women and girls in Afghanistan is like life under house arrest. They are being deprived of their very dignity.
We, Albania, Andorra, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, Finland, Honduras, Ireland, Iceland, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Morocco, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Australia, Canada, Germany and the Kingdom of the Netherlands condemn the gross and systematic human rights violations and abuses in Afghanistan, particularly the gender-based discrimination against women and girls. We have repeatedly urged Afghanistan and the Taliban de facto authorities, including in the framework of the United Nations, to comply with international law, especially human rights law, to protect the human rights of all Afghans, and to lift all restrictions on the rights of women and girls, including on their right to education. However, the situation has not improved – to the contrary it continues to worsen.
The women and girls of Afghanistan deserve nothing less than the full enjoyment of their human rights. Afghan women themselves have shown courageous leadership in calling for accountability. We recognize their vital role and heed their call.
Afghanistan is responsible under international law for its ongoing gross and systematic violation of numerous obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), to which Afghanistan is a State Party.
We, the above-mentioned States, call upon Afghanistan and the Taliban de facto authorities to immediately cease its violations of the human rights of women and girls and to answer to the request for dialogue to address the concerns of the International Community on this matter, including the acceptance of the recommendations addressed to Afghanistan during its Human Rights Council 4th Cycle Universal Periodic Review. We support the initiative taken by Australia, Canada, Germany and the Kingdom of the Netherlands under Art. 29 of CEDAW, who have formally taken steps to call on Afghanistan to cease its violations of the CEDAW.
The supporters of this initiative will continue to also consider other possible options to be followed individually or collectively under CEDAW and other relevant human rights frameworks, while remaining attached to a focused dialogue with a view to strengthening the rights of women and girls.
This action is without prejudice to our firm position that we do not politically recognize the Taliban de facto authorities as the legitimate representation of the Afghan population. Afghanistan’s failure to fulfill its human rights treaty obligations is a key obstacle to normalization of relations. However, we stress that the Taliban de facto authorities remain responsible to uphold and fulfill the international legal obligations of Afghanistan, including on the elimination of discrimination of women and girls under CEDAW.
Read the full statement by the Afghan Women’s Coalition for Justice.