Taliban Leader Closes Medical Institutes For Girls

He said that investigations into human rights violations, particularly women's rights, in Afghanistan were ongoing.

The 23rd session of the Assembly of States Parties began today in The Hague, Netherlands. The session is scheduled for December 2-7, 2024.

"I can confirm that with the excellent efforts of the team who have been working steadily on this issue, we will soon announce requests for an arrest warrant in the Afghanistan Situation File," Karim Khan said in a statement at the meeting on Monday.

He did not elaborate on the details of the sentence.

Last week, Chile, Costa Rica, Spain, France, Luxembourg and Mexico referred the case of Afghanistan, especially the violation of women's rights in this country, to the International Criminal Court. The International Criminal Court also confirmed that it had received the case.

The International Criminal Court recently issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

The court is also expected to issue arrest warrants for some Taliban leaders involved in "systematic violence" against women and "the prevailing gender apartheid in Afghanistan".

What does the court order mean?

Fawad Pouya, an international law researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, told Afghanistan International that with the referral of Afghanistan's case by six members of the International Criminal Court, the court's investigation into Afghanistan has resumed in earnest.

According to him, the new investigation is a continuation of the court's previous investigation, which first began in March 2020. He added that the new investigation supports and expands on the previous case.

The international law researcher also clarified, "The arrest warrant is not only directed at the Taliban, but former members of the government of the Republic of Afghanistan may also be prosecuted."

The referral of cases by various countries puts additional pressure on the ICC to make a decision and announce it as soon as possible, he said.

Karim Khan stressed that his office has conducted an independent, impartial and robust investigation into the situation in Afghanistan. The investigation also includes allegations of systematic discrimination and harassment against women and girls.

The investigation demonstrates the ICC's commitment to pursuing and holding accountable crimes against humanity and gender abuse, the statement said. The ICC has also welcomed the determination of member states to address these crimes and support ongoing investigations.

The Taliban has not previously responded to the referral of the group's human rights violation case to the Hague court.

The organisation reported on Monday that 25 cases of polio had been identified in Afghanistan and 56 in Pakistan.

According to the World Health Organisation, two new cases of polio were recorded last week in the cities of Uruzgan and Helmand and one in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

According to information published by the World Health Organisation, which provides monthly polio statistics in Afghanistan and Pakistan, six cases of polio were recorded in Afghanistan and six in Pakistan last year.

The Taliban, however, claim that no positive cases of polio have been reported in Afghanistan this year.
Recently, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) announced that from September 2023 to August 2024, 67,752 Afghan children received the polio vaccine with the support of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

According to UNAMA, these young people expressed concern about the lack of basic human rights, despite being satisfied with security in the country and the reduction of poppy cultivation.

UNAMA said in a statement on Monday, December 2, that the youth of Helmand, Kandahar, Nimroz, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces came together over the course of a year and finally drafted a charter to "engage with [Taliban] government officials and the international community”.

UNAMA has said that the charter constitutes the aspirations of these young people, but did not elaborate further on it.

"While young participants acknowledged positive changes after August 2021, such as improved security and reduced poppy cultivation, [but] they expressed concern about persistent unemployment, limited access to education, lack of basic human rights, and the widespread impacts of climate change," the UN mission wrote.

One of the participants told UNAMA representatives, "Unfortunately, we feel unheard, sidelined, and disappointed, and we are losing hope. We don’t want to merely survive; we want the opportunity to thrive and contribute to the country’s development and future."

According to UNAMA's estimates, three-quarters of Afghanistan's population is under the age of 30. Decades of war, instability, and underdevelopment have affected the youth, especially those in rural areas. According to UNAMA, young people face severe challenges, including unemployment, illiteracy, poverty and social deprivation, and many of them are considering migrating from the country in search of better opportunities.

The main meeting of ECO foreign ministers will be held tomorrow (Tuesday). It is not yet clear whether the Taliban has been invited to the meeting or not.

Earlier, an Iranian Foreign Ministry official had said that Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban's foreign minister, will not attend the 28th meeting of foreign ministers of the member states of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO). Ahmad Masoumifar clarified that not inviting the Taliban is the decision of the ECO secretariat. The Taliban has not commented on the group's presence at the summit.

Last year, no representative from Afghanistan was invited to participate in the ECO meeting.

According to Iranian media reports, in addition to expert delegations and ambassadors of ECO member countries in Tehran, the foreign ministers of Tajikistan and Kazakhstan and the ECO secretary general have arrived in Mashhad.

According to IRNA, the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Foreign Ministry's mission in Khorasan Razavi province said, "A wide range of different issues in the region will be put on the agenda of the summit by senior experts and officials at today's ECO expert meeting."

On the sidelines of the first day of the ECO summit in Mashhad, Ahmad Masoumifar said that these issues revolve around transit, environment, inter-agency trade, customs, and banking transactions.

"In addition to officials from member countries, the summit will be attended by the head of the ECO Trade and Development Bank, the heads of ECO affiliated institutions and other unions in the region, including the eight Islamic developing countries, and the Asian Dialogue Forum," he told reporters.

The ECO was created on the initiative of Iran, Turkey and Pakistan, and then Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan joined it.

ECO is a regional organisation established by Iran, Pakistan and Türkiye in 1964 with the aim of promoting economic and cultural cooperation among member states. Then, since 1992, with the admission of seven new countries, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, the number of its members has increased to 10 countries.

Since joining the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO), Afghanistan has always been an active member of this regional organisation. However, the Taliban's return to power in 2021 and the group's lack of recognition have caused Afghanistan's representative to be absent from many important international meetings. Afghanistan was also the biggest absentee from last year's ECO meeting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The officials of the Taliban and Turkmenistan restarted work on the TAPI project on September without the presence of the officials of India and Pakistan.

This project was opened for the second time on Wednesday last week, in the presence of Mullah Hasan Akhund, the Prime Minister of the Taliban, and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, the national leader of Turkmenistan.

The TAPI pipeline is a major regional project that will transport Turkmenistan's gas through Afghanistan to Pakistan and India.

The Taliban said at that time that they support this project and cooperate with the contracted companies of this project in the areas under the control of this group.

The practical work of this project was not implemented due to insecurity in Afghanistan.

This project is one of the largest regional projects, it is 1,821 km long.