Rights Group Calls On Western Nations To Act On Taliban Prosecution
Human Rights Watch is urging Western governments to follow through on commitments to pursue legal action against the Taliban at the world’s top court over rights violations.
Heather Barr, the group’s associate women’s rights director, said nearly a year and a half had passed since Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and Australia pledged to take action, adding that the time had come for concrete steps.
Australia, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands announced last year that they would bring a case against the Taliban at the International Court of Justice in The Hague over widespread human rights violations, particularly alleged breaches of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The United Nations and more than 20 countries have supported the move.
On Thursday, Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, said Canberra, together with international partners, would continue legal efforts over what she described as ongoing violations of the convention in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
She also condemned what she called the Taliban’s repressive treatment of women and girls and said Afghans were enduring one of the world’s worst protracted humanitarian crises.
