Taliban's treatment of women is a crime against humanity, says ex-UK PM Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown, the former prime minister of the UK and the UN's special envoy for global education, has called the Taliban's attack on women's rights and lives a "crime against humanity."

Brown slammed the Taliban during an interview with BBC Radio 4 on Thursday. He spoke at length about the kind of restrictions and exclusions women in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan have been forced to endure.

The Taliban has put several restrictions on women since it took over Afghanistan in August 2021. Most of its diktats target women and their presence in public life.

"They've been excluded from education, excluded from employment, excluded from visiting public places," said Brown.

"All these bans are a form of discrimination. It's probably the most heinous, most vicious, most comprehensive abuse of human rights in place around the world today." He was also shocked by the fact that there has been "so little international pressure on the regime" as it continues to curtail women's freedom one diktat at a time.

He has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to intervene in the matter and stop the "vicious" abuse of human rights.

The ICC investigates the gravest crimes against humanity. The Rome Statute gives the ICC jurisdiction over four main crimes, which include genocide, war crimes, crimes of aggression, and crimes against humanity.

The Rome Statute is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court. It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy, in 1998. The ICC is not meant to replace the national criminal system; it is only intended to complement it. It solely relies on cooperation from the concerned countries.

Brown's call for ICC intervention comes days after the Taliban banned girls over 10 from attending school. He has also called for UK sanctions against the Taliban leadership, stating that only "the pressure of a potential prosecution" can force the Taliban to take such regressive steps.

Meanwhile, the UN has labelled the Taliban's actions in Afghanistan as "gender-based apartheid." It has urged governments across the world to make "gender apartheid" an international crime.

Shaharzad Akbar, the former head of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, recently said that the Taliban have "turned Afghanistan to a mass graveyard of Afghan women and girls' ambitions, dreams, and potential."

Women disappearing from public life?

A UN report on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan revealed that women continue to face "restrictions in their movement, attire, employment options, and ability to seek public office or perform the public role," despite the authorities promising to have a more liberal approach.

Women are being systematically targeted by the regime in Afghanistan. The tyrannical Taliban government has been passing diktat after diktat restricting women's movement, lifestyle, and rights. Women are slowly being erased from public places.

The Taliban has banned girls from attending senior secondary and higher secondary schools. Women have also been prohibited from attending classes at universities. The regime has also banned women from working in government and private offices.

The latest move to ban even young girls from attending school comes just weeks after the Taliban's supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, claimed that the group has restored the rights of women. In a statement issued ahead of the Eid al-Adha holiday last month, Akhundzada said that women's Shariah rights have been protected by the regime.

Women in Afghanistan cannot even attend schools and colleges, but the Taliban believe that they are living "free and dignified" lives. Akhundzada believes that the "negative aspects of the past 20-year occupation" by the US will soon come to an end.

"The status of women as a free and dignified human being has been restored and all institutions have been obliged to help women in securing marriage, inheritance and other rights," he said in the statement issued last month.