Gordon Brown says Taliban treatment of women and girls is crime against humanity

10 August 2023 , 10:57

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Gordon Brown said Taliban leaders in Afghanistan are carrying out some of the worst human rights abuses anywhere in the world (Image: Getty Images)

The Taliban's treatment of women and girls should be declared a crime against humanity, Gordon Brown has said.

The former Prime Minister wants the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute the matter. It comes as the two-year anniversary approaches of the fall of Kabul and the return of Taliban rule following the withdrawal of Western troops.

The former Labour PM, who was in office from 2007 to 2010, said Taliban leaders in Afghanistan are carrying out some of the worst human rights abuses anywhere in the world. "I think the evidence is absolutely overwhelming," Mr Brown told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"Complete discrimination against women, banned from university, banned from schools, banned from public places, banned from any activities where they're walking on their own, required to wear a particular dress - not even just the normal dress of a Muslim but very particular requirements on dress - and all those being prosecuted, including the leader of the NGOs - who are forcing the pressure for girls' rights - now in prison. So this is systematic brutalisation of women and girls."

The Taliban seized power in August 2021 when US and NATO forces pulled out of Afghanistan. The group's rulers initially promised a more moderate rule than during their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001. But there has been growing international criticism as a severe interpretation of Islamic law - known as Sharia - has been imposed on women and girls. UN experts said earlier this year that 20 years of progress for women and girls’ rights has been erased since the Taliban takeover.

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Mr Brown, who is the UN special envoy on global education, said: "It's probably the most heinous, the most vicious, the most comprehensive abuse of human rights that's taking place around the world today - and it is systematically being inflicted on millions of girls and women across Afghanistan.

"And that's why the United Nations and others are calling it gender discrimination. Some call it gender apartheid. That's why it's seen as a crime against humanity, and it's right, then, for the International Criminal Court, which has responsibility for dealing with crimes against humanity, to both investigate and to prosecute those people who have been responsible for this crime."

He added: "What we need is a prosecution. But we also need sanctions. I'm urging the UK Government to sanction the individuals responsible for this policy. The European Union has done it, but America and others can do it."

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Sophie Huskisson