Recognize Systemic Oppression of Women and Girls as Crimes Against Humanity

Target: Karim Khan, Prosecutor for International Criminal Court

Goal: Investigate and prosecute Taliban persecutors of women and girls for crimes against humanity.

Since the Taliban’s swift and brutal takeover of Afghanistan, two-and-a-half million girls have been denied an education. Women are almost universally banned from the workplace. And they cannot even participate in simple activities like getting their hair done at a beauty salon or visiting a loved one at a cemetery. Women and girls across the nation are being stripped of their humanity, and now three major civil rights organizations are fighting to have this humanity restored.

Both the International Commission of Jurists and Amnesty International released an extensive 60-plus page report calling out the Taliban’s oppressive actions as crimes against humanity. They cited several alleged acts of forced disappearances, torture, and false imprisonment in their appeal for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to take action. A United Nations envoy for education singled out the denial of learning to girls in its own report and likewise called for prosecution of the Taliban by the ICC.

Sign the petition below to join in the affirmation of women’s rights as human rights.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Prosecutor Khan,

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the ICC’s own Rome Statute 7(1)(h): these international agreements are just a few of the treaties and guidelines the Taliban have reportedly violated in their quest to oppress women and girls. Women are allegedly being unjustly imprisoned, kidnapped, tortured, and deprived of their most fundamental rights while millions of girls can no longer join the six million young women who were able to obtain an education in the absence of Taliban rule. The United Nations, Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists, and untold numbers of citizens of the world are urging you to recognize and prosecute these atrocities as crimes against humanity.

The war on half the planet’s population can only end with brave and decisive action.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo Credit: Shora Simazaki