Right to Learn Afghanistan is encouraged by Canada’s recent joint initiation of the first step to pursue adjudication of violations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), through a joint effort with Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands. The joint statement was delivered on September 25th, 2024 during High Level Week at the UN General Assembly in New York.
This move sets a significant historical precedent, as it constitutes the first ever adjudication of CEDAW, anywhere. It is also among the first concrete actions to hold the Taliban criminally responsible for their violations of women’s human rights in Afghanistan, which constitute gender apartheid.
Dr. Lauryn Oates, Executive Director of Right to Learn Afghanistan, stated, “We welcome this important, long awaited development. Afghan women’s rights continue to be systematically violated, with the situation rapidly worsening. Activating the CEDAW adjudication process, and we hope, too, other international justice mechanisms, can start to put an end to the impunity the Taliban have enjoyed to date.”
The joint statement is the first step to formally notify the state party to cease violations, followed by a required attempt to negotiate with the state party. Should these not yield results, then subsequent steps can be taken to hold a hearing against Afghanistan for non-compliance with CEDAW, at the International Court of Justice in the Hague.
CEDAW adjudication is one of several international justice mechanisms that advocates have recommended. Advocates are also calling for the codification of gender apartheid, in particular, through its inclusion as a crime against humanity in the new Convention on Crimes Against Humanity, a draft of which will next be considered in October and November 2024, when the Sixth Committee, responsible for legal matters at the UN, will convene.
Through this and other mechanisms, Right to Learn Afghanistan considers the codification of gender apartheid achievable, realistic, and necessary, and urges Canada to support the amendment proposed by the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Litigation Project, to include gender apartheid as a crime against humanity in the new treaty.
We further urge Canada to take actions, as a party to the Rome Statute, to further the expansion of the International Criminal Court’s current investigation of the Taliban for war crimes and crimes against humanity, to include the recognized crime of gender persecution.
Right to Learn Afghanistan has been advocating for these recommendations in policy forums and with the public. Actions in these areas align with Canada’s Feminist Foreign Policy, and would contribute meaningful policy responses to the human rights crisis facing Afghan women and girls. We are hopeful that today’s statement at the UN General Assembly signals the beginning of a new phase in the international community’s reaction to the designers and perpetrators of gender apartheid in Afghanistan, and brings us closer to the day when gender apartheid in Afghanistan will come to an end.
