RASC News Agency: The Open Society Foundation, a leading civil society organization in the United States, has hailed the request for the arrest of the Taliban leader as a “critical step toward achieving justice for women” in Afghanistan and across the globe. Binaifer Nowrojee, President of the Open Society Foundation, stated on Thursday: “Without the International Criminal Court and other global judicial mechanisms, Afghanistani women and girls have no means of holding the Taliban accountable.” The foundation’s statement emphasized: “Afghanistani women and girls are enduring the relentless oppression of a regime that seeks to erase them from the public sphere, stripping them of fundamental rights such as education, employment, freedom of movement, and expression.”
The organization underscored that the request for arrest warrants targeting the Taliban leader and the Chief Justice of the group is a crucial measure to defend women’s rights and serve as a deterrent to other regimes that suppress the freedoms of women and girls. It highlighted that a precedent-setting ruling by the International Criminal Court, if it convicts individuals for gender-based persecution, would underscore the indispensable role of justice globally and reaffirm that no one is immune from the rule of law.
Nowrojee remarked: “For the first time, Afghanistani women and girls have a genuine opportunity to seek justice for the Taliban’s egregious crimes.” The Open Society Foundation operated in Afghanistan for two decades until the Taliban’s resurgence in 2021, championing initiatives in education, free press, women’s empowerment, and human rights advocacy.
