RASC News Agency: In a landmark initiative aimed at exposing the Taliban’s sustained gender-based atrocities, a coalition of civil society organizations has announced the first-ever People’s Tribunal for the Women of Afghanistan. This symbolic tribunal is designed to document and publicly indict the Taliban’s brutal campaign against Afghanistan’s women and girls, bringing their silenced voices to the forefront of international consciousness. The initiative is jointly spearheaded by four prominent human rights groups: Tolerance, Human Rights Defenders, the Organization for Human Rights and Democracy in Afghanistan, and Research and Development. In a joint statement issued on Thursday, July 31, the coalition confirmed that the tribunal will be held from October 8 to 10 in Madrid, Spain, and will include the participation of a distinguished panel of international judges.
According to the organizers, international prosecutors and legal experts are in the process of compiling formal indictments and collecting detailed evidence against the Taliban regime. The tribunal seeks to confront the entrenched culture of impunity surrounding the group’s crimes and to make it unequivocally clear: the systematic repression of Afghanistani women is neither normal nor tolerable. This symbolic judicial process unfolds in parallel with formal international legal efforts. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has already issued arrest warrants for Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani on charges of crimes against humanity and gender-based persecution. Despite these actions, the Taliban continues to reject the authority of international law and denies the legitimacy of global legal institutions.
Women’s rights advocates hope this tribunal will amplify global pressure on the Taliban and hold its leaders accountable for their ongoing human rights violations. Beyond legal symbolism, they emphasize the moral urgency of restoring the most basic rights to millions of Afghanistani women and girls rights the Taliban has systematically stripped away through edicts, coercion, and violence. This tribunal stands not only as a rebuke to the Taliban’s gender apartheid but also as a rallying cry to the international community: silence and inaction are no longer acceptable.
