KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – UN human rights experts, including Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett, on Friday welcomed the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) issuance of arrest warrants for two senior Taliban leaders.
The ICC on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and the group’s chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, citing crimes against humanity, including the systematic persecution of women, girls, and those who reject the Taliban’s strict gender rules.
In a joint statement, UN experts called the move “an important step toward justice” for the people of Afghanistan, especially for women and girls who, they said, have endured nearly four years of Taliban oppression.
“It sends an important message that impunity will not last forever,” the statement said. “To the victims and survivors, this action is a powerful affirmation that the international community sees, hears, and believes them.”
The experts urged states parties to the Rome Statute to fulfill their obligation to help bring the wanted men to justice, and called for stronger political, diplomatic, and financial support for the Court and its ongoing investigations.
“These arrest warrants must also send a clear message to member states that there should be no normalization of a regime that explicitly denies the rights and dignity of more than half the population,” they said. “To those seeking to legitimize the Taliban, we make it clear: you stand on the wrong side of history.”
Global rights groups and women’s rights advocates have also welcomed the ICC’s announcement, describing it as a major step toward justice for victims of gender-based persecution in Afghanistan. The rights groups called the arrest warrants an overdue but necessary move to hold senior Taliban leaders accountable.
The Taliban, in response, said they do not recognize the authority of the ICC and are not subject to its decisions.
However, activists say that Afghanistan joined the Rome Statute in 2003, giving the ICC jurisdiction to investigate crimes committed on its territory since that date.
