OMCT - World Organisation Against Torture

11/26/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/26/2024 09:36

Establishment of an Independent International Accountability Mechansims for Afghanistan – Questions and Answers

Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed severe restrictions on human rights, particularly targeting women and girls. They have been barred from education beyond sixth grade, excluded from most employment, and prohibited from singing, reading aloud, or being heard outside their homes. LGBTQI+ individuals face arbitrary detention, torture, extortion, and extrajudicial killings. Former government employees, especially security officers, have been summarily executed or forcibly disappeared. Ethnic and religious minorities suffer systematic persecution, while journalists, human rights defenders, and protesters-especially women-are subjected to harassment, arbitrary detention, and violent reprisals.

The Taliban have revived cruel punishments, including public executions and floggings, and their ban on women aid workers has worsened Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis. Widespread poverty and food insecurity are compounded by restrictions on women's freedom of movement, denying them access to healthcare and resulting in systemic violations of reproductive rights and health.

In October 2024, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted resolution 57/3, providing a framework for action. It stresses the "urgent and imperative need" to ensure accountability by bringing perpetrators of grave human rights violations to justice through a survivor- and victim-centered, gender-responsive approach. The resolution also calls for strengthening mechanisms to collect, preserve, and analyse evidence of serious crimes, ensuring it can support future accountability and transitional justice processes.

Since 2021, Afghan and international civil society organisations have advocated for an independent international accountability mechanism to document and preserve evidence of grave abuses in Afghanistan. Ahead of the HRC's 57th session, over 90 Afghan, regional, and international organisations urged the Council to act without delay. Such a mechanism would address entrenched impunity, advance justice, and support victims' rights to truth and reparation.

This mechanism would complement the vital work of the UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan, as well as ongoing or future efforts by the International Criminal Court, International Court of Justice, and national courts using universal jurisdiction.

Together with 11 civil society partners, the OMCT has developed a document outlining the pressing need for such a mechanism. For more on its mandate, added value, and how it would complement existing efforts, please refer to the attached Q&A document.