appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Chris Fitzgerald

Pressure is mounting on the Taliban to respect the rights of women after Western governments decided to take the group to the International Court of Justice for gender discrimination.
The Netherlands, Canada, Germany and Australia announced the move on Wednesday at the United Nations General Assembly, marking only the second time a country is sent to the International Court of Justice for violating the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination of Women (CEDAW).
Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp said the situation was “heartbreaking” while Australian foreign minister Penny Wong said the four countries would “hold the Taliban to account” for its treatment of women in Afghanistan.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban has treated women and girls abysmally. According to the UN, 2.5 million school-age girls have been denied their right to education while women have been banned from working for aid organisations and UN agencies.
The Taliban has also rolled out “vice and virtue” laws prohibiting women from speaking or showing their faces in public, and forbidding them to look directly at strange men or catch taxis without a male escort. This comes after the Taliban banned beauty parlours, a transparently cruel move designed to remove women from public spaces.
Women also face a culture of extreme violence. In March, the Taliban declared that stoning as a punishment would return to Afghanistan; in August, a woman in Balkh province was reportedly sentenced to death by stoning. The Centre of Information Resilience’s Afghan Witness project reveals more than 300 reported cases of women being killed by men since the Taliban seized power, saying this is the “tip of the iceberg”.


The situation for Afghan women has gotten so bad the UN said it was the worst globally last year, while a UN special rapporteur labelled the Taliban’s actions “gender apartheid”.
The international community feels it has few other options, for not even the tantalising prospect of international recognition has persuaded the Taliban to respect women. Having left women and girls to the mercy of the Taliban since August 2021, holding it accountable is the least these governments can do.
Unfortunately for the Taliban, the previous regime under president Hamid Karzai ratified CEDAW in 2003, meaning that whoever governs Afghanistan is liable if the tenets of the convention are violated. This suggests the group has a case to answer for its brutal treatment of women.
But there are questions around the court’s jurisdiction, given that none of the countries taking the Taliban to court recognise it as the legitimate government in Kabul. The Taliban also does not hold Afghanistan’s seat in the UN General Assembly. The four countries may argue that the Taliban is the de facto administration of Afghanistan, and in effect unofficially recognised by countries like China, but there is a significant risk that the court will throw out the case because the group is not widely and officially recognised.
The Taliban could also simply refuse to accept the International Court of Justice’s authority, neither taking part in any court proceedings nor complying with any measures ordered by the court to protect Afghan women and girls. The Taliban would not be alone in doing this, with Israel having repeatedly defied the court’s rulings on protecting Palestinians in its war against Hamas in Gaza.
But the hope is that even if the Taliban refuses to acknowledge the court’s authority, a ruling could deter other states from legitimising the Taliban through diplomatic relations as signatories to the World Court are expected to abide by its rulings.

This is where China can play a role in protecting women and girls in Afghanistan.
China’s position on women in Afghanistan has been consistent with that of the broader international community, demanding the Taliban respect the rights of women and girls. But this has not stopped Beijing from seeking closer ties with the Taliban.
In January, China became the first major country to host a Taliban-appointed envoy, months after Beijing became the first government to appoint a new ambassador to Kabul following the Taliban’s return to power. De facto recognition from China only serves to embolden the Taliban and reinforce its brutal stance on women.
But China is a signatory to the International Court of Justice and has a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, meaning it can play a significant role in voting through any measures ordered by the World Court, turning them into legally binding resolutions.
China also has a proud legacy on women’s rights, with its 1954 Constitution enshrining equality between men and women and the government enacting over 100 laws and regulations that safeguard the rights of women. China also ratified CEDAW in 1980, and it was one of the first countries to do so.
This puts China in a powerful position to influence the Taliban over how it treats women. Instead of legitimising the Taliban, Beijing can use its political influence to convince Kabul to reverse its brutal policies. If the Taliban still will not budge, China should work with the broader international community to hold the group accountable if the International Court of Justice orders measures against the Taliban.
Mao Zedong famously said that “women hold up half the sky”, in reference to the important role they play in Chinese society. Women and girls in Afghanistan will be hoping Beijing still remembers that sentiment.


China-US dialogue will ease concerns, but competition will remain, Paul Chan says

Xi-Trump summit built muscle for US-China cooperation

Scott Kennedy on China’s ‘slow tech dragon’ and 2 more Xi-Trump meetings

The US-China relationship has stabilised but on Beijing’s terms

Diplomacy

Will suing the Taliban protect Afghan women? Maybe with China’s help

Burqa-clad women walk with a girl along a street in Fayzabad district, Badakhshan province in Afghanistan on September 22. Photo: AFP

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi poses for a photo with Amir Khan Mutaqi, then the acting foreign minister of Afghanistan, in Kabul in 2022. Photo: Xinhua via AP

Why China’s women are talking back like never before

Stand-up comedian Qiqi (centre) chats with fellow comedians Ailun (right) and Yang Mei (second right) and fans after a performance at a shopping mall in Beijing in November 2020. Photo: AFP  


A woman walks with a boy in Shanghai on February 24, 2022. On social media, it is more common to see Chinese women commenting on issues like the impact of motherhood on career paths. Photo: AFP

Taliban committed to international engagement, UN calls morality law ‘gender apartheid’

An Afghan woman wearing a burqa in Sangin district of Helmand province, Afghanistan, on August 27, 2024. Photo: AFP

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres (C) arrives at the Timorese Resistance Archive and Museum in Dili, East Timor, on August 30, 2024. Following the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021, before the morality law was passed, Guterres said ‘Broken promises lead to broken dreams for the women and girls of Afghanistan.’ Photo: AFP

Paris Paralympics: Zakia Khudadadi dedicates first refugee medal to ‘women of Afghanistan’

Zakia Khudadadi from the Paralympic Refugee Team is carried by her French coach Haby Niare after she won the bronze medal. Photo: AP

Zakia Khudadadi, who was granted asylum in France, was cheered on like a local throughout the day. Photo: Reuters

Why China is becoming a top choice mediator for global conflicts

Illustration: Stephen Case

Opinion

China Opinion

World Opinion

News

World

China

Taking legal action over gender discrimination in Afghanistan may have limited impact, but Beijing has influence it can use to bring change


Taking legal action over gender discrimination in Afghanistan may have limited impact, but Beijing has influence it can use to bring change.


Taliban

Afghanistan

United Nations

Women and gender

China-Afghanistan relations

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Will suing the Taliban protect Afghan women? Maybe with China’s help

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Taking legal action over gender discrimination in Afghanistan may have limited impact, but Beijing has influence it can use to bring change

Taking legal action over gender discrimination in Afghanistan may have limited impact, but Beijing has influence it can use to bring change