Statement from the Afghan Women Judges' Committee On the Third Anniversary of the Fall of Kabul

Statement from the Afghan Women Judges’ Committee
On the Third Anniversary of the Fall of Kabul

23 August 2024

On August 15, 2021, the city of Kabul, the last stronghold, fell to the Taliban.  From that day over 250 Afghan women judges and their families were placed in mortal danger.

Up until that time, the women judges of Afghanistan had been doing the work that they were trained for and asked to do.  They were upholding the rule of law and providing justice to the citizens of Afghanistan.  They were, however, doing so in conditions of extreme insecurity. In January 2021, two of their number, Judge Zakia Herawi and Judge Qadria Yasini, had been assassinated by terrorists on their way to work as part of a coordinated campaign aimed at intimidating public officials. Women in high office were particularly targeted as a message to all women. We pay tribute to the assassinated judges and also to all the Afghan women judges. Their courage in continuing their work in such conditions is breathtaking.  

When the Taliban reached Kabul on August 15, 2021 the position of the women judges became untenable. All of them lost their jobs as it is contrary to the beliefs of the Taliban that women be judges and more particularly sit in judgment of men.    Many of them sat on courts, like the domestic violence and anti-terrorism courts, that the Taliban believed were hostile instruments of the Western agenda. The women judges became targets, and the death threats they received were not just from the Taliban.  The Taliban had emptied all of the prisons across Afghanistan as they took over the regions.   The released prisoners sought personal revenge against the judges who sentenced them to prison terms.  Other former litigants sought revenge against the women judges for ruling against them in family cases.  The women judges of Afghanistan were forced to flee their homes and go into hiding with their families in order to save their lives and the lives of their families.  

Since August 15, 2021, more than 200 of the Afghan women judges (over 1,000 including family members) have been able to escape and are safely in other countries.   Most of the judges and their families are now permanently resettled, including in Canada, Australia, United States, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain.  Some are still waiting for resettlement in precarious conditions in transit countries, like Pakistan and Brazil.

The Afghan Women Judges Support Committee, a committee of the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ)), comprised of seven women judges from around the world assisted in and coordinated the evacuation of most of the Afghan women judges from Afghanistan in cooperation with other organizations such as the International Bar Association, the International Commission of Jurists Australia and Jewish Humanitarian Response.  We are also grateful to DLA Piper and Fried Frank for providing pro bono legal advice to the Afghan women judges and to the IAWJ respectively. And thanks also to our wonderful interpreters, to those who set up and maintain our database and to those who have so generously donated funds to assist in our work.

As three years have passed, we want to acknowledge the bravery, determination, dignity and grace shown by the Afghan women judges in their escape from Afghanistan and their resettlement in other countries.    These women left behind everything they knew, their family members and their country and are restarting their lives.  They are trying to settle in new countries with different cultures and where they do not speak the language. Many of the judges and family members are traumatised by their experiences and are desperately worried about colleagues and family members they left behind. We acknowledge the volunteers from our IAWJ affiliated associations around the world who are assisting the judges as they adapt to their new countries.

There are some 38 women judges remaining in Afghanistan who are still in danger.  We promised we would leave no judge behind and we hope that we can fulfil that promise but it is becoming more and more difficult. We should also say that we are very conscious that there are other groups at risk in Afghanistan but we are a very small group of volunteers and we cannot help everyone.  We are a women judges group and we therefore felt an obligation to our sister judges in Afghanistan, particularly because many of them had been long term members of the IAWJ.

Meanwhile, we acknowledge that the conditions in Afghanistan are very harsh. UNICEF estimates that over half of the population needs humanitarian assistance in 2024. Over 14.2 million people face high levels of acute food insecurity. The country is prone to natural disasters, Iike earthquakes, drought and flooding, which disproportionately affect vulnerable populations.  The return of over 600,000 Afghans from neighbouring countries has exacerbated the situation.

Since August 15, 2021, the rights of women in Afghanistan generally have been eroded.  Women have gradually been excluded from public life. They can no longer go to cemeteries, parks, gyms and beauty parlours. Women and girls are excluded from secondary and university education. There are very limited opportunities for them to work.  They must wear full body and face coverings when appearing in public and the Taliban have recently started detaining women who they view as failing to comply with this rule and there have been reports of women and their male relatives being beaten as punishment.   Women can no longer travel more than 72kms/45 miles without a male escort and in some regions cannot even go unescorted to the market. Women in Afghanistan can no longer flee from domestic abuse as the women’s shelters have been closed.  Women’s access to healthcare has been severely curtailed.  Childbirth is particularly dangerous. Afghanistan is in the worst 10 countries in the world for maternal mortality, with one woman dying in childbirth every two hours.   Women human rights defenders have been arbitrarily arrested and detained for speaking out against the Taliban.  

All of these actions targeting women are contrary to international human rights law.

We end with a tribute to our Afghan colleagues.  Their resilience, bravery, dignity and determination have been truly awe-inspiring.  

Afghan Women Judges Support Committee: Justice Mona Lynch, Canada; Judge Robyn Tupman, Australia; Justice Susan Glazebrook, New Zealand; Judge Anisa Dhanji, United Kingdom; Judge Gloria Poyatos Matas, Spain; Judge Patricia Whalen, United States and Judge Vanessa Ruiz, United States.