Gordon Brown has called for the Taliban to be prosecuted for crimes against humanity, as he urged the UK government and its allies to impose sanctions against the Afghan regime.
The former Labour prime minister appealed to the international criminal court to prosecute those responsible for the “systematic brutalisation of women and girls”.
It is almost two years since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, who swept through Afghanistan to seize control as western troops withdrew in the summer of 2021.
The Talbian initially promised a more moderate rule than during their first stint in power, which lasted from 1996 to 2001.
But Brown, the UN special envoy for global education, said the evidence of crimes against humanity being committed by the Taliban since their return to power was “overwhelming”.
There has been growing international criticism as a severe interpretation of Islamic law has been imposed on women and girls.
Brown told the BBC that the Taliban have enforced “complete discrimination against women”, banning them from university, schools, public places, or from undertaking any activities involving them walking on their own. “This is systematic brutalisation of women and girls,” he said.
Women were also “required to wear a particular dress – not even just the normal dress of a Muslim but very particular requirements on dress”, he added.
He raised concerns about “all those being prosecuted, including the leader of the NGOs, who are forcing the pressure for girls’ rights, now in prison”.
Brown, who was prime minister from 2007-10, wants Britain to impose tough sanctions on the regime responsible for overseeing the restrictions on women.
“It’s probably the most heinous, the most vicious, the most comprehensive abuse of human rights that’s taking place around the world today,” he said. “And it is systematically being inflicted on millions of girls and women across Afghanistan. And that’s why the United Nations and others are calling it gender discrimination. Some call it gender apartheid.
“That’s why it’s seen as a crime against humanity, and it’s right, then, for the international criminal court, which has responsibility for dealing with crimes against humanity, to both investigate and to prosecute those people who have been responsible for this crime.”
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What we need is a prosecution. But we also need sanctions. I’m urging the UK government to sanction the individuals responsible for this policy. The European Union has done it, but America and others can do it.”
In November 2021, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, which sits within the Treasury, confirmed the UK “has not implemented sanctions against the Taliban as an entity”.
However, it added that financial sanctions relating to some Taliban members have remained in force since 1999.
A resolution by the UN security council was passed in 2021, which allowed for the provision of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan without breaking international law on sanctions.
Earlier this month, aid charities warned that cuts to the overseas development budget were a “death sentence” for children. The target of spending 0.7% of national income on foreign aid has been abandoned by the UK for several years.
A report by NGOs said plans for a 76% cut in aid for Afghanistan would leave some of the world’s most vulnerable women and girls without services.
