In a landmark decision that reinforces international pressure on the Taliban, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has publicly disclosed arrest warrants for two of the regime’s top leaders, Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, on charges of gender persecution, a crime against humanity under Article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute.
This decision marks the first time that an international court has formally recognized the systemic persecution of women as crimes against humanity. According to the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber II, there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that the Taliban implemented a deliberate policy of persecution on the basis of gender, gender identity, and political opinion, targeting not only women and girls but also those perceived as their allies or as failing to conform to rigid ideological norms.
The arrest warrants, which had remained sealed since January to protect witnesses and victims, were made public on July 8 following growing international scrutiny. This revelation comes just one day after the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution condemning the Taliban’s worsening treatment of women and girls, highlighting the urgent global concern over Afghanistan’s deepening human rights crisis.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have enacted a sweeping and brutal campaign to erase women from public life. Girls are banned from education beyond the sixth grade. Women are forbidden from working, restricted from travel without a male guardian, barred from healthcare access, and forced to veil in public. Even the sound of a woman’s voice in public has become a target of censorship.
The ICC determined that these actions constitute a “governmental policy” of persecution that severely deprived women and girls of their rights to education, privacy, free movement, expression, and thought. The court further acknowledged that persecution under the Rome Statute encompasses not just violent acts but also “systemic and institutionalized forms of harm,” including the imposition of discriminatory societal norms.
In a historic recognition, ICC Special Adviser on Gender and Discriminatory Crimes Lisa Davis stated this is “the first time in history that an international tribunal has confirmed LGBTQ people to be victims of crimes against humanity, namely gender persecution.”
For Afghan women who have long resisted the Taliban’s brutality despite grave risks this move by the ICC is a powerful, if symbolic, moment. While the likelihood of Akhundzada and Haqqani being brought into custody remains slim, as neither is known to travel outside Afghanistan, and the Taliban does not recognize the court’s legitimacy, the arrest warrants offer something many in the country have not felt in years: a sense of hope.
“These warrants show that the world is watching and that what the Taliban are doing is not just oppressive, but criminal,” said Agnes Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, calling it a “crucial step to hold accountable all those allegedly responsible for the gender-based deprivation of fundamental rights.”
Liz Evenson of Human Rights Watch added that the warrants could “provide victims and their families with an essential pathway to justice.”
While the practical enforcement of these arrest warrants remains uncertain, their significance is undeniable. The ICC’s action marks a long-overdue recognition of what Afghan women have endured, and what they have never stopped resisting. For decades, their oppression has been dismissed as culture, ignored as inconvenient, or treated as too complex to confront. This decision changes that.
The court has now affirmed a critical truth: what the Taliban calls governance is, in fact, a crime against humanity. Stripping women and girls of their rights to move, learn, speak, or exist freely is not a legitimate expression of religious or political authority—it is persecution.
This ruling is more than a legal procedure; it is a statement of global solidarity with Afghan women, girls, LGBTQ+ people, and all those resisting the Taliban’s rule. It affirms that their suffering matters, that their resistance is valid, and that their abusers can, and must, be held accountable. Justice will not come overnight. But this moment is a step toward it—a step that says the world sees, hears, and stands with those fighting for dignity and freedom in Afghanistan.
