<h6><strong>The Diplomat</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares Bueno, condemned this Friday the curtailment of the rights of Afghan women and girls and assured that Spain is working to guarantee accountability for the crimes committed in Afghanistan.</strong></h4> The cut in rights “is not only an attack against them, but an attack on the most fundamental human rights,” said Albares during the opening of the conference ‘HearUs: Catalyzing a public space and accountability for Afghan women. Follow-up to the Afghan Women's Summit. From words to action', held at the headquarters of the Ministry. The conference, which was attended by more than 50 Afghan women in exile, special envoys for Afghanistan and Ambassadors on Special Mission for Gender Equality and Feminist Foreign Policy from numerous countries, as well as representatives of the United Nations and other international organizations, was co-organized with Women for Afghanistan. “The meeting has made it possible to amplify the voices of Afghan women, create a clear and cohesive approach and agree on the next steps to implement the decisions contained in the Tirana Declaration, adopted at the All Afghan Women Summit, which took place in Tirana (Albania) from 13 to 15 September 2024,” the Ministry highlighted in a press release. Among the decisions of the Tirana Declaration are the commitment to a meaningful inclusion of Afghan women in all political processes related to Afghanistan, the regular support for initiatives, summits and dialogue processes led by women in parallel to the Doha process and the commitment to the accountability of the Taliban before international justice for the violations of human rights committed in Afghanistan, especially the human rights of women and girls. In addition, Afghan women have published a “Call to Action” in which they ask the international community to meaningfully include Afghan women in all political processes related to Afghanistan, as well as to regularly support initiatives, summits and dialogue processes, such as the one that took place in Madrid. Spain has joined other countries, such as Albania, Chile, Finland, Luxembourg and Morocco, in bringing the Taliban to international justice and has supported the accountability initiative adopted by Australia, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands, which have taken formal steps to call on Afghanistan to cease its violations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), to which Afghanistan is a State Party, under its Article 29, and which could lead to action by the International Court of Justice against Afghanistan. At the end of November, Spain, Chile, Costa Rica, France, Luxembourg and Mexico submitted a referral of the situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, requesting that the Court include in its investigation into the situation in Afghanistan crimes against women and girls committed since the Taliban took power in 2021.
