Vox tried to suppress the gender focus in a Congress motion against the Taliban

Eduardo González The Foreign Affairs Committee of Congress has approved a Non-Law Proposal presented by the People's Parliamentary Group in which Spain is urged to join the actions of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court against “gender apartheid” by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The Non-Law Proposal “against gender apartheid in Afghanistan and in favour of Spain joining international action before the International Court of Justice in The Hague”, approved with modifications on 18 December (after amendments by the Socialist Group), urges the Government to “maintain the support, announced on 13 December, for the initiative of Canada, Germany, Australia and the Netherlands to take Afghanistan to the International Court of Justice in The Hague”. It also asks the Executive to continue “supporting the work of the International Criminal Court in relation to the referral of the situation in Afghanistan to the Prosecutor of said Court, promoted by Spain, Chile, Costa Rica, France, Luxembourg and Mexico”. Finally, the motion urges the Government to “consider participation in international initiatives that may arise in the future to combat the gender apartheid in force in Afghanistan and in favour of guaranteeing equal rights between men and women”. For its part, the far-right party Vox presented an amendment, which was rejected, in which it was urged to “fight the Taliban regime in Afghanistan” and in which any mention of “gender apartheid” was expressly removed. On January 24, the Government welcomed the arrest warrants requested by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the supreme leader of the Taliban, Haibatullah Akhundzada, and the president of the Supreme Court of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, for “crimes against humanity related to gender-based persecution.” “In November, Spain urged the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to include crimes committed against women and girls in its investigation into the situation in Afghanistan,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release. “Spain will continue to demand accountability from the Taliban government before international bodies for the crimes committed against women and girls in Afghanistan and the serious violations of international law,” it added.

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