Rangita de Silva de Alwis, Senior Fellow at Penn Carey Law and CEDAW member, worked closely with Hon. Nicole Amaline, former French Minister to include language on gender apartheid in the General Recommendation 40 of the CEDAW.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) announced its decision to file applications for arrest warrants for the Supreme Leader of the Taliban, Haibatullah Akhundzada, and the Chief Justice of the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” Abdul Hakim Haqqani, for the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds, under article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute.
The announcement is a powerful message that impunity for flagrant violations of women’s rights is not to be tolerated and is historic in nature. Further, the OTP’s decision to pursue charges complements other accountability efforts, including the initiative announced by Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, and Australia, and joined by 20 plus states to hold the Taliban accountable for violations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), with potential proceedings before the International Court of Justice.Rangita de Silva de Alwis, faculty at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and CEDAW member, together with other Co-Chairs of the High-Level Expert Group (HLEG) on Gender Persecution and Gender Apartheid have worked on coalition building and accountability strategies. Leading international law counsel, Catherine Amirfar, Partner Debevoise, and Baroness Helena Kennedy, KC, Order of the Thistle, and Director of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute are part of the leadership of the HLEG, which recently submitted an Article 15 Communication on behalf of Afghan women to the ICC.de Silva de Alwis was recently appointed an Advisor to the UN General Assembly Presidency and Vice Chair of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute. She will continue to partner with Amirfar and Kennedy on major challenges to gender equality in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
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