Winston Peters, New Zealand's foreign minister, announced that his country supports the initiative of a number of Western countries, led by Germany, to bring the Taliban to justice for violating women's rights.
Peters stated this in a letter to New Zealand MP Camilla Belich. Belich said on Tuesday that New Zealand supports international efforts to hold the Taliban government accountable for its "inhumane treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan".
Belich said that she would continue to defend the rights of Afghan women.
In a note on her Facebook account, Belich wrote that the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan and Iran is "truly a human rights crisis”.
The New Zealand MP said that Afghan and Iranian activists in New Zealand have appealed for New Zealand's support for efforts to hold the Taliban accountable. As a result of these efforts, a multi-party meeting was held in the New Zealand parliament and international measures to hold the Taliban accountable were supported.
Along with her note, Belich also published a letter from New Zealand's foreign minister, Winston Peters.
In the letter, Peters wrote that the New Zealand government supports a German-led plan to force the Taliban to respect human rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Peters added that he had also discussed the issue with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
He described the move as "important" and stressed that New Zealand would monitor progress in this area.
Recently, the foreign ministers of Germany, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands issued a strongly worded statement condemning the gross and systematic violations of human rights in Afghanistan, particularly gender discrimination against women.
They stressed that Afghanistan is responsible under international law for violating its numerous obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
The countries called for negotiations and dialogue with the Taliban in accordance with the provisions of the convention and warned that "if a result is not reached within a reasonable timeframe, they will refer to the International Court of Justice”.
Following the release of the statement, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock delivered a harsh statement on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, along with the foreign ministers of the Netherlands, Australia, and Canada, against the violation of women's rights in Afghanistan. She vowed to bring the Taliban to the International Court of Justice for violating the rights of Afghan women.
Following this action, more than 20 other countries supported the initiative, including Australia, Germany, Canada and the Netherlands.
Last week, Chile, Costa Rica, Spain, France, Luxembourg and Mexico referred the case of Afghanistan, especially the violation of women's rights in the country, to the International Criminal Court. The International Criminal Court also confirmed that it had received the case.
The court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced on Monday, December 2, at the 23rd session of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Assembly of Member States in The Hague, the Netherlands, that he would soon request arrest warrants for Taliban officials. Khan said that investigations into human rights violations, particularly women's rights, in Afghanistan were ongoing.
