HISTORIC MOMENT FOR GENDER JUSTICE IN AFGHANISTAN

On July 8, 2025, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against two Taliban officials for their crimes against Afghan women, girls, and LGBTQIA+ persons – the first time in history that an international tribunal has recognized LGBTQIA+ victims as survivors of crimes against humanity, specifically gender persecution.

In 2024 and earlier, MADRE’s work enabled the ICC to hear directly from Afghan women and LGBTQIA+ rights advocates and survivors, and the ICC’s historic recognition of gender crimes honors those survivors who came forward to share their stories and fight for justice in Afghanistan. While these arrest warrants may prove to be symbolic, they represent a major moment for gender justice in Afghanistan with global impacts on recognition of gender persecution committed against women, girls, and LGBTQIA+ persons in other conflict and crisis settings.

With these warrants, three ICC judges determined that there is reason to believe that the Taliban’s governmental policies specifically target women, girls, and “other persons non-conforming with the Taliban’s policy on gender, gender identity or expression” and deprive them of fundamental rights and freedoms. These warrants strengthen Afghan women’s calls to the international community not to recognize the Taliban as a legitimate government and heighten pressure on the Taliban to end their violence and discrimination against women, girls, and LGBTQIA+ Afghans.

MADRE and our partners have been researching and reporting on gender persecution crimes in Afghanistan since 2021, supporting local documentation work, helping amplify Afghan advocates’ voices in the UN and elsewhere, and supporting survivors to be able to share their stories. To learn more, read our two reports on gender persecution from 2023 and 2024.