August 2000

The Women's Caucus's for Gender Justice, New York interviews two human rights legal experts. Zieba Shorish-Shamley, Director of Women's Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in Afghanistan, who speaks about war crimes committed by the Taliban, and the status of women in Afghanistan. She says that women in Afghanistan are prisoners in their home, denied the most basic of human rights. She talks about the forced marriages and prostitution, ethnic cleansing, and abductions which have happened since the Taliban has come into power. She states that the ICC will be able to help by giving people a place to seek redress, as the country has no acceptable court of its own. She asserts that the Taliban's actions are committing atrocities in the name of religion, but that their actions are essentially un-Islamic. She concludes with a rally for all women to join the fight for freedom, as what is happening in Afghanistan to women could happen anywhere. Rashida Manjoo of South Africa talks about the influence that the ICC concepts of individual accountability and responsibility will have on domestic policy in South Africa, and legislation to protect victims and witnesses.