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)تیعوشم نادقف و قوقح نارحب اب هلباقم، هطوشم و هعوشم خیرات لدج رد ( نوناق تیمکاح و سیاسا نوناق ثحب

armed conflict, civil war, warlords, Taliban rule, the war on terror, and so many
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other chapters.
There is no denying that one thread that runs throughout that history of
widespread human rights violations is impunity. And that cannot stand.

The world has taken steps over the past 25 years to finally bring justice and
accountability to the fore, in the struggle to protect human rights and as a pillar
to achieving peace. That is why the adoption of the Rome Statue in 1998 leading
to the establishment of the International Criminal Court was such a historic
breakthrough. That is why Afghanistan’s accession to the Court in 2003
mattered so very much.
But even with those major steps forward, progress has been slow.
We must remain focused on that progress however and certainly now, at such a

fraught and fragile time for human rights in Afghanistan, pursuing justice will be
more important than ever.
That means through the ICC. But it is not only about the ICC. Fundamentally it is
about international justice, in the widest and deepest sense.
That means that countries, including my own, Canada, need to exercise their
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domestic powers to bring to justice at national level, individuals who are
responsible for what are termed crimes under international law in Afghanistan

and, through the principle of universal jurisdiction, can and, in fact, must be
prosecuted by the courts of any country.
And this is not just about criminal justice. It is about individuals and communities
who have experienced and survived grave human rights violations, and the
families of those who did not survive, being able to pursue redress, including
compensation, for what they have endured.
It is imperative to remember that justice is politically neutral. Think of
Afghanistan’s many chapters over the past forty years and the countless

perpetrators who have escaped justice. As absolutely vital as it is, our focus
today cannot only lie in an effort to ensure there is justice and accountability for
violations committed by the Taliban regime, past or present.
Notably, there is a 19-year history of grave violations between 2002 and 2021,
committed by the previous Afghan government and certainly by US and allied

17 Amnesty International, No Escape: War crimes and civilian harm during the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban,
December 15, 2021; Human Rights Watch, “Today We Shall All Die”: Afghanistan’s Strongmen and the Legacy
of Impunity, March 3, 2015; Amnesty International, Left in the Dark: Failures of accountability for civilian
casualties caused by international military operations in Afghanistan, 2014; Human Rights Watch, Blood-
Stained Hands:
Past atrocities in Kabul and Afghanistan’s legacy of impunity, July 6, 2005; Amnesty International, Afghanistan:
Addressing the past to secure the future, April 6, 2005; Human Rights Watch, Afghanistan: The Massacre in
Mazar-I Sharif, November 1, 1998.
18 Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, S.C. 2000, c. 24.
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