The UN Human Rights Council has decided to set up an independent body to investigate and preserve evidence of the most serious international crimes committed in Afghanistan, including crimes against women. In September, more than four years after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council moved to establish a specialised “mechanism” to investigate the most serious international crimes committed by the current regime and other actors in Afghanistan’s conflicts. It has the mandate to “collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse evidence of international crimes and the most serious violations of international law committed in Afghanistan, and prepare files to facilitate and expedite fair and independent criminal proceedings”. It will rely on courts like the International Criminal Court to carry out these prosecutions, or countries exercising universal jurisdiction. In its press release published at the time, the Human Rights Council particularly ...
