The Taliban doesn't respect the rule of law, lawyers or people
Ruhullah Qarizada
President, Afghanistan Independent Bar Association
This prompted the IBA to embark on fundraising and evacuation efforts in conjunction with international partners to help AIBA’s leadership leave Kabul. $20,000 has been donated so far by several bar associations, but Ellis continues to push for IBA members to provide more financial support.
These efforts complement an intense campaign to evacuate Afghan female judges, lawyers and other vulnerable individuals at risk, including journalists and human rights defenders. Between 30 September and 24 October, the IBA team has worked with international and domestic partners to evacuate close to 500 people, including 103 women and their families, to Greece.
Many families remain in Greece awaiting destinations for onward travel. A number will receive safe passage to Iceland, Ireland, Australia, USA, New Zealand, the UK and Germany, but 70 families have still not been allocated a permanent residence. They have been housed in temporary accommodation thanks to a funding drive by the IBA's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) and generous donations from external partners such as Airbnb. IBAHRI continues to assist them in their resettlement process.
However, Helena Kennedy, Director of the IBAHRI, says the ongoing uncertainty is extremely challenging. ‘It’s so hard for them and it's taking its toll, physically and mentally,’ she says. ‘They’ve given everything up. They’ve had to leave large numbers of their families and friends behind and now they’re in a strange place. It’s so disruptive and they don’t know what the future holds.’
Ellis says the scale of the humanitarian efforts by civil society worldwide to evacuate vulnerable Afghans has been staggering, but governments need to step up. ‘It’s a disturbing reality that civil society has been placed in the position of trying to assist these most vulnerable people,’ he says. ‘I believe that States ultimately have that responsibility and they have failed by placing the responsibility onto civil society to evacuate individuals…and to provide support for these same individuals to resettle.’
As large swathes of the Afghan legal profession are relocated around the world, Ellis says the IBA could help maintain its commitment to the rule of law in the country by establishing a new Afghan bar association in exile. ‘I'm very, very proud of what the IBA has done since the fall of Kabul,’ he says. ‘I'm hoping that this final step of creating a bar association in exile could be a very strong strategic move to have a long-term impact for Afghanistan’s lawyers and judges to come together.’
Sternford Moyo, IBA President, supports the idea and calls upon the Afghan diaspora to keep holding the Taliban regime to account. ‘It is important that the AIBA be maintained instead of allowing it to completely collapse,’ he says. ‘Some of the gains made will be preserved and there will be no danger in having to start from scratch as was done when the current Bar Association was built. Furthermore, it is important for Bar leaders who are currently outside Afghanistan to maintain vigilance in that country and work in collaboration with one another as they expose to the world the excesses of the current regime.’
Image: Old Taliban tanks and guns on the outskirts of Kabul city, 10 August 2021. Trent Inness/Shutterstock.com
