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The Human Rights Watch (HRW), a non-governmental international organization, known for researching and advocating on human rights abuse, has urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to suspend the membership of Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB). In a letter sent to Jay Shah, the ICC Chairman, HRW wants them to ban Afghanistan, run by Taliban, from playing international cricket until the women and girls in the country are allowed to get education and take part in sports.
In a report from Cricbuzz, the letter from HRW was sent to the ICC on behalf of Minky Warden, their Director of Global Initiatives, in the build-up to the coveted Champions Trophy 2025 final between India and New Zealand in Dubai. The letter addressed to Jay Shah reminded him that since cricket is part of the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, the ban from Taliban on women’s rights is violating the Olympic charter.
We are writing at this time to urge ICC to suspend Taliban-run Afghanistan: HRW
The HRW letter read, “We are writing at this time to urge the International Cricket Council (ICC) to suspend Taliban-run Afghanistan from ICC membership, and from participating in international cricket, until women and girls can once again participate in education and sport in the country. We also urge the ICC to implement a human rights policy based on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.”
“We note that cricket has been included as a sport in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, and yet the Taliban's ban on women and girls participating in the sport is a severe violation of the Olympic Charter's guarantee that ‘the practice of sport is a human right’,” it further stated. Moreover, prior to the Taliban banning all sports for women and girls upon returning to power in 2021, many of the women cricketers in Afghanistan had to flee the country before they went into hiding in Australia.
Before the HRW, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the member of the ICC, had sought action against the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) for not doing enough to help women’s cricket in the country.
