This post has been contributed by Professor Jill Marshall, Module Convenor for Jurisprudence.
The phrase ‘it’s just not cricket’ is used in English to mean that something is unfair.
What could be more unfair than more than half the population being denied their dignity, freedom and rights? With that in mind, this blog explores the recent news that the English Cricket Board is permitting the English men’s cricket team to play against Afghanistan’s team in the upcoming global cricket tournament Champions Trophy despite the onslaught and decimation of women’s lives and rights by the de facto Taliban government in Afghanistan.
Women’s Existence
“Afghanistan has endured decades of conflict, occupation, and instability, profoundly affecting the country and its people. As one of the poorest countries in the world, Afghanistan faces numerous challenges, including widespread poverty, underdevelopment, and ongoing food insecurity. The situation has had a huge impact on the women and children who have no means to escape such dire poverty…” (AFGHANISTAN: The Desperation Of Women – Forgotten Women).
Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the de facto authorities have subjected Afghan women and girls to more than 70 edicts, directives, and decrees stripping them of fundamental rights. Amongst the many restrictions, women and girls have been banned from attending secondary school, working, appearing on TV, or going to a park. They are legally forbidden from literally using their voices in public, travelling alone on public transport, or looking at men who are not relations. They are required to cover their entire bodies including the face.
Unsurprisingly, UN Women data in 2024 shows that these restrictions are having dire impacts in the lives of Afghan women and girls. For example, only 1 per cent of women surveyed feel like they have influence over decision-making in their communities; 64 per cent indicate that they do not feel safe leaving their homes by themselves compared to 2 per cent of men; and 8 per cent indicate knowing at least one woman or girl who has attempted suicide since August 2021. The UN has called for these oppressive laws and policies to be immediately reversed, with authorities legally obliged to comply with international law to ensure the full rights of all women and girls.
Men’s Cricket
Given this situation, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) were urged to boycott the Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan by a group of more than 160 UK politicians. There were calls from the UK Parliament in Westminster for the ECB to refuse the fixture, taking a stand against the Taliban regime’s ongoing assault on women’s rights.
The Guardian newspaper has reported that female participation in sport has effectively been outlawed since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, a move that puts the Afghanistan Cricket Board in direct contravention of International Cricket Council (ICC) rules, which require full members to organise a women’s national team.
UK Parliament Reaction
With Afghanistan’s men’s team still allowed to compete by the ICC despite the women’s side being disbanded in 2021, a strongly worded letter has emerged from parliament pleading for the ECB to make its own moral objection.
Written by the Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi and signed by a cross-party group from the UK House of Commons and House of Lords, this letter raises concerns over the ‘insidious dystopia’ and ‘sex apartheid’ unfolding in Afghanistan, reports The Guardian.
The statement concludes:
‘We strongly urge the England men’s team players and officials to speak out against the horrific treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan under the Taliban.
‘We also urge the ECB to consider a boycott of the upcoming match against Afghanistan … to send a clear signal that such grotesque abuses will not be tolerated. We must stand against sex apartheid and we implore the ECB to deliver a firm message of solidarity and hope to Afghan women and girls that their suffering has not been overlooked.’
Jurisprudence and this situation
Your Jurisprudence module enables analysis of this situation from many perspectives. For example, are laws valid at all when issued by a de facto government not recognised by international law? What role can legitimacy, validity and effectiveness have in considering these situations? Have a look at Kelsen and Bentham. If you consider this from a natural law perspective, could it be argued these barbaric ‘laws’ are against the common good, against human nature, and are no law at all? Alternatively, also from a natural law perspective, is the Taliban system so fundamentally abhorrent that it is not a valid legal system? Considering feminist legal theory, the position can be viewed as one of patriarchal structural misogyny in practice with formal and substantive equality nowhere to be seen.
Conclusion
Despite the arguments raised here from your Jurisprudence course, how does this help women in Afghanistan now? Do individuals, companies, governments need to take a stand to ensure women’s very existence in Afghanistan does not become a thing of the past? Can it start with showcasing the atrocities through the sport of cricket with its vast popularity and air coverage?
References
Women in Afghanistan: The Back Story. Amnesty International
UN Women deeply concerned by new Afghanistan morality law. UN Women