Athletes, Afghanistan and Australia: How international law and sporting bodies are assisting evacuation of female athletes in Afghanistan
I INTRODUCTION
The Taliban have confirmed that female athletes will no longer be allowed to play cricket or any other sport where their bodies may be shown. International sporting bodies and governments are taking steps to protect the rights of female athletes and demonstrate their disapproval of these policies. Footballs’ governing body the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and international players’ union the International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPro) confirmed that ‘a large number of women footballers and athletes’ had been evacuated from Afghanistan by the Australian government (source). The Oceania Taekwondo association has also collaborated with the Australian Taekwondo association to conduct the evacuation of eight female athletes and provide them with humanitarian visas provided by the Australian government. This blog piece will explain the actions taken by some of the relevant organisations to aid the evacuation of female athletes and the most recent actions being taken by Cricket Australia.
II FOOTBALL
Three days after the Afghanistan government had surrendered to the Taliban, four FIFPRo members, including Kat Craig, and the human rights lawyers working for the Federation began discuss strategies on how to secure the safety of the athletes and their families.
The first major turning point in the Federation’s plan was connecting with the Australian team, who lobbied the Australian government to grant the soccer players asylum. This team consisted of Craig Foster, former Socceroo and human rights advocate, human rights lawyer and former Olympian Nikki Dryden, director of Human Rights for All Alison Bittsson, former assistant coach of the Afghanistan’s Women’s National Football Team Haley Carter, former coach Kelly Lindsay and former captain Khalida Popal, who was already working with FIFPro.
Zali Steggal, former Olympian and member of the Australian Parliament, submitted visa applications for the athletes.
Battison lodged multiple immigration cases to show the athletes were legitimately at risk, and intends to show letters from FIFA, Fifpro and Steggal to prove this.
The players then reportedly travelled to the airport with documents stuffed in their underwear, wearing brightly coloured scarves to be used as makeshift flags if needed, and their money was split up and hidden in different places upon their person (source).
Through a harrowing ordeal the 77 Afghan athletes, officials and their family members associated with the Afghanistan Women’s National Football Team made it to Australia after being evacuated from Kabul. (source).
Kat Craig, said whilst some players were prevented from leaving the country, they went to extraordinary measures to escape (source).
‘They were being beaten up, being whipped and the Taliban were out there with electric cattle prods,’ Craig said.
‘They had to go through an open sewer...
‘They were having to climb over it and we were getting people to fish them out.’
They were granted humanitarian visas and are now quarantining for two weeks. The athletes have drawn images and written letters to the Australian public as a message of thanks for helping them to escape Kabul. The letter stated their thanks to the ‘Government of Australia and kind hearted people Australia and the best team every who worked together’. (source)
‘Unfortunately, [the] situation in our country made us to leave everything behind even ou[r] families,’ the letter reads.
‘We took risks to succeed in this mission and luckily we are succeeded by all your efforts, hard work, that you all have done for us….
‘We all appreciating those days and nights that you all were with us, especially the team that worked days and nights without any hesitation…
‘They gave us the feeling of the second family, hopes, dreams that will come true.’
Pictured: One of the drawings completed by the athletes in quarantine. Source: @CraigFoster Twitter.
Pictured: One of the drawings completed by the athletes in quarantine. Source: @CraigFoster Twitter.
The Afghanistan Women’s National Football Team captain Shabnam Mobarez said she believes the Taliban is targeting female athletes, with some reports of the group beating and killing members (source).
Mobarez is currently located in Denmark and based in the United States of America but is maintaining constant contact with her teammates whose journey to safety wasn’t easy, with some athletes going three days without eating as they tried to leave Kabul.
‘They had the shift from potentially getting killed to feeling free,’ Mobarez said to SBS News.
‘My teammates were telling me that they (the Taliban) were going from door to door, pulling out girls beating them and potentially killing them,’ she said.
‘I believe that they have a list of football players they want to get and potentially kill them.’
There is the possibility that the athletes currently in Australia relocate to the United States where their captain is currently based.
III TAEKWONDO
Afghanistan have been a member of the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) since 1993. In their anti-discrimination policy, the WTF states that it supports equal rights, and does not advocate or support discrimination based on factors including gender, whether covered by applicable legislation or not (source). WTF also states that it seeks to protect against structural discrimination arising from polices or procedures disadvantaging certain groups (source).
Oceania Taekwondo was established in Sydney, Australia on July 2005 and is one of the member associations of the WTF. Article 5(B) of the Oceania Taekwondo Code of Ethics states that participants in the association shall ensure the personal rights of those persons whom they contact and deal with are ‘protected, respected and safeguarded’ (source).
Aligning with these requirements, Oceania Taekwondo and Australia Taekwondo approached the Australian government asking them to grant protection visas to eight members of the Afghanistan female national Taekwondo team. There were reports the Taliban were beginning to target female athletes and going door to door seeking them out (source). The visas were granted by the government on 30 August 2021, reported ABC News.
John Kotsifas is the President of Oceania Taekwondo and was the humanitarian lawyer who lodged the visa application for the athletes. ‘This was a detailed and coordinated effort between our Australian MNA, the Australian Government and Oceania Taekwondo,’ Kotsifas said.
‘Australian Taekwondo was instrumental in the evacuation process, in particular Ms Heather Garriock the CEO of Australian Taekwondo and Mr Craig Foster who is a human rights activist and has been closely working with Amnesty International.’
Kotsifas said that the rescue and evacuation strategy needed to be detailed because the athletes are on their own with no money and are very young, with the youngest being 16 years of age. The strategy also needed to be careful because of the closed airport and the athletes remaining exposed to capture by the Taliban.
‘Despite the fact that we managed to secure refugee visas for the eight young women, we still needed to coordinate their evacuation from Afghanistan given that Kabul airport was closed,’ Kotsifas said.
‘The only option for the athletes was to make their way to the Pakistan border which was a very long and dangerous journey particularly given that the Taliban were now in control of the country and Taliban soldiers were everywhere…
‘These eight women were very brave and despite the obvious dangers they faced if they were caught, they slowly made their way towards the border with great determination and amazing resilience.’
When the athletes had finally arrived at the border, they were not permitted to cross into Pakistan.
‘We then advised the athletes to go into hiding for a few more days until we could get the documentation needed for them to be allowed into Pakistan,’ Kotsifas said.
‘We finally managed to get the border crossing permits only to be told that the athletes needed to travel another 20 hours away to a different border in order to be permitted entry into Pakistan…
‘This would prove very dangerous to athletes and their lives could be placed in jeopardy if they had to travel so far and to cross checkpoints that by now were being controlled by the Taliban.’
Upon arrival at the border, the Pakistan border control authorities also indicated that one of the athletes who did not have a passport would not be permitted entry. Kotsifas continued to communicate with the relevant authorities and eventually the athletes were allowed entry.
‘[F]ollowing further approaches which [he] made to the Pakistan consulate in Islamabad, all the athletes were finally permitted to enter Pakistan at the Chaman border control where they were hiding without the need to travel to another border,’ he said.
The athletes are expected to stay in Islamabad for a few more weeks whilst their relocation is organised.
IV CRICKET
Cricket Australia has now responded to the policies being implemented by the Taliban by releasing a statement stating that they will not host Afghanistan for the proposed Test Match due to be played in Hobart should their women’s team be unable to play.
The statement read (source):
‘Driving growth of women’s cricket globally is incredibly important to Cricket Australia. Our vision for cricket is that it is a sport for all and we support the game unequivocally for women at every level.
If recent media reports that women’s cricket will not be supported in Afghanistan are substantiated, Cricket Australia would have no alternative but to not host Afghanistan for the proposed Test Match due to be played in Hobart.
We thank that Australian and Tasmanian Governments for their support on this issue.’
‘The Taliban’s attitudes towards women and their individual rights should not be accepted by the international sporting community,’ Australia’s Minister for Sport Richard Colbeck told ABC.
The Australian Cricketers’ Association supports Cricket Australia’s stance on the issue.
‘What is happening now in Afghanistan is a human rights issue that transcends cricket,’ the Association said in a statement.
‘And while we would love to see players such as Rashid Khan play against Australia, hosting this Test match cannot be considered if that same opportunity to play the game is denied to Roya Samim and her teammates.’
The International Cricket Council (’ICC’) requires investment in both men’s and women’s cricket to be confirmed as a full member, but the governing body is yet to make a judgement on the position of Afghanistan following the removal of their women’s side.
Afghanistan is currently in breach of ICC Rules and Regulations by not allowing their 25 contracted female players, as well as the thousands of others who play the game recreationally, to participate in the sport.
The ICC released a statement saying it would discuss the issues at their next board meeting in November. This would allow the Afghanistan’s men team to compete in the T20 World Cup, which is due to commence in the United Arab Emirates and in Oman on October 17.
The ICC statement read (source):
‘The ICC is committed to the long-term growth of women’s cricket and despite the cultural and religious challenges in Afghanistan, steady progress had been made in this area since Afghanistan’s admission as a Full Member in 2017.
The ICC has been monitoring the changing situation in Afghanistan and is concerned to note recent media reports that women will no longer be allowed to play cricket.
This and the impact it will have on the continued development of the game will be discussed by the ICC Board at its next meeting.’
Suspension of an ICC Member Nation’s Test status requires a two-thirds majority vote of the ICC’s 17-member board.
The spokesman for the Taliban’s Cultural Commission Ahmadullah Wasiq said that women were allowed to leave the home for essential reasons like shopping, but playing sport was not essential (source).
The Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islam also does not allow for women to engage in activities where their bodies may be exposed – in this case sport.
‘In cricket, they might face a situation where their face and body will not be covered,’ Wasiq said.
‘It is the media era, and there will be photos and videos, and then people watch it…
‘Islam and the Islamic Emirate do not allow women to play cricket or play the kind of sport where they get exposed.’
Only last November did Afghanistan decide to contract female players for the first time, by contracting 25 athletes who remained on the books at the Afghanistan Cricket Board.
Diana Barakzai, one of the founders of the National Women’s Cricket Team, states that she remains in hiding, too afraid to talk on the issue, and is uncertain whether she’ll survive long enough to hear the outcome of the ICC’s November board meeting where the future of herself and others will be discussed (source).
V CONCLUSION
In conclusion, there are currently many ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of female athletes, their families and those associated with those sports. These ongoing efforts demonstrate the importance these sporting bodies have on continuing to develop women’s leagues and female athletes, as well as protecting the women within them. It is interesting how sporting organisations have developed and are actively getting involved in political issues, whether that be the policies discussed above or other movements such as Black Lives Matter. It raises the question of whether sports are becoming increasingly political or whether politics and human rights are within the foundations of sport.