Plumes of smoke rise into the sky after fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security personnel in Kandahar, Afghanistan, southwest of Kabul, on Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021. Photo: Sidiqullah Khan/AP

  Amid growing concern for the safety of judges, lawyers and court staff in Afghanistan after the nation's takeover by the Taliban, the New York State Bar Association and international bar groups are calling for measures that range from the U.S. government "safeguarding" legal professionals to international nation-states finding ways to "evacuate" them or "open up more routes to safe havens" inside or outside of the country. About 250 female judges inside Afghanistan, some of whom had previously tried and sentenced Taliban members, are believed to be at particularly grave risk, according to the International Bar Association, the NYSBA, and the Bar Council, which represents barristers across England and Wales. In January, even before U.S. military forces withdrew from Afghanistan, and while peace talks were ongoing between Taliban and Afghan governments, two female judges were assassinated in Kabul, the Afghan capital. The judges, whose identities were not revealed, were shot dead by gunmen as they rode in a court vehicle to their offices, according to the International Bar Association and news reports. Now, with Afghanistan swiftly brought under Taliban control in the wake of U.S. troops withdrawing from the 20-year war on the Taliban, fears are mounting that those who worked in the last two decades for a more democratized Afghan justice system will be killed or harmed. Worries are intensifying, according to the international bar group, despite the Taliban saying, after it seized Kabul on Aug. 15, that it wants peace and that women's rights will be respected "within our religious framework." "Amid reports of the Taliban carrying out amputations, executions and the hunting down of citizens who worked in some capacity for a less restrictive Afghanistan—where the Rule of Law and universal human rights were promoted—the IBA and IBAHRI [International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute] call for swifter and better-coordinated action by [nation-]States in opening up more routes to safe havens and expediting visas for the transfer and resettlement of Afghans, including members of the judiciary, legal professionals, human rights defenders, non-governmental organisation workers, journalists and media workers," said the IBA in a statement last week. On Tuesday of this week, New York State Bar President T. Andrew Brown said, "We join the international community in demanding that all the judges, lawyers and court staff in Afghanistan … be protected." The new Taliban regime must "shield lawyers and judges from harm," Brown said. In addition, he said the New York bar group, which at 70,000 members is the U.S.'s largest voluntary state bar association, urges President Joe Biden and the international community "to safeguard those who have helped the U.S. forces maintain law and order. They must not be forgotten." At the same time, in a broader but similar call, the New York City Bar Association last week implored nation-state action while providing recommendations to the U.S., the United Nations and NATO allies for "secur[ing] safe passage, exit and transit for Afghan nationals who face an imminent and grave risk of harm" due to their employment with or support for the U.N. Assistance Mission to Afghanistan, the U.S. Embassy and U.S. military; NATO allies; foreign diplomatic missions; non-governmental organizations; and media organizations. The Bar Council in the United Kingdom, meanwhile, expressed grave concern for the "fate" of Afghanistan justice system workers, most pointedly the 250 women judges. And it called directly on the U.K. government "not to abandon these courageous defenders of the rule of law and—in liaison with its international allies—to offer evacuation and safety and asylum in the U.K. to those women judges, their families, and other members of the legal profession who are in serious danger." The International Bar Association said it was expressing "serious concern" for the well-being of the 250 female judges, and it noted "to the Taliban it is generally unacceptable for women to sit in judgment over men." "Prosecutors and their families have also been reported as targets of Taliban reprisals," the IBA added. More broadly, the IBA, established after the creation of the U.N. and representing practitioners, bar associations and law societies, called "for the protection of the human rights of all Afghanistan's citizens and that treaties protecting women and children are upheld." "The international community bears a legal responsibility to ensure the safe passage of refugees fleeing Afghanistan and that none are forcibly returned as failed asylum seekers, in adherence to the principle of non-refoulement," said Michael Kirby, a former Justice of the High Court of Australia and co-chair of the IBA's Human Rights Institute. The New York City bar, in its series of recommendations, said "all possible measures" must be taken for the removal of those Afghans facing imminent risk due to their connections to Western governments and organizations and the U.N. And it said those measures must potentially include "the temporary redeployment of [U.S.] military personnel, to secure the safety of these individuals and their families." The city bar also said the U.S., the U.N. and NATO allies "should permit consular and refugee interviews to be conducted virtually whenever possible, as well as issue e-visas to applicants." "If in-person interviews are still required prior to evacuation, we encourage the United States and its allies to consider permitting a head of household to appear on behalf of a family," the city bar added. In the IBA's detailed statement, it said "urgent protection must also be provided by the international community to media workers." "Today, there are vibrant networks of radio, television and online media which track the 34 provinces" in Afghanistan, said Baroness Helena Kennedy, the Human Rights Institute's director. "In a country that previously barred women from education there are now more than a thousand women journalists," she added. "Protecting the autonomy of women and a thriving media landscape is vital. Already many media outlets have closed. The remaining media spaces must be protected for the betterment of Afghanistan's society."