The England and Wales Cricket Board has called on cricket’s governing body to show leadership by taking coordinated action to stop “the gender apartheid facing the 14 million women in Afghanistan”.
In a letter to the International Cricket Council on Friday, the ECB’s chief executive, Richard Gould, also urged it “to find a solution that provides hope that the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan can be restored”.
“What is taking place in Afghanistan is the worst violation of women’s rights anywhere on earth,” Gould wrote. “If we do not take the actions that are within our power to take – whilst recognising that much is not in our power – we are all complicit and have failed the privilege that comes with holding a global leadership position in our sport.”
However Gould stopped short of calling for a boycott of Afghanistan matches when they play in the Champions Trophy in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates next month.
Instead he argued for a range of alternative measures, including for a “meaningful proportion” of the ICC’s funding to the Afghanistan Cricket Board to be cut until women’s and girls’ cricket is reinstated.
Gould also suggested that the ICC should fund the Afghan women’s team, many of whom are in exile in Melbourne, and allow them to play matches.
“The ECB strongly condemns the treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime and would strongly encourage the ICC to intervene and show global leadership at the earliest opportunity,” Gould added. “The gender apartheid facing the 14 million women in Afghanistan is reaching a level unseen anywhere else in the world.
“Whilst the issue has gone far beyond cricket, with a restriction on human rights, education, health and so on, the global cricket community has a role to play collectively, to leverage the power of sport and make a meaningful impact on this global debate.”
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Earlier this week another letter signed by almost 200 politicians, including Nigel Farage, Jeremy Corbyn and Neil Kinnock, urged the ECB to boycott England’s Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan on 26 February. However Lisa Nandy, the culture, media and sport secretary, said that cancelling the match would “deny sports fans the opportunity that they love”.
“I do think it should go ahead. I’m instinctively very cautious about boycotts in sports, partly because I think they’re counterproductive,” she added. “They can also very much penalise the athletes and the sports people who work very, very hard to reach the top of their game and then they’re denied the opportunities to compete.”
