Boycotter l’équipe masculine de cricket d’Afghanistan !

A quand la reconstitution de l’équipe féminine de cricket afghane ?

Lettre ouverte à Greg Barclay , le 8 novembre 2021, président de l’ International Cricket Council Chairman,

« Since the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in August, the Afghan women's cricket team appears to be in serious jeopardy, which must be of great concern to the ICC, in light of its own enlightened rules.

“We therefore come to you with a specific and troubling question: how can the Afghanistan men’s team be allowed to compete in the Twenty20 World Cup, when ICC rules clearly state that all 12 full members, among which Afghanistan, must have a national women's team? What justification can there be for accepting such a breach of your own rules? Australia has taken a clear stance in defence of ICC rules by canceling the inaugural Australia/ Afghanistan Test it was due to host, because of the denial of women's right to play the game.

“Former women's cricket officials have said that they are not in favor of sanctions against the Afghanistan men's team, considering that the latter are not responsible for the situation. As private citizens, they certainly have the right to take that stance. We beg to remind them, however, that South Africa was excluded from international competitions for 30 years until racial apartheid was abolished. During all that time, white athletes were in effect punished, even though also in no way responsible for their country’s racial apartheid policy. The Talibans have established, not racial, but sexual apartheid. Are we saying that discrimination against women is more acceptable than racial discrimination ? Couldn’t men’s teams show solidarity with women and openly claim that women are entitled to play sports ? Instead of tacitly endorsing a violation of basic human rights, an honourable stand could be for them to refuse to take part in competitions until women are also allowed to do so: they would be praised round the world. That is, however, beyond your purview.



« But the ICC does have a leadership role to play in this matter. What will its policy be with regard to countries who openly defy its rules and forbid women to play cricket ? Thank you for letting us know.



Best regards

Annie Sugier, présidente de la Ligue du Droit International des Femmes