Committee publication · Government Response · 11 February 2025
Letter from Rt Hon Lisa Nandy MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, regarding Taliban-backed athletes in sporting competitions, dated 7 February 2025
From: Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Inquiry: The work of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Summary
Lisa Nandy, Culture Secretary, responds to the committee's January letter on Taliban-backed Afghan sporting participation. The government opposes sports boycotts as counterproductive, backs the ECB and cricket bodies' diplomatic efforts to support Afghan women's cricket, and urges the ICC to do more to enable women's team participation while adhering to its own membership rules.
Key findings
- Government rejects boycotts as a tactic, arguing they penalise athletes rather than the Taliban and favour alternative levers like ministerial non-attendance at events.
- Government affirms Afghan women's right to participate in international cricket and calls the erosion of women's rights in Afghanistan 'completely unacceptable'.
- ECB, MCC, Cricket Australia, and Cricket South Africa are leading efforts to support Afghan female players' return to competition; the Global Refugee Cricket Fund ('Pitch Our Future') launched 31 January.
- Government urges ICC to explain non-adherence to its own membership rules and demands ICC support for safe return of Afghanistan women's team to full competition.
- England team will fulfil ICC Champions Trophy fixture vs Afghanistan on 26 February; government hopes to see similar FIFA efforts for Afghan women's football.
Government position
The government partially accepts the committee's concerns about women's rights in Afghanistan and affirms the Afghan women's team's right to participate internationally. It rejects boycotts as counterproductive policy, instead supporting ECB and cricket bodies' diplomatic engagement with the ICC and cricket authorities. It accepts that the ICC must do more and urge stronger compliance with membership rules, while maintaining it will consider non-attendance at events and other diplomatic levers as appropriate alternatives.
Tone
FactualTopics
Key actors
Lisa Nandy, Dame Caroline Dinenage, Prime Minister, International Cricket Council (ICC), England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), Cricket Australia, Cricket South Africa
Notable line
“… the Afghan women's team have the right to participate in international cricket. The situation they face is completely unacceptable.”
Key Quotes
“I share your view about the appalling erosion of women and girls' rights in Afghanistan and I am clear that the Afghan women's team have the right to participate in international cricket.”
“While we appreciate that boycotts can be a powerful symbolic tool and recognise the importance of focusing on human rights issues in sport, we believe sport boycotts to be counter-productive as they penalise our hard-working athletes.”
“It is clear to me, however, that the ICC should do more to support the Afghanistan women's cricket team and to provide an explanation as to why they are not adhering to their own membership rules.”
“We strongly urge the ICC to support this initiative and ensure a safe return to competition for the Afghanistan women's team in some capacity as soon as possible.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗