The laws implemented by the Taliban has banned women’s faces from being shown and speaking in public.
However, the United Nations (UN) has condemned the Taliban’s new morality laws for women in Afghanistan.
The UN described the restrictions against Afghan women and girls as “a distressing vision for Afghanistan’s future” and warned “severe” police powers could be used to enforce the mandates.
The Taliban has dismissed the comments, accusing the UN of “ignorance” and “arrogance”. It has defended the laws, which it said are “firmly rooted in Islamic teachings”.
Taliban
The Taliban is an extremist Islamist group that held power in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. In 2021, it seized power again after the U.S. (and its allies, including Australia) withdrew their troops from Afghanistan.
The Taliban has since imposed several restrictions on women, including banning them from high schools, universities, and most forms of employment.
Senior UN officials describe Afghanistan under Taliban rule as “the most repressive country in the world for women’s rights”.
New laws
Last week, the Taliban’s ‘Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice’ announced several new laws.
These measures include restrictions on the everyday lives of people in Afghanistan across 35 articles.
Further, the mandates range from music and photo bans to forbidding men and women who aren’t related from looking at each other.
The laws also include several mandates restricting women outside the home.
For example, the Taliban has banned on the sound of women’s voices in public, prohibiting them from speaking, and introduced the requirement that women’s faces and bodies be covered at all times in public.
A Taliban spokesperson said the laws “are derived from Islamic sources”.
UN response
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has issued a statement of concern in response to the new Taliban laws.
UNAMA head, Roza Otunbayeva, said banning “the sound of a female voice outside the home” was an extension of “the already intolerable restrictions” on women and girls in Afghanistan.
Otunbayeva further warned the Taliban could use “severe enforcement mechanisms” to ensure community compliance with its “significant restrictions”.
“The Afghan people deserve much better than being threatened or jailed if they happen to be late for prayers, glance at a member of the opposite sex who is not a family member, or possess a photo of a loved one.”
Roza Otunbayeva, Secretary-General of UNAMA
Taliban response
The Taliban has criticised the UN for its comments against the regime, labelling its concerns as “unfounded”.
Additionally, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said rejecting the laws without a “thorough understanding” of “Islamic values” was “an expression of arrogance.”
He also stated the restrictions would be enforced without violating any rights, “and no individual will be subjected to injustice. These laws will be applied universally and equitably across our society.”
