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The UN mission in Afghanistan said Sunday it was “concerned” by a law recently ratified by the Taliban authorities, which notably imposes new restrictions on women. The new 35-article legislation, announced Wednesday, potentially controls all aspects of Afghans’ lives, social and private, in an ultra-rigorous interpretation of sharia (Islamic law). The law provides for graduated penalties for non-compliance – ranging from verbal warnings to threats, fines and detentions of varying lengths – imposed by the morality police under the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (PVPV).
Even stricter bans
It includes stipulating that women must cover their faces and bodies if they leave the house, and ensure that their voices are not heard. “After decades of war and in the midst of a terrible humanitarian crisis, the Afghan people deserve far better than being threatened or imprisoned for arriving late for prayer, glancing at a member of the opposite sex who is not a family member, or possessing a photograph of a loved one,” Roza Otunbayeva, head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said on Sunday.
“This is a worrying vision of the future of Afghanistan, where morality inspectors have discretionary powers to threaten and arrest anyone based on broad and sometimes vague lists of offences,” she said. Many elements of the law have already been in force informally since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, and women already bear the brunt of restrictions that the UN has described as “gender apartheid,” which have pushed them out of public life.
Already intolerable restrictions
Otunbayeva said the “law extends already intolerable restrictions on the rights of Afghan women and girls, with the mere sound of a female voice outside the home apparently considered a moral violation.” The UN also expressed concern about the restrictions on religious freedoms and freedom of the press in the law, which stipulates that media outlets should not publish “content that is hostile to Sharia law and religion” or “that depicts living beings.”
However, the UN considers as positive the articles prohibiting the mistreatment of orphans and “bacha bazi”, or “boy’s game”, in which older men force boys to dress up as girls and sexually exploit them.
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