The United Nations human rights chief on Tuesday called for Afghanistan’s Taliban to immediately repeal a set of “egregious” laws that it said were attempting to turn women into shadows.
High Commissioner Volker Turk said the passing of new laws last week “cements policies that completely erase women’s presence in public, silencing their voices and depriving them of their individual autonomy, effectively attempting to render them into faceless, voiceless shadows.”
“This is utterly intolerable,” he said, addressing journalists via a spokesperson at a U.N. press briefing.
Afghanistan’s Taliban formally codified a long set of rules governing morality last week, ranging from requiring women to cover their faces and men to grow beards to banning car drivers from playing music, the Justice Ministry said.
The rules, promoted as in line with Islamic sharia law and to be enforced by the morality ministry, were based on a decree by the Taliban’s supreme spiritual leader in 2022 and were now officially published as law, a Justice Ministry spokesman said.
The morality ministry, formally called the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Propagation of Virtue, has already been enforcing similar morality requirements and says it has detained thousands of people for violations. It was not immediately clear whether publication of the rules would lead to stronger enforcement.
The 35-article morality law was officially enacted and published on Wednesday after being ratified by Supreme Spiritual Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, said Justice Ministry spokesperson Barakatullah Rasoli.
“According to this law, the Ministry (for Prevention of Vice and Propagation of Virtue) is obligated to promote good and forbid evil in accordance with Islamic Sharia,” the Justice Ministry said in a statement.
The requirements include women to wear attire that fully covers their bodies and faces and bars men from shaving their beards as well as from skipping prayer and religious fasts.
Penalties for violations included “advice, warnings of divine punishment, verbal threats, confiscation of property, detention for one hour to three days in public jails, and any other punishment deemed appropriate,” the Justice Ministry added.
If such measures failed to correct an individual’s behaviour they would be referred to court for further action, it said.
The Taliban suspended Afghanistan’s previous constitution when they took over in 2021 as foreign forces withdrew, and said they would rule the country according to sharia law.
(Reuters)
