KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, reacting to the Taliban’s approval and endorsement of the “Regulation on the Separation of Spouses,” in which child marriage is implicitly recognized and a girl’s silence is considered consent to marriage, has called on the group to immediately repeal all measures that violate children’s rights and to explicitly and unequivocally prohibit child marriage.
In a statement published today (Monday, June 1), the committee also called on the Taliban to restore the rights of all girls to education, protection, equality, and full participation in society, in accordance with Afghanistan’s obligations under international law, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and its Optional Protocols.
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child stated: “Child marriage, where at least one party is under 18, constitutes a harmful practice and as a form of forced marriage, given that children inherently lack the capacity to give full, free and informed consent to marriage,” the Committee recalled its joint General Recommendation (official interpretations of human rights treaties) with the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
The committee added that child marriage is not only a harmful practice but also a violation of children’s fundamental rights, exposing girls to a greater risk of violence, abuse, early and forced pregnancy, deprivation of education, and long-term physical and psychological harm.
The Taliban’s Regulation on the Separation of Spouses does not establish a minimum age for marriage. Instead, it explains how child marriages may be annulled and how a child who was forced into marriage may request the annulment of the marriage after reaching puberty.
Referring to this provision, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child stated that “puberty cannot be considered a basis for adulthood or legal capacity to marry,” the Committee said, describing the provision as wholly incompatible with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“Any legal framework that normalises or facilitates the marriage of children violates their rights, undermines their inherent dignity and deprives them of their autonomy and future opportunities,” the Committee warned.
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, which consists of 18 independent child rights experts, said that the Taliban’s Regulation on the Separation of Spouses is part of a broader pattern of discriminatory measures against Afghan girls, including the ban on secondary and higher education.
The committee’s experts said that “these measures have deprived millions of girls of their fundamental rights, weakened their future economic and social participation, and deepened poverty and inequality throughout the country.”
The publication of this regulation has been met with widespread reactions and criticism.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) expressed “grave concern” over the decree last week and urged the Taliban to respect the country’s international human rights commitments. The UK’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Richard Lindsay, echoed these concerns, calling the regulation “another oppressive measure” and pressing the Taliban to rescind it.
More than 100 human rights and women’s rights organizations have jointly called for the immediate repeal of the regulation, arguing that it legitimizes child and forced marriage while weakening legal protections for women and minors.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid defended the decree, stating it is rooted in the group’s interpretation of Islamic law and dismissing external criticism as irrelevant.
Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have imposed wide-ranging restrictions on women and girls, including bans on secondary and higher education for girls, limits on female employment in many sectors, and restrictions on movement without a male guardian.
UN experts and rights groups have repeatedly characterized the cumulative effect of these policies as “gender apartheid,” arguing they amount to a systematic structure of discrimination against women and girls.
