KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The German and Icelandic Foreign Ministers have condemned the Taliban’s new vice and virtue law, saying that it further violates women’s rights and shows how the regime regards them as less than human.
In a post on X on Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stated that by introducing and enforcing the new law, the Taliban seeks to silence Afghan women, who make up half of the country’s population.
The German top diplomat described the law as “100 pages of misogyny,” stating that it “sets rules in stone that deprive women in Afghanistan of their dignity, rights, and voice.”
“It underscores again that there can be no relations with radical Islamists,” she emphasized.
Icelandic Foreign Minister Þórdís Kolbrún R. Gylfadóttir has strongly condemned the Taliban’s new law, stating that it clearly illustrates how radical Islamists regard women as less than human.
“Three years into making life for women and girls in Afghanistan a living hell, the Taliban have issued another decree, this time forbidding women from using their very voice,” she said.
The Taliban’s newly enacted law, signed by the regime’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, imposes extensive and severe restrictions, particularly targeting women and girls.
The 35-article document published by the Taliban Ministry of Justice earlier this week mandates that women cover their entire body, including their face, at all times in public and prohibits them from speaking to or interacting with men who are not close family members.
The document, part of the new so-called Vice and Virtue decree, also prohibits women from singing, reciting poetry, or reading aloud in public. Additionally, it mandates that their clothing must not be thin, short, or tight, among other restrictions on their freedom.
For men, the Taliban’s new law prohibits wearing ties and shorts, shaving, trimming beards to less than a fist length, and certain hairstyles deemed “un-Islamic” by the regime.
The law outlines a range of punishments for non-compliance, including verbal warnings, threats, fines, and arrests lasting from one hour to three days, as well as other penalties requested by the morality police. Repeat offenses will result in referral to the courts.
Rights groups and activists argue that the latest restrictions highlight a significant escalation in the Taliban’s efforts to impose their interpretation of Islamic law, further suppressing and excluding women from public life.
The Purple Saturdays Movement, a women’s rights group in Afghanistan, has condemned the Taliban’s new law, calling it a “serious violation of basic human rights and privacy.”
“The Taliban’s new decree is seen as a direct attack on the hard-won freedoms that Afghan women have fought for over the past two decades,” the movement said in a statement on Friday.
The movement urged the UN and the international community to take action, warning that inaction will embolden the Taliban to continue its oppressive policies, further endangering the lives and freedoms of Afghan women.
“The international community must not turn a blind eye to these crimes,” the movement’s statement reads. “The Taliban’s actions are in clear violation of international human rights standards, and they must be held accountable.
Meanwhile, US Special Envoy for Afghan Women and Human Rights, Rina Amiri, stated that the Taliban’s new law clearly shows the regime is reinforcing the extreme policies they imposed in the 1990s.
In a post on X, Ms. Amiri urged the international community to avoid normalizing relations with the Taliban unless there is a “profound improvement” in their human rights practices.
