KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A group of UN experts, including Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett, has expressed concern over the Taliban’s enactment of the new morality law, saying that it signals a significant regression in human rights similar to their previous rule.
In a press release published on Friday, August 30, UN experts stated that the new law further tightens the Taliban’s already oppressive control over the lives of Afghans, particularly women and girls.
Under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, life for most Afghans, particularly women and girls, was already dire due to severe restrictions on their basic rights and freedoms. However, the new restrictions were recently approved and published as the regime’s “Vice and Virtue” laws have further deteriorated the situation.
The new law requires women to fully veil their bodies in public and considers their voices instruments of vice, forbidding them from reading or singing aloud, not only in public but even within their homes.
The 35-article law also prohibits women from looking directly at men who are not related by blood or marriage and from using city taxis without being accompanied by a close male relative.
For men, the Taliban’s new law prohibits wearing ties and shorts, shaving or trimming beards to less than a fist length, and having hairstyles deemed “un-Islamic.”
The newly enacted law specifies various punishments for non-compliance, including verbal warnings, threats, fines, and arrests ranging from one hour to three days, along with additional penalties imposed by the morality police. Repeated offenses will result in referral to the courts.
The UN experts say that the Taliban’s new measures are disturbingly similar to their draconian rule in the 1990s, showing that the regime has not moderated its approach.
“The law institutionalizes a system of discrimination and oppression amounting to crimes against humanity, including gender persecution,” the experts said.
“The law further criminalizes and persecutes LGBTQ+ people and restricts the rights of religious minorities, including by forbidding ‘non-Islamic’ ceremonies and prohibiting association with or assistance to ‘non-believers,’” they added.
The expert further said that the new law imposes severe restrictions on freedom of expression, further curtailing press freedom, putting journalists at greater risk, and limiting the flow of information.
The UN expert called on international actors, especially UN member states, to develop a “robust, principled, and coordinated” strategy for Afghanistan that places human rights, particularly those of women, at the center.
They warned that without such a strategy, engaging with the Taliban would only reinforce the regime’s impunity and embolden further abuses.
“The continued failure to end these violations wrongly suggests that the fundamental rights of Afghan women and girls are negotiable, particularly their rights to equality, security, and dignity,” they said.
“It also seriously undermines the prospects of a stable, inclusive, and prosperous Afghanistan,” the UN experts emphasized.
