KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A number of protesting women, civil society activists, and human rights defenders from Afghanistan in Norway held a protest gathering to condemn the Taliban’s recognition of “child marriage” in the “Regulation on the Separation of Spouses,” describing it as a clear violation of children’s rights.
During the gathering, which was held today (Sunday, May 31), they emphasized that the Taliban’s recognition of child marriage would facilitate increased abuse of young girls in Afghanistan and threaten the future of thousands of girls.
Participants called on the Norwegian government and the international community not to remain silent in the face of the “widespread violations of human rights in Afghanistan” and to use all diplomatic and legal tools available to increase pressure on the Taliban.
According to the protesters, depriving girls of education and pushing them into forced marriages at a young age constitutes a clear example of structural discrimination and a violation of fundamental human rights.
They urged the international community and international organizations to recognize the Taliban’s actions against Afghan women as “gender apartheid” and to provide the necessary support to the victims of these policies.
The Taliban have introduced a new decree, officially titled the “Code on Judicial Separation of Spouses,” which establishes rules governing divorce, marital separation, and related family matters in Afghanistan. Approved by Hibatullah Akhundzada, the decree grants men the unilateral right to divorce while requiring women to go through restrictive and complex judicial procedures to seek separation.
The regulation also implicitly recognizes child marriage by allowing a girl’s silence upon reaching puberty to be interpreted as consent to marriage, raising serious concerns about forced and underage marriages. Critics say the decree reinforces legal inequality between men and women and further restricts women’s autonomy within marriage and family life.
The Taliban have not specified any minimum age for marriage in the regulation. Instead, they have explained how child marriages can be annulled and how a child who was forced into marriage may request the annulment of the marriage after reaching puberty.
The publication of this regulation has sparked widespread criticism from women’s rights activists, human rights defenders, and rights organizations.
Human rights organizations have repeatedly warned that child marriage can have severe consequences for girls, including the loss of educational opportunities, increased health risks, and long-term social and economic challenges.
Earlier, a coalition of more than 100 human rights and women’s rights organizations called for immediate repeal of the regulation, arguing that it legitimizes child and forced marriage and weakens legal protections for women and minors.
In a joint statement, the groups said several articles of the code include provisions that could be interpreted as recognizing child and forced marriages, and criticized language that treats a girl’s silence after puberty as consent.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid defended the decree, arguing it is based on the group’s interpretation of Islamic law and that external criticism is not important.
Since their return to power nearly five years ago, the Taliban have imposed some of the world’s most restrictive policies on women and girls. These include bans on secondary and higher education for girls, severe limits on female employment and travel without a male guardian, and wide-ranging exclusions from public and political life.
UN experts, rights groups, and activists have repeatedly said the scale and systematic nature of the Taliban’s restrictive measures amount to “gender apartheid,” describing them as an institutionalized system designed to subjugate women solely based on their gender.
