KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A coalition of human rights and women’s rights groups has called for the immediate repeal of the Taliban’s new “Proclamation of Spousal Separation,” saying it legitimizes child and forced marriage while weakening protections for women and minors.
In a joint statement on Saturday, the groups sharply criticized the regulation, known in Dari as Osoolnama-e Tafriq-e Zawjain, for introducing provisions that formally recognize marriages involving underage girls and restrict children’s ability to challenge unions arranged by male guardians.
The organizations highlighted Articles 2, 5, 7, 8, and 9, which they said acknowledge child and forced marriages. One provision interprets a girl’s silence after reaching puberty as consent to marriage, a stance the groups argue disregards widespread coercion and social pressure in Afghanistan.
“These articles treat children as property in the hands of guardians, stripping them of their divine and human right to self-determination,” the statement said. “In a society where girls endure immense pressure, threats, and systemic shame, silence can never equate to consent.”
The groups also criticized Article 14, which addresses sexual contact between a woman and members of her husband’s family and suggests dissolution of the marriage. They said the provision punishes the female victim rather than the perpetrators and opens the door to legal abuse.
“Instead of criminalizing sexual harassment and punishing the perpetrator, the judicial system punishes the female victim with the dissolution of her marriage and displacement,” the statement said. “This article paves the way for absurd legal abuse, allowing men to evade their marital obligations.”
The signatories linked the new rules to a broader deterioration in women’s rights since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. They cited rising cases of domestic violence, targeted killings, so-called honor killings, and reports of mutilated female bodies left in public spaces.
The coalition called for the complete repeal of the regulation, an immediate halt to child marriage practices, an end to impunity for those committing violence against women, and full respect for the rights of women and children to make their own choices regarding marriage.
They also urged the UN Human Rights Council, UNICEF, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, and other international human rights bodies and organizations to respond with concrete, deterrent actions.
“We urge immediate, practical, and deterrent actions to safeguard the lives, security, and future of the children and women of Afghanistan,” the groups said.
The Taliban have not yet responded to criticism of the new regulation. In the past, they have defended their laws, regulations, and decrees as being fully consistent with their interpretation of Islamic Sharia.
Since seizing control of the country nearly five years ago, the Taliban have enforced 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, requirements for male guardians to accompany women on travel, and broad exclusions from public and political life.
The measures have drawn repeated and widespread international condemnation, with many rights groups and activists describing the situation in Afghanistan as one of the most severe women’s rights crises in the world today.
