KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has voiced deep concern over the Taliban’s newly introduced “Regulation on Separation of Spouses,” warning that it contains provisions that risk normalizing child marriage in Afghanistan.
In a statement posted on X on Wednesday, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell strongly criticized the regulation, saying: “Any law that contains provisions that appear to allow child marriage or interpret a girl’s silence as consent is unacceptable.”
The regulation, formally approved by Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and published by the Ministry of Justice, significantly strengthens men’s authority in marriage. It grants husbands unilateral rights to divorce while subjecting women to lengthy and restrictive judicial procedures if they seek separation. The decree also implies that child marriage is permissible and states that a girl’s silence upon reaching puberty can be interpreted as consent to marriage.
UN Women described the new rules as “another serious development” in the steady erosion of women’s rights nearly five years after the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.
“By implying that child marriage is permitted, it risks normalizing the practice,” said Susan Ferguson, UN Women’s special representative in Afghanistan. She added that the regulation also makes it significantly more difficult for women to escape unwanted or forced marriages.
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.
