UN warns – The United Nations said it has “grave concern” about a new Taliban decree on separation in marriage, arguing it includes provisions that could permit child marriage and further entrench discrimination against women and girls in Afghanistan. The Taliban governm
In Kabul, the fallout from a new Taliban decree is already hitting the same fault line the world has been watching for years: what a girl’s “consent” is considered to be when puberty arrives.
The United Nations expressed “grave concern” Thursday about Afghanistan’s new law on marriage separation. saying the decree includes provisions related to child marriage and further locks in discrimination against women and girls. The Taliban government rejected the accusations. arguing the decree follows Islamic law and insisting Afghanistan has already banned forced marriage of girls.
The decree, issued by the Taliban’s justice ministry as Decree No. 18 “on judicial separation of spouses,” was published last week and lays out rules for couples seeking separation. One of its most controversial provisions states that “the silence of a girl reaching puberty can be interpreted as consent to marriage.” UN officials also pointed to another section describing separation involving girls who reach puberty and are married. saying it “implies that child marriage is permitted. ” according to a statement from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. UNAMA.
UNAMA said the decree is not an isolated step. Georgette Gagnon, the UN’s Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and officer in charge of UNAMA, said Decree No. 18 is part of “a broader and deeply concerning trajectory in which the rights of Afghan women and girls are being eroded.”
The UN’s statement describes a legal system that leaves women with far less power than men in matters tied to daily safety and personal autonomy. While UNAMA said the decree allows women to separate from their husbands, it makes it far harder for them to do so than it is for men.
“The decree operates in a deeply unequal framework: while men retain the unilateral right to divorce. women must pursue complex and restrictive judicial avenues to separate from a spouse. ” UNAMA said. It added that the outcome reinforces “structural discrimination” and limits women’s autonomy in “matters fundamental to their dignity. safety. and well-being.”.
The wider environment for Afghan women and girls, UNAMA said, is already harsh. It pointed to laws dictating how they must dress and behave. and said women and girls are banned from secondary school and universities and barred from most jobs and most leisure activities. including gyms. beauty salons and even public parks.
UNAMA also argued that earlier promises have been weakened over time. After the Taliban seized power following the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-backed forces in 2021. the Taliban had announced limited rights for women. including a decree that included the right to inheritance and the right to refuse marriage. UNAMA said “successive decrees have undermined these protections.”.
The Taliban government said the criticism is misguided. Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the UN accusations in an interview with state broadcaster RTA. telling them that objections from “those who contradict the religion of Islam are not new and we should not pay attention to them. ” RTA reported.
Mujahid also said Afghanistan’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, issued a previous decree banning the forced marriage of girls. He said Afghan courts and the country’s ministry of vice and virtue investigated thousands of forced-marriage cases in the past year alone. adding that this shows the “Islamic Emirate’s concern for women’s rights.”.
UNAMA maintained that the restrictions now affecting women and girls are still driving long-term harm. It said the government’s restrictions have “deprived millions of Afghan women and girls of their right to education. ” weakened economic participation. and deepened poverty—events with consequences that it said will reach “for Afghanistan’s development.”.
Afghanistan Taliban Decree No. 18 UNAMA United Nations grave concern child marriage judicial separation of spouses women and girls rights Hibatullah Akhundzada Zabihullah Mujahid