The Taliban’s newly implemented “vice and virtue” laws which stipulate that women must be completely veiled, including their faces, in public to avoid “tempting” men, have sparked widespread condemnation from the international community, with top U.N. officials denouncing the extreme restrictions on Afghanistani women’s rights on Sunday.
Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, described the laws as a “distressing vision” for the country’s future.
The regulations, approved by the Taliban’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, also mandate that women’s voices are deemed to be instruments of vice and are prohibited from being heard in public, even when reading or singing from inside their homes.
The laws also place severe limitations on women’s mobility, restricting their ability to travel alone and prohibiting them from direct eye contact with male relatives. Taxi drivers face penalties for transporting lone women.
Otunbayeva expressed deep concern about the implications of these laws, stating that they “extend the already intolerable restrictions on the rights of Afghan women and girls.” She highlighted the absurdity that even the sound of a female voice could be considered a moral violation.
The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 has led to a steady erosion of women’s rights, with these new laws representing a significant setback in their efforts to achieve gender equality and freedom.