The Taliban are imposing restrictions on Afghan girls’s entry to work, journey, and well being care if they’re single or should not have a male guardian, in keeping with a UN report revealed Monday.
In one incident, officers from the Vice and Virtue Ministry suggested a lady to get married if she wished to maintain her job at a well being care facility, saying it was inappropriate for an single lady to work, it stated.
The Taliban have restricted girls from most areas of public life and halted women from attending college past the sixth grade as a part of harsh measures they imposed after seizing energy in 2021, regardless of initially promising a extra reasonable rule.
They have additionally closed magnificence parlors and began implementing a costume code, arresting girls who don’t adjust to their interpretation of hijab, or Islamic scarf. In May 2022, the Taliban issued a decree calling for girls to solely present their eyes and recommending that they put on the head-to-toe burqa, much like restrictions throughout the Taliban’s earlier rule between 1996 and 2001.
The UN spokesman, requested for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ response to the most recent bans, replied: “Horror!” Stephane Dujarric added: “It should be unimaginable to need to reside there.”
In its newest quarterly report, overlaying October to December final yr, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan stated the Taliban are cracking down on Afghan girls who’re single or should not have a male guardian, or mahram, accompanying them.
There are not any official legal guidelines about male guardianship in Afghanistan, however the Taliban have stated girls can not transfer round or journey a sure distance with out a man who is said to her by blood or marriage.
Three feminine well being care staff had been detained final October as a result of they had been going to work with out a mahram. They had been launched after their households signed a written assure that they’d not repeat the act, the report stated.
In Paktia province, the Vice and Virtue Ministry has stopped girls with out mahrams from accessing well being services since December. It visits well being services within the province to make sure compliance.
The ministry, which serves because the Taliban’s morality police, can also be implementing hijab and mahram necessities when girls go to public locations, workplaces, and academic institutes by checkpoints and inspections.
In December, in Kandahar province, ministry officers visited a bus terminal to make sure girls weren’t touring lengthy distances with out mahrams and instructed bus drivers to not enable girls to board with out one, the UN stated.
Women have additionally been arrested for getting contraceptives, which the Taliban haven’t formally banned.
The Taliban’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, stated the UN report was primarily based totally on misunderstandings and accused the mission of ignoring or criticizing Islamic regulation, or Shariah.
With an Islamic authorities in energy in Afghanistan, it should “totally implement all features of Shariah for each women and men,” Mujahid stated in a press release.
This means implementing guidelines for the hijab, male guardianship, and gender segregation for girls in schooling and employment, he stated.
“If UNAMA criticizes these instances or considers specific Islamic rulings as an act in opposition to human rights, then it’s an insult to the beliefs of a individuals,” he stated.