Photo by Nk Ni
The Taliban has not stopped their aggressive efforts of restricting and regulating women’s lives. Late August of 2024, the Taliban released a 114 page, 35-article that proved to be the “first formal declaration of the vice and virtue laws in Afghanistan since the takeover.” Edicts in the article include: a mandatory call for women to veil their bodies and cover their faces, women’s voices cannot be heard singing, reciting, or reading aloud in public, and women are forbidden from looking at men they are not related to by blood or married to. Men cannot look at women either.
The Taliban are adamant in referring to the restrictions on women as “protections” for them.
However, their actions are contrary to protections. The Taliban authorities have been using every tool to control and limit every aspect of women and girls lives. Women and girls have no rights, no freedom, and no autonomy. The Taliban has taken every freedom of choice from women, even the freedom to go out for a stroll in the park.
The announcement of the vice and virtue laws marked a dreadful milestone for many Afghan women. A Kabul resident said that, “I was still hopeful that the Taliban may change and remove the restrictions on girls’ education. But once they published their vice and virtue law, I lost all hope.”
Another women’s rights activist said that “The entire country has turned into a graveyard for women’s dreams.”
In a survey of 3600 women from 19 different provinces, it was found that 67% of the women surveyed believed the Taliban’s restrictions should be defined as “systemic oppression of women and girls.” Similarly, 60% of these women want the UN to use “gender apartheid” to describe their situation.
Every time the Taliban issues a horrific edict, world leaders condemn it and after over three years, condemnation of the Taliban is not enough. World leaders must respect and treat Afghan women’s rights and their autonomy with the highest regard – as they would in their own countries- and must take real action in women’s support. The Taliban is setting a precedent that says women and girls are not humans and it is up to the world to defeat that narrative and not allow a terrorist group to set such a precedent at a time when women’s rights are under attack around the world. The Taliban need to be held accountable by the international community and the only way forward must be to restore the human rights of Afghan women and their hopes and dignity.
Sources: AP News, Washington Post, The Guardian
