KABUL: Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities said on Monday a recently ratified morality law would be enforced “gently”, after the international community and Afghans voiced concern over new restrictions.

Women must cover completely and not raise their voices in public, according to a 35-article law announced on Wednesday by the justice ministry.

It imposes wide-ranging stipulations from behaviour to dress and social interactions, including rules on men’s clothing and beard length as well as bans on homosexuality, animal fighting, playing music in public and non-Muslim holidays.

The United Nations, rights groups and Afghans have expressed concern that the law could lead to increased enforcement of rules on behaviour and lifestyle, many already informally in place since the Taliban authorities took power in 2021 and implemented a strict interpretation of Islamic law — or sharia.

EU says it can’t tolerate undermining of rights of Afghan women and girls

“I must make it clear that force and oppression won’t be used while implementing these rules,” said deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat in a voice message shared with AFP.

The rules “would be implemented very gently, informing people’s understanding, and guiding them”, he said.

The European Union added its voice to the chorus on Monday, saying it was “appalled” by a decree that “confirms and extends severe restrictions on the life of Afghans”.

“This latest decision is another serious blow undermining the rights of Afghan women and girls, which we cannot tolerate,” said a statement from EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

Borrell urged the Taliban to put an end to such “systematic and systemic abuses against Afghan women and girls,” warning they may amount to gender persecution — a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The Taliban government has consistently dismissed international criticism of their policies, including condemnation of restrictions on women the UN has labelled “gender apartheid”.

The law sets out graduated punishments for non-compliance — from verbal warnings to threats, fines and detentions of varying lengths — enforced by the morality police under the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

Roza Otunbayeva, head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, has called the law a “distressing vision for Afghanistan’s future, where moral inspectors have discretionary powers to threaten and detain anyone based on broad and sometimes vague lists of infractions”.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2024