{"id":671,"date":"2026-05-21T17:38:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T00:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/f1e2b91e7f9eb021bdbb822e2a7be2fb"},"modified":"2026-05-22T16:43:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T16:43:40","slug":"un-gravely-concerned-by-an-afghan-taliban-law-that-has-provisions-on-child-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/?p=671","title":{"rendered":"UN gravely concerned by an Afghan Taliban law that has provisions on child marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) \u2014 The United Nations expressed \u201cgrave concern\u201d on Thursday about a new law issued by Afghanistan\u2019s Taliban government on separation in marriage which includes provisions on child marriage, saying the code further entrenches discrimination against women and girls<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

The government rejected the accusations, saying the decree follows Islamic law and insisting the country has already banned the forced marriage of girls.<\/p>\n

Afghanistan\u2019s justice ministry published Decree No. 18 \u201con judicial separation of spouses\u201d last week, which sets out rules for separation of a married couple. <\/p>\n

Among its most controversial provisions, it says that the silence of a girl reaching puberty can be interpreted as consent to marriage. It also includes a section on the separation of girls who reach puberty and are married, which \u201cimplies that child marriage<\/a><\/span> is permitted,\u201d the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis undermines the principle of free and full consent and failing to safeguard the best interests of the child,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The decree stipulates that a marriage can be ruled invalid \u201cif a father or grandfather has given a minor girl or boy without any dowry, not enough dowry or obscene embezzlement.\u201d It also says that a girl given away in marriage by her father or grandfather to a man who \u201chas not treated her with kindness or is well-known for his bad choices…has the right to approach the court to cancel the marriage contract upon reaching puberty.\u201d<\/p>\n

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However, if a girl asks her husband for a divorce and he denies it, \u201cthen in this case, there are no witnesses with the girl, the husband\u2019s word is valid,\u201d the new law says. She does not need witnesses if she makes the request before a judge.<\/p>\n

Women and girls already face widespread discrimination<\/a><\/span> in Afghanistan, with laws dictating how they must dress and behave. They are banned from secondary school<\/a><\/span> and universities<\/a><\/span> and from most jobs, as well as from nearly all leisure activities, including gyms, beauty salons and even from public parks.<\/p>\n

\u201cDecree No. 18 is part of a broader and deeply concerning trajectory in which the rights of Afghan women and girls are being eroded,\u201d said Georgette Gagnon, the U.N.\u2019s Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and officer in charge of UNAMA.<\/p>\n

While the law allows for women to separate from their husbands, it makes it much harder for them to do so than it does for men.<\/p>\n

The decree \u201coperates 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,\u201d UNAMA said. \u201cThis situation reinforces structural discrimination and limits women\u2019s autonomy in matters fundamental to their dignity, safety, and well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n

After seizing power in Afghanistan following the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-backed forces in 2021, the Taliban announced certain limited rights for women, issuing a decree that included the right for women to an inheritance and to refuse marriage. However, \u201csuccessive decrees have undermined these protections,\u201d UNAMA said.<\/p>\n

The myriad restrictions imposed by the government \u201chave deprived millions of Afghan women and girls of their right to education, weakened economic participation, and deepened poverty, with long-term consequences for Afghanistan\u2019s development,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

The objections from \u201cthose who contradict the religion of Islam are not new and we should not pay attention to them,\u201d Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan government, told the RTA state broadcaster in an interview.<\/p>\n

Mujahid noted that Afghanistan\u2019s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has already issued a previous decree that bans the forced marriage of girls. Afghan courts and the country\u2019s ministry of vice and virtue have investigated thousands of such cases in the past year alone, he said, \u201cwhich shows the Islamic Emirate\u2019s concern for women\u2019s rights.\u201d <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) \u2014 The United Nations expressed \u201cgrave concern\u201d on Thursday about a new law issued by Afghanistan\u2019s Taliban government on separation in marriage … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,1,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=671"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":687,"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671\/revisions\/687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}