The United Nations has strongly condemned a new Taliban regulation that effectively legitimises child marriage in Afghanistan, as it includes specific provisions targeting 'virgin girls' and children who have 'reached puberty'. The controversial rules, titled 'Principles of Separation Between Spouses', outline 31 articles governing the dissolution of marriages under various religious and legal conditions, including child marriage.
UN Concerns Over Consent and Protection
According to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), the regulation contains a section addressing girls who reach puberty while already married. The organisation stated that this provision essentially legitimises child marriage under Taliban rule, as it regulates marriages involving minors rather than prohibiting them outright. The UN mission also raised alarm over rules stating that a girl's silence upon reaching puberty can be interpreted as consent to marriage, including provisions that a 'virgin girl' who remains silent when asked about marriage can be treated as agreeing to wed. The UNAMA warned that these measures undermine the principle of free and full consent and risk eroding protections for children.
Key Provisions of the Regulation
Significant attention is given to the section on 'khiyar al-bulugh' ('option upon puberty'), an Islamic legal provision that allows for the annulment of a marriage contracted during childhood once the person reaches puberty. According to Article 5, if a child's marriage is arranged by relatives other than their father or grandfather, it is legally valid provided the spouse is socially compatible and the dowry is appropriate. The regulation states that the child may later seek annulment after reaching puberty, but only through a court order, as reported by independent Afghan outlet Amu TV. The rules also grant familial patriarchs wide authority over child marriages but state that marriages may be invalidated if guardians are considered abusive, mentally unfit, or morally corrupt.
Broader Implications for Women and Girls
In Afghanistan, where women and girls are unlikely to speak out for fear of punishment, the new legislation risks leaving many girls trapped in unwanted marriages. The regulation also gives Taliban judges broad powers to intervene in marital disputes regarding issues such as apostasy, 'turning away from Islam', prolonged absence of a husband, and accusations of adultery. It specifically mentions 'zihar', a classical Islamic concept where a husband compares his wife to a forbidden female relative. Under this section, judges can force husbands to fulfil religious penalties or grant divorce, and they may use imprisonment and physical punishment to enforce compliance.
The text also covers marital restrictions under Islamic law regarding 'milk kinship', where children breastfed by the same woman are considered siblings. This allows judges to annul marriages if such a relationship is discovered between spouses. Additionally, the regulations outline procedures for cases where husbands are missing for extended periods, enabling court intervention under certain conditions.
Context of Taliban Oppression
The new rules come as the Taliban continue to impose oppressive restrictions on women and girls since returning to power in August 2021. Since regaining control, the Taliban have banned girls from studying beyond sixth grade and imposed extensive restrictions on women's work and movement. Earlier this year, the Taliban introduced a new penal code that creates a caste system, putting women on the same level as 'slaves'. As part of this law, husbands are permitted to beat their wives as long as there is no serious bodily harm. Article 32 states that only if the husband beats the woman with a stick and this act results in severe injury such as 'a wound or bodily bruising', and the woman can prove it before a judge, will the husband be sentenced to fifteen days' imprisonment. However, the contradiction lies in that a woman must remain fully covered while simultaneously proving her injuries to a judge, and she is also required to be accompanied by a male chaperone, which is usually the husband himself.
The new code does not condemn or prohibit sexual or psychological violence against women. In addition, it stops women from seeking refuge with their family to escape violence at home. Article 34 of the code states that a woman who repeatedly goes to her father's house or that of other relatives without the permission of her husband and 'does not return home despite her husband's request' faces three months in prison. Her family and relatives would also face punishment.
Further Restrictions on Personal Freedoms
Islamic laws in Afghanistan have become so restrictive that even barbers are facing detention for cutting men's beards too short. In January, the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said it was now 'obligatory' to grow beards longer than a fist, doubling down on an earlier order. Minister Khalid Hanafi stated that it was the government's 'responsibility to guide the nation to have an appearance according to sharia', or Islamic law. Officials tasked with promoting virtue 'are obliged to implement the Islamic system', he said. In an eight-page guide to imams issued in November, prayer leaders were told to describe shaving beards as a 'major sin' in their sermons.
