Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan Roza Otunbayeva said that the Taliban movement started arresting Afghan women for non-compliance with the decree on wearing hijab. Interfax reported.
«De facto authorities of Afghanistan have recently further restricted women’s rights in all spheres of public life. Women who are deemed not to fully comply with the hijab decree are arrested and detained. Some Afghan women are afraid to go out,» Roza Otunbayeva said speaking to members of the UN Security Council.
In early January, the Taliban-established Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice began actively enforcing the April 2022 hijab decree, arresting and detaining women and girls found not to comply with it.
These arrests have disproportionately affected female residents of the cities.
«The recent arbitrary detentions for alleged violations of the Islamic dress code have further violated human rights and led to an incredible stigmatization of women and girls,» Roza Otunbayeva said.
She called on Afghan authorities to lift the restrictions — «the longer they remain in force, the more harm they will do.»
According to the UN, many women and girls were detained in Kabul and put in custody for several hours. The organization’s mission recorded allegations of ill-treatment, incommunicado detention, and ransom demands for release.
The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan recalled that the Taliban want international recognition of their legitimacy.
«But they realize that this is not easy, because they do not comply with a large number of international standards. There are those in the government who understand the need to change this state of affairs, but someone higher up says: «No, women and girls must remain in the shadows,» she said.
