Taliban鈥檚 dress-code crackdown targets Afghan women, UN warns
The UN has said they are 鈥渄eeply concerned鈥� over the detention and abuse of Afghan women not wearing the hijab. Their statement is the first official confirmation of the Taliban鈥檚 crackdown on dress codes for women since the Taliban took power in 2021.
The Taliban鈥檚 religious police, the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, have put up banners in streets of Kabul, saying women to wear a hijab that fully covers their face and bodies, in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 17, 2022.
Alfred Yaghobzadeh/ABACA/Reuters/File
Kabul, Afghanistan
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan said on Jan. 11 it was deeply concerned by recent arbitrary arrests and detentions by the Taliban of women and girls for allegedly violating dress codes regarding the Islamic headscarf, or hijab.
The mission said it was looking into claims of ill treatment of women and extortion in exchange for their release, and warned that physical violence and detentions were demeaning and dangerous.
The Taliban said earlier in January that female police officers have been taking women into custody for wearing 鈥渂ad hijab.鈥�
It was the first official confirmation of a crackdown on women who don鈥檛 follow the dress code imposed by the Taliban since they returned to power in 2021 鈥� a crackdown that has echoed events in neighboring Iran, which saw months of protests in 2022 and has long enforced the mandatory hijab.
In May 2022, the Taliban issued a decree calling for women to only show their eyes and recommending they wear the head-to-toe burqa, similar to restrictions during the Taliban鈥檚 previous rule between 1996 and 2001.
Vice and Virtue Ministry, Abdul Ghafar Farooq told The Associated Press that the ministry has heard complaints about women鈥檚 lack of correct hijab in the capital and provinces for almost two-and-a-half years.
Ministry officials made recommendations to women and advised them to follow the dress code. Female police officers were sent to arrest the women after they failed to follow the advice, he added.
鈥淭hese are the few limited women who spread bad hijab in Islamic society,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey violated Islamic values and rituals, and encouraged society and other respected sisters to go for bad hijab.鈥�
Police will refer the matter to judicial authorities or the women will be released on strict bail, according to Mr. Farooq.
鈥淚n every province, those who go without hijab will be arrested,鈥� he warned.
The U.N. statement said hijab-enforcing campaigns in the capital Kabul and the province of Daykundi have been ongoing since Jan. 1, with large numbers of women and girls warned and detained. The mission also said women from religious and ethnic minorities appear to be disproportionately impacted by the enforcement campaigns.
鈥淓nforcement measures involving physical violence are especially demeaning and dangerous for Afghan women and girls,鈥� said Roza Otunbayeva, U.N. special envoy and head of the mission.
鈥淒etentions carry an enormous stigma that put Afghan women at even greater risk,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey also destroy public trust.鈥�
Mr. Farooq rejected reports that women and girls were being arrested or beaten for wearing bad hijabs and called it propaganda from the foreign media. He wasn鈥檛 immediately available for comment on the U.N. statement.
This story was reported by the Associated Press.