RASC News Agency: Rosa Otunbayeva, the Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), has strongly condemned the Taliban’s newly ratified law, titled “The Law on Commanding Good and Forbidding Evil,” labeling it an “arbitrary enforcement structure.” In a statement, Otunbayeva expressed deep concern, stating, “This law presents a profoundly disturbing vision for Afghanistan’s future, where moral inspectors acting under the Taliban’s mandate are granted sweeping powers to intimidate and detain individuals based on vague and often subjective infractions.”
Otunbayeva criticized the newly implemented Taliban law for imposing intolerable restrictions, particularly for its egregious violations of the rights of Afghanistani women and girls, including provisions that effectively prohibit women from speaking in public. The UNAMA statement highlighted the alarming implications of the law, noting, “This document (the Taliban’s ratified law), by dismissing the diverse religious fabric of Afghanistan, poses significant threats to religious freedoms and imposes further constraints on journalists and media operations.”
The statement further emphasized that, after decades of conflict and amid a “devastating humanitarian crisis,” the Afghanistani people deserve far more than the threat of imprisonment for minor infractions such as being late to prayer. UNAMA announced that it is currently conducting a thorough review of the new law and has called on the Taliban to provide a detailed explanation.
The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan also stressed that further restricting the rights of the Afghanistani population and maintaining a climate of perpetual fear will only hinder efforts to achieve human rights in the country. UNAMA urged the Taliban to adhere to Afghanistan’s obligations as a sovereign nation under seven key international human rights treaties and to reconsider their current policies.
The statement concluded by noting that UNAMA will present its report on the situation in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan to the UN Security Council on September 18. The agency’s condemnation comes at a time when its economic division continues to advise on all of the Taliban’s development and reconstruction programs, highlighting the inherent contradictions in the Taliban’s oppressive and discriminatory policies.
