RASC News Agency: Amnesty International has condemned the Taliban’s new “Amr bil Maroof and Nahi an al-Munkar” ( Propagation of virtue and prevention of vice) law as a “brazen” attack on human rights and has called for its immediate repeal. In a statement released yesterday August 27, the organization asserted that this law flagrantly violates Afghanistan’s obligations under international law.
Amnesty International further stated that the law institutionalizes the severe restrictions imposed on Afghanistani women and girls, introducing new limitations such as categorizing women’s voices in public as a moral transgression. The organization emphasized that under Taliban rule, Afghanistani women and girls are subjected to intolerable restrictions and attacks that affect all aspects of their lives.
The statement from Amnesty International also highlighted that the law imposes sweeping restrictions on the fundamental rights of the Afghanistani people, including dictating how men and young boys are permitted to cut their hair and beards. The organization added that this “oppressive” law grants Taliban enforcers the authority to threaten and detain those who violate it.
Amnesty International urged the Taliban, as the de facto authorities, to respect, protect, and fulfill Afghanistan’s obligations under the human rights treaties the country has signed. The organization, along with the International Commission of Jurists, has documented that the Taliban’s severe restrictions on the rights of women and girls, accompanied by the use of imprisonment, enforced disappearances, torture, and other mistreatments, could amount to gender-based crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute.
The ratification of this law by the Taliban’s leader has sparked widespread domestic and international backlash, with various countries condemning it as a renewed effort by the Taliban to silence the Afghanistani people.