Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says the UN preoccupation with Afghan girls is unwarranted.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan is “deeply involved” about Taliban authorities arbitrarily arresting and detaining girls and women it accuses of violating gown codes relating to the Islamic headband, or hijab.
In a press release on Thursday, the UN Help Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) mentioned it had “documented a sequence of hijab decree enforcement campaigns” happening since January 1 in Kabul and Daykundi provinces.
These have been below orders from the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Advantage and Prevention of Vice and the police, it mentioned, and ladies had been “warned” and “detained”.
To safe a girl’s launch from detention, UNAMA mentioned her male guardian, additionally referred to as a mahram, was required to signal a letter guaranteeing her future compliance or else face punishment.
The mission mentioned it was trying into claims of ill-treatment of the ladies and extortion in change for his or her launch, and warned that bodily violence and detentions have been demeaning and harmful.
Since returning to energy in August 2021, Taliban authorities have imposed quite a few restrictions on girls and women, with legal guidelines the UN has labelled “gender apartheid”.
“Enforcement measures involving bodily violence are particularly demeaning and harmful for Afghan girls and women,” mentioned Roza Otunbayeva, UN particular envoy and head of the mission.
“Detentions carry an infinite stigma that places Afghan girls at even higher danger,” she mentioned. “In addition they destroy public belief.”
‘Pushing girls into even higher isolation’
The Taliban mentioned final week that feminine cops have been taking girls into custody for carrying “dangerous hijab.”
When the Taliban retook energy in 2021, they ordered girls to cowl up when leaving dwelling, stopped women and girls from attending highschool or college, and banned them from parks, gyms and public baths.
In addition they barred them from working for the UN or NGOs, and most feminine authorities staff have been dismissed from their jobs or paid to remain at dwelling.
The UN mission’s assertion mentioned it “fears the present crackdown is pushing girls into even higher isolation as a result of concern of arbitrary arrest, and making a permissive surroundings for males to implement repressive measures at dwelling”.
The Taliban chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, mentioned the UN preoccupation with Afghan girls was unwarranted, and dismissed its considerations.
“Afghan girls put on hijab of their very own accord,” he mentioned on X. “They don’t have to be compelled. The Vice and Advantage Ministry hasn’t compelled anybody [to wear hijab] both.”
In Might 2022, the Taliban issued a decree calling for girls to solely present their eyes and recommending they put on the head-to-toe burqa, much like restrictions throughout their earlier rule of the nation between 1996 and 2001.
A spokesman for the Vice and Advantage Ministry, Abdul Ghafar Farooq, earlier on Thursday rejected reviews that ladies and women have been being arrested or crushed for carrying “dangerous hijab” and referred to as it propaganda from the overseas media.
