Amnesty International has strongly condemned the Taliban’s new morality, calling it a blatant attack on human rights that must be immediately revoked.
The decree, which institutionalizes severe restrictions on women and girls, marks a further erosion of rights under the Taliban’s rule, according to the organization.
The edict, issued by the Taliban leadership, labels the sound of women’s voices in public as a “moral” violation and imposes new restrictions on men and boys regarding how they trim their beards or hair.
Amnesty International asserts that the decree is a direct violation of Afghanistan’s obligations under international law and significantly intensifies the already intolerable restrictions placed on women and girls since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021.
The decree also empowers the Taliban’s so-called morality police to detain individuals deemed to be in violation of the regime’s “morality code,” further entrenching the group’s repressive rule.
The human rights organization, alongside the International Commission of Jurists, has documented that the Taliban’s widespread and systematic abuses—including the imprisonment, enforced disappearance, and torture of women and girls—may constitute crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute. Amnesty International has called on the Taliban, as the de facto authorities, to adhere to Afghanistan’s international human rights obligations and revoke the decree immediately.
