Taliban arbitrarily arrested or detained at least 389 women and men and carried out 65 incidents of ill-treatment between April and June while enforcing morality rules governing women’s dress, men’s appearance and public behavior, according to a quarterly United Nations update that documents a broad range of human rights concerns across Afghanistan.
The report, released by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), covers the period from April 1 through June 30, 2026 and documents continued restrictions on women’s rights, corporal punishment, pressure on independent media, abuses against former Afghan security personnel, and new decrees affecting marriage, religion and the justice system.
Morality policing
UNAMA said personnel from the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice were responsible for at least 389 arbitrary arrests and detentions and 65 incidents of ill-treatment during the three-month period. According to the report, the cases were primarily linked to alleged violations of the Taliban’s hijab requirements for women, regulations governing men’s trimmed beards and “Western” hairstyles, and prohibitions on playing or listening to music.
The report also documented continued enforcement of restrictions on women’s movement. Between June 6 and June 8, Taliban morality police arrested at least 30 women in Herat over what authorities described as improper hijab. Officials also inspected shops and health facilities, instructing businesses not to serve women who were not accompanied by a male guardian, or mahram, and reminding health workers that female patients should not receive treatment without one.
UNAMA cited additional incidents in Logar and Badakhshan in which women were questioned while shopping without a mahram, while shopkeepers who intervened on their behalf were detained, assaulted or had their businesses temporarily closed.
Women’s rights and education
The report said June 30 marked 296 days since Afghan women—including UN staff, contractors and visitors—were barred from entering United Nations compounds nationwide after the Taliban imposed the restriction on Sept. 7, 2025.
It also highlighted the continuing exclusion of women from higher education. According to UNAMA, 120,000 male students sat public university entrance examinations during May and June, while no women or girls participated because the Taliban’s ban on female higher education, imposed in December 2022, remained in force.
The report further noted that morality inspectors monitored girls’ schools. In one documented case in Herat, female teachers wearing clothing other than a chador were prevented from entering their school and warned they could lose their jobs if they failed to comply with the Taliban’s dress code.
New decree on marriage
UNAMA highlighted concerns over Decree No. 18, published in May, governing judicial separation between spouses.
The report said the decree makes the validity of a woman’s marriage dependent on her guardian’s permission, implicitly permits child marriage under certain circumstances, limits the ability of children forced into marriage to seek annulment after reaching puberty, and places significant obstacles before women seeking to leave their marriages by requiring a husband’s consent except in limited circumstances.
Corporal punishment
Between April 1 and June 30, UNAMA documented judicial corporal punishment against at least 137 people, including 112 men and 25 women.
Although the Taliban Supreme Court has largely stopped publicly announcing floggings on its website and social media, UNAMA said the punishments have continued in several provinces, often before smaller gatherings than in previous years.
The report cited one case in Balkh province where six men convicted of breaking the Ramadan fast and one woman convicted of an illicit relationship each received 20 lashes following prison sentences imposed by a district court.
Former government officials
UNAMA documented at least 29 arbitrary arrests and detentions, five cases of torture or ill-treatment, and at least eight killings involving former Afghan government officials and members of the former Afghan National Defense and Security Forces between April and June.
The report also described the case of a former Afghan National Army officer who was deported from Iran in April and disappeared shortly after returning to Herat. His family has not heard from him since, according to UNAMA.
Pressure on the media
The report said Afghanistan’s media continued to operate under difficult conditions during the reporting period.
UNAMA documented the arrest of three journalists by the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence in Kabul in two separate incidents during May. Intelligence officials also searched media offices and confiscated phones, cameras, computers and documents. The journalists were later released, but the report said no information was available regarding the charges against them.
The report also documented action affecting at least nine media outlets. Authorities suspended educational programming on Lawang Radio in Khost, temporarily closed Radio Bamyan before allowing it to resume broadcasting on June 23, and permitted Rah-e Farda TV to return to the air only after its management was replaced. In addition, at least seven radio stations in Kandahar and Ghazni provinces ceased operations because they were unable to meet the financial and licensing requirements necessary to continue broadcasting.
Religious freedom
UNAMA said Taliban continued to restrict religious practices in parts of the country.
Since January, officials have closed 33 Ismaili places of worship in Badakhshan province, including 17 in Zebak district, 14 in Ishkashim district and two in Wakhan district. Local discussions to resolve the closures were ongoing at the end of the reporting period.
The report also documented restrictions surrounding Ashura commemorations. In Kabul, 45 Shia men were detained overnight after displaying Ashura flags, while Shia communities in Parwan and Logar were instructed to hold commemorations only at designated mosques.
Violence and security
Among the security incidents documented by UNAMA was an April 10 attack on civilians near a Shia shrine in Herat province that killed 12 people—nine men, two women and one boy—and injured 14 others. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
The report also detailed unrest during Taliban poppy eradication operations in Badakhshan. It said two people died during protests in May, including a 9-year-old boy who fell from a cliff while fleeing gunfire and a man who died after his donkey fell down a slope during the demonstrations.
Justice system
The report noted several developments in the Taliban’s justice system.
The Taliban’s Office of Prison Administration announced the release of 1,191 prisoners nationwide for Eid al-Adha. It also announced that 755 Afghan prisoners, including five women, had been transferred from Iran to Afghanistan to serve the remainder of their sentences.
UNAMA also cited Taliban Supreme Court figures stating that courts had resolved 1,121 murder cases through mediation since August 2021, while the death penalty under qisas had been carried out in 12 cases. During the reporting period alone, the Supreme Court issued 34 announcements highlighting mediation in 36 killing cases across 13 provinces.
UN said the report was based on monitoring conducted by UNAMA’s Human Rights Service under its mandate from the UN Security Council and covers developments across Afghanistan between April and June 2026.
