UN Condemns Taliban's Penal Code as Gender Apartheid

In Geneva, Switzerland, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Thursday condemned a new penal code issued by Afghanistan's Taliban authorities, describing it as a formalization of gender apartheid that institutionalizes violence and discrimination against women and girls. Speaking at the Human Rights Council during an enhanced interactive dialogue on Afghanistan, Turk warned that the decree, signed last month by Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, expands corporal punishment, legitimizes domestic abuse and undermines basic freedoms in a country already reeling from years of restrictive edicts.

The 60-page Decree No. 12, comprising 119 articles and marking the first comprehensive penal code under Taliban rule since their 2021 takeover, outlines punishments that Turk said violate Afghanistan's international human rights obligations. It permits husbands and household heads to impose penalties at home, including for offenses like women visiting relatives without permission, which carries a three-month prison term for the woman and her relatives if they fail to return her. In contrast, a man convicted of severely beating his wife, causing visible...