UN experts urge IEA to end detention of women and girls

UN experts on Friday expressed concern at numerous reports that scores of women and girls in Afghanistan have been arbitrarily detained and subjected to ill-treatment since early January for allegedly violating the dress code.

“We urge the Taliban (the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) to cease all arbitrary deprivation of liberty targeting women and girls based on the strict dress code they have imposed, and immediately release any women and girls who may still be detained,” the UN experts said.

They called on the authorities to comply with Afghanistan’s international human rights obligations, including under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and work towards upholding the principles of human rights, non-discrimination and the rule of law.

They noted that the release of women and girls was dependent on male family members and community elders providing assurances, often in writing, that they would comply with the prescribed dress code in the future.

“In addition to punishing women for what they wear, assigning responsibility for what women wear to men violates women’s agency and perpetuates an institutionalised system of discrimination, control of women and girls, and further diminishes their place in society,” the experts said.

They noted that while some women and girls were released after a few hours, others had been detained for days or weeks and, due to a lack of transparency and access to justice, it is not known how many are still detained, perhaps incommunicado.

“This current wave of deprivation of liberty further restricts the already severely limited freedoms of expression and movement of women and girls, and violates their human rights and agency,” the experts said.

The experts found that the situation of women and girls has deteriorated immensely since the IEA took power in August 2021, with increasing restrictions on education, employment, expression, association, privacy, movement, agency, and participation in public life. “Those responsible for imposing this widespread and systematic discrimination should be held accountable for their actions,” they said.

IEA has previously said that arrests take place based on laws. It has also rejected ill-treatment of women and girls.