The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Sunday it is concerned by the promotion of a morality law by the Islamic Emirate this week that had wide-ranging and far-reaching restrictions on personal conduct and one that provides morality police with broad powers of enforcement.

This week the Islamic Emirate announced the ratification of a “Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice”, with 35 articles detailing significant restrictions on the Afghan population with arbitrary and potentially severe enforcement mechanisms, UNAMA said in a statement.

“It is a distressing vision for Afghanistan’s future, where moral inspectors have discretionary powers to threaten and detain anyone based on broad and sometimes vague lists of infractions,” said Roza Otunbayeva, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of UNAMA.

“It extends the already intolerable restrictions on the rights of Afghan women and girls, with even the sound of a female voice outside the home apparently deemed a moral violation,” she said.

The text has worrying impacts on religious freedoms by ignoring the full diversity of Afghanistan’s religious communities, and places more restrictions that will impact the work of journalists and media, UNAMA stated.

“After decades of war and in the midst of a terrible humanitarian crisis, the Afghan people deserve much better than being threatened or jailed if they happen to be late for prayers, glance at a member of the opposite sex who is not a family member, or possess a photo of a loved one,” Otunbayeva said.

“The international community has been seeking, in good faith, to constructively engage with the de facto authorities. The world wants to see Afghanistan on the path of peace and prosperity, where all Afghans have a stake in their future, are citizens with rights and not just subjects to be disciplined. Further restricting the rights of the Afghan people and holding them in constant fear will make achieving this goal even harder,” Otunbayeva said.

UNAMA stated it is studying the newly ratified law and its implications for the Afghan people, as well as its potential impact on United Nations and other vital humanitarian assistance for the country.

UNAMA is also seeking clarification from the Islamic Emirate on a number of articles and on plans for enforcement.

Based on its initial review, two articles in the law do constitute positive steps, namely outlawing the mistreatment of orphans as well as “prohibiting the practice of Bacha Bazi, a pedophilic practice of using young boys for personal entertainment and sexual abuse,” the statement read.

UNAMA however said it reiterates that Afghanistan as a state remains party to seven key international human rights instruments. “Security Council Resolution 2681 (2023) also called on the Taliban (IEA) to swiftly reverse the policies and practices that restrict the enjoyment by women and girls of their human rights and fundamental freedoms,” the statement read.

On Wednesday, the ministry of justice announced that Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), had approved a law on the propagation of virtue and prevention of vice.

The law has four chapters and 35 articles, Barakatullah Rasouli, a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, said.

He said that the law regulates the affairs of the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice and duties and powers of Muhtasibs (inspectors/morality police).

However, the Islamic Emirate does not always consider UNAMA’s reactions and reports to be accurate.

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