The United Nations expressed grave concern on Thursday about a new law issued by Afghanistan's Taliban government that includes provisions on child marriage, with the international body saying the decree further entrenches discrimination against women and girls in the country. Afghanistan's justice ministry published Decree No. 18 "on judicial separation of spouses" last week, setting out rules for married couples seeking separation.
The decree is among the most restrictive set of rules governing family matters issued since the Taliban seized power following the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-backed forces in 2021. Women and girls already face sweeping restrictions under Taliban rule, including bans on secondary education, university attendance, most employment opportunities, and access to public spaces such as parks, gyms, and beauty salons.
What the Left Is Saying
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) issued a statement saying Decree No. 18 "implies that child marriage is permitted." Among its most controversial provisions, the decree says that the silence of a girl reaching puberty can be interpreted as consent to marriage. "This undermines the principle of free and full consent and failing to safeguard the best interests of the child," UNAMA stated.
Georgette Gagnon, the UN's Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and officer in charge of UNAMA, said the decree is part of a broader pattern of eroding women's rights. "Decree No. 18 is part of a broader and deeply concerning trajectory in which the rights of Afghan women and girls are being eroded," Gagnon said.
The UN mission also highlighted that while the law allows women to separate from their husbands, it creates an unequal framework. "While men retain the unilateral right to divorce, women must pursue complex and restrictive judicial avenues to separate from a spouse," UNAMA said. The statement added that these restrictions have "deprived millions of Afghan women and girls of their right to education, weakened economic participation, and deepened poverty."
What the Right Is Saying
Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan government, rejected the international criticism in an interview with Afghanistan's RTA state broadcaster. "The objections from those who contradict the religion of Islam are not new and we should not pay attention to them," Mujahid said.
Mujahid emphasized that the decree follows Islamic law and pointed to previous measures protecting women. He noted that Afghanistan's supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has already issued a decree banning the forced marriage of girls. Afghan courts and the country's ministry of vice and virtue have investigated thousands of such cases in the past year alone, Mujahid said, "which shows the Islamic Emirate's concern for women's rights."
The government argues that Decree No. 18 provides women certain protections, including the ability to pursue divorce through judicial channels and provisions making marriages without dowry potentially invalid. The decree also states that a girl married by her father or grandfather has the right to approach court to cancel the marriage contract upon reaching puberty if her husband "has not treated her with kindness."
What the Numbers Show
Under Taliban rule since 2021, women and girls in Afghanistan face restrictions across multiple domains of public life. They are banned from secondary school education and universities, barred from most jobs outside of a few limited sectors, and excluded from nearly all leisure activities including gyms, beauty salons, and public parks.
The decree specifies that marriages can be ruled invalid "if a father or grandfather has given a minor girl or boy without any dowry, not enough dowry or obscene embezzlement." It also states that if a married girl asks her husband for divorce and he denies it, "in this case, there are no witnesses with the girl, the husband's word is valid" unless she makes the request before a judge.
UNAMA noted that while women can technically separate from spouses under the new law, men retain unilateral divorce rights while women must pursue judicial proceedings. The decree was published by Afghanistan's justice ministry without public announcement or comment period.
The Bottom Line
The UN's statement represents one of the sharpest international rebukes of Taliban policies on women's rights since the group resumed control of Afghanistan in 2021. The dispute centers on fundamentally different interpretations of what protections for women look like under Islamic law, with the Taliban pointing to limited rights granted while critics say those same provisions enable ongoing discrimination.
The decree takes effect immediately as official government policy. International organizations working in Afghanistan face continued challenges in engaging with Taliban authorities on human rights issues, with the government dismissing outside criticism as interference. Women's rights advocates expect the new marriage regulations will further restrict already limited options for women seeking to leave unhappy or unsafe marriages.