Taliban's Draconian Morality Law: Suppression Of Women's Rights In Afghanistan

The "Draconian Morality Law," which was just passed by the Taliban administration in Afghanistan, severely limits the rights and voices of women. Severe limitations are imposed by these norms, which forbid women from speaking out in public, demand that their faces be covered at all times, and forbid them from exposing their features. This ordinance represents the first official proclamation of "vice and virtue" laws under the new Taliban administration.

The majority of the 35 pieces in this over 100-page work are about women. It requires women to conceal their faces and bodies in order to avoid "causing temptation" and prohibits them from wearing "attractive, tight, or revealing clothes." Furthermore, women are forbidden from using cosmetics or fragrances in an attempt to prevent them from imitating "the dress styles of non-Muslim women." The extensive crackdown has drawn criticism from throughout the world and highlighted how Afghanistan's human rights situation is getting worse.

Historical Context:

An agreement reached in Doha, Qatar in 2020 allowed for the withdrawal of American and NATO forces from Afghanistan; in August 2021, the Taliban retook power. Afghanistan was formerly under the Taliban's authority from 1996 to 2001. As part of the agreement, the Taliban had to cease their attacks on Western forces in return for the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.

The Islamic Emirate:

The Taliban's creation of the Islamic Emirate is still an inadequately defined and conceptualized political structure. A council of ulema was assembled in Kabul during their first term of government in order to create a constitution that would formally establish the Islamic Emirate. This draft, though, was never approved. After regaining power in 2021, the Taliban decided not to make the previously written constitution the ultimate rule of the land, thereby leaving their political system without a formalized constitution.

With some major modifications, the Taliban kept the previous Republic's administrative structure rather than developing a new one. The Ministry of Women's Affairs was disbanded and the Ministry of Virtue Promotion and Vice Prevention was established in its place. Additionally, they reversed decisions made during the Republic era that had established autonomous committees and agencies, dismantling the election commissions and reinstating authority in key ministries.

Taliban's Interim Government and Its Legal Institutions:

The two houses of the national assembly held the legislative authority in Afghanistan under the 2004 constitution. But the Taliban disbanded both chambers, and important laws are now passed by ministerial orders, cabinet resolutions, or Amiri decrees. The Ministry responsible for promoting virtue and preventing vice has issued the most directives. These directives frequently assert that they are only enforcing regulations that are considered mandatory under the Hanafi jurisprudence of Islam, which is currently recognized as the ultimate law of Afghanistan.

These rules mandate that male government officials wear beards and cover their heads, and they impose stringent clothing regulations on women as well, mandating that they cover their faces and travel with a male relative whenever they venture farther than a set distance. These directives serve to both legitimize a patriarchal and authoritarian society and curtail women's autonomy.

Breaking Down the New Morality Laws:

• Restrictions on Women's Appearance and Conduct: Women are required by Article 13 to cover their faces and bodies entirely when they are out in public. Because women's voices are viewed as "intimate," they are not allowed to sing, read aloud, or give public speeches. It is also banned for women to look at men to whom they are not married or connected by blood, and vice versa.

• Restrictions on Mobility and Public Presence: Drivers are not allowed to carry women without a male guardian, and women's freedom of movement is severely restricted. These policies essentially keep women within their houses and keep them from engaging in public life.

• Impact on males and Media: The laws have an impact not only on women but also on males and the media. It is mandatory for men to grow beards, drivers are not allowed to play music in their cars, and local media outlets are compelled to follow Sharia law, which prohibits them from posting pictures of live animals. The aforementioned actions are indicative of the Taliban's wider endeavor to enforce their version of Islamic law on every facet of Afghan life.

Taliban's Arguments and Their Approach to International Law:

International human rights law and the fundamental beliefs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) are at odds. The Taliban contend that state sovereignty, as defined by international law, gives them the right to create an Islamic state inside the borders of Afghanistan and forbids other states from meddling in its internal affairs. They contend that the only duties they have to other states are to ensure that there is no harm done outside of their borders and to refrain from interfering.

The Taliban reject the idea that a state has obligations regarding the rights of its citizens because they understand state sovereignty in a way that is almost entirely absolute. They reject the legitimacy of international human rights organisations as limitations on national autonomy, especially when those organisations conflict with their understanding of Islam. As a result, they reject any universal principles that might be at odds with interpretation of Islamic law.

Crimes against Humanity:

Concern over the Taliban's treatment of women and girls as a crime against humanity based on gender persecution is developing on a global scale. The systematic oppression and violation of fundamental rights on the basis of gender is referred to as gender persecution under Article 7(1) (h) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Taliban enforces policies that ban women from all aspects of public life, restrict their freedom of movement, and deny them work and education; this makes gender persecution a crime against humanity along with torture, forced disappearances, and imprisonment of women.

What experts and international human rights organizations describe is that the actions of the Taliban constitute a systematic, coordinated, and widespread attack against Afghan women and girls. These incidents are not isolated but part of a greater scheme in suppressing women's rights and enforcing gender inequality in Afghanistan. The fact that these crimes still surface, getting away with it, only encourages more abuse.

The Way Forward:

In the light of such developments in the circumstances, all international actors-let alone UN member states-really need to create a resolute, moral, and well-coordinated human rights policy concerning women's rights and gender equality in Afghanistan. This move would be important in holding the Taliban to account and making sure that no impunity would result for crimes to be committed in the future.

Such a policy would involve the imposition of sanctions, apart from diplomatic pressure, to make the Taliban leadership take legal responsibility for its actions through legal avenues. The foreign world has to support Afghan women's groups and civil society so that they have a platform to raise their concerns and participate in national policy deliberations.

Not acting will harm not only Afghan women and girls but also stand in the way of making the country prosperous, stable, and accepting. Accountability for those who have survived Taliban crimes is the first necessary step toward accountability and preservation of human rights in the region.

Throughout the globe specially, the afghani women are into hassle of morality and socialization where innovative minds are discarded. Like the so-called "Draconian Morality Laws" by the Taliban are a serious challenge for the international world in responding to the detriments that have occurred to women and girls in Afghanistan. In fact, settling the issue calls for political, legal, and humanitarian action in order to put a stop to further human rights abuses. An international focus-as the situation develops-will go hand in hand with actions taken to protect the rights of Afghan women and girls for a more just and fair society in Afghanistan. On a lower prior basis man also been through these intrusive conditions of Taliban and this law became a boon to immoral society created by rebellions of brutal and fundamentalist group of religion, which bud into a new resolution in afghani women seeking humanitarian international reinforcement.

Authors: Kanishk Meshram and Sapavat Teja, Law students at Dharmashastra National Law University, Jabalpur. Views are personal.