States criticise Taliban’s new morality law

Afghan women stitch clothes at a workshop in Kandahar, Afghanistan, September 4, 2024. Keystone-SDA

Almost 60 countries, including Switzerland, have issued a joint statement condemning a new morality law introduced in Afghanistan by the Taliban.

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On Tuesday at the United Nations Human Rights Council states denounced “the long list of oppression of women” imposed by the Taliban.

In the three years since the return of the Taliban to power there have been more than 70 decisions and declarations against Afghan women, the countries said. Now women can only express themselves in private and must be accompanied when they go out, they added.

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The states denounced the denial of the human and fundamental rights of Afghan women. This attitude against women “will only worsen the humanitarian and human rights crisis” in Afghanistan, according to the declaration.

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The signatory states called on the international community to consider “new steps adapted to the situation” to protect Afghan women, without giving further details. This support is “essential” to prevent the “systematic” elimination of these people from Afghan society, which would amount to persecution.

The UN and Switzerland have repeatedly condemned the Taliban’s morality law. Twelve of the 15 members of the UN Security Council, including Switzerland, expressed their “concern” last Friday. On Monday, the Swiss ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Jürg Lauber, criticised the morality law at the UN Human Rights Council.

Adapted from German by DeepL/sb

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