Taliban ‘legitimising child marriage’ with new law, activists warn | Child marriage
Child marriage appears to be legally recognized by the Taliban in Afghanistan for the first time, as activists say “shameful” new laws make it almost impossible for girls and young women to seek divorce against their husbands’ will.
There are no official statistics on forced and underage marriages in Afghanistan, but activists say the number has increased at an alarming rate in recent years because girls are banned from continuing education after the age of 11.
An unofficial estimate is that since the Taliban barred them from education, 70 percent were forced into early or forced marriage It was stated that 66 percent of these marriages involved girls under the age of 18.
There is no ban on child marriage under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, but a new divorce law approved last week appears to suggest that a girl who later says she was married against her will will not be allowed to get a divorce if her husband disagrees.
The new law also suggests that a woman cannot divorce her husband due to his absence or inability to provide financial support.
Demonstrations against the new law were reported in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul this week, with many women’s rights movements condemning the law as a systematic form of violence against women and children.
Fatima, one of the activists, said: “After issuing hundreds of anti-women decrees, the Taliban are now trying to institutionalize child marriage within the official legal structure.
“Instead of ensuring security and justice, the Taliban are busy issuing shameful misogynistic decrees and suppressing civil liberties.”
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) also expressed concerns about the legislation. “The decree laying out the principles governing spousal separation represents another step in the erosion of the rights of Afghan women and girls and further entrenches systemic discrimination in law and practice.”
UNAMA’s Georgette Gagnon said the new law “is part of a wider and deeply worrying trend in which the rights of Afghan women and girls are being eroded.” [it] “It entrenches a system in which Afghan women and girls are denied autonomy, opportunities and access to justice.”
A Taliban government spokesman rejected criticism of the group’s newly published legislation. Speaking to the Taliban-run National Radio and Television, he said: “We should pay no attention to the protests of those who are hostile, who have problems with Islam, with religion and with the foundations of the Islamic system.”
Recent research Afghanistan Human Rights Center It found that most victims of child marriage in the country reported domestic violence and serious psychological distress.
Earlier this month, a 15-year-old girl died in central Afghanistan’s Daikundi province after months of domestic violence, including a severe beating by her husband. Her father said that his daughter married her cousin eight months ago, but the violence started only two months into the marriage. She said that after each beating, local Afghan elders intervened and persuaded her to continue her marriage.
Abdul Ahad Farzam, of the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan, said: “The Taliban’s new law and the governance approach behind it legitimizes child marriage, restricts the principle of free consent in marriage, and in some cases even deprives women of this right.
“It reinforces patriarchal structures and places women in a subordinate and legally unequal position,” she said.
