Taliban is enforcing restrictions on single and unaccompanied Afghan women, U.N. says
The Taliban are restricting Afghan women’s access to work, travel and health care if they are unmarried or don’t have a male guardian, a U.N report said.
ISLAMABAD — The Taliban are restricting Afghan women’s access to work, travel and health care if they are unmarried or don’t have a male guardian, according to a U.N. report published Monday.
In one incident, officials from the Vice and Virtue Ministry advised a woman to get married if she wanted to keep her job at a health care facility, saying it was inappropriate for an unwed woman to work, it said.
The Taliban have barred women from most areas of public life and stopped girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade as part of harsh measures they imposed after taking power in 2021, despite initially promising more moderate rule.
They have also shut down beauty parlors and started enforcing a dress code, arresting women who don’t comply with their interpretation of the hijab, or Islamic headscarf. In May 2022, the Taliban issued a decree calling for women to only show their eyes and recommending they wear the head-to-toe burqa, similar to restrictions during the Taliban’s previous rule from 1996 to 2001.
The U.N. spokesman, asked for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ reaction to the latest bans, replied: “Horror!” Stephane Dujarric added: “It must be unimaginable to have to live there.”
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