Meena Sadr is a former JURIST correspondent in Afghanistan. She now lives in the USA.
The Taliban have currently handed the so-called Regulation on Propagation of Advantage and Prevention of Vice, which “shall be enforced in all places of work, public locations, and folks dwelling within the territory of Afghanistan” (Article 4). The provisions of this legislation embody the general public erasure of girls and proof of the institution of a gender apartheid regime. The legislation defines “Hijab” as an apparel that covers the physique and face of girls which shouldn’t be brief, skinny, or tight (Article 3). The part associated to the ladies’s Hijab defines a girl’s face and voice as intimate elements (awrat). Consequently, a girl shall conceal her voice, physique, and face if they should go away the home for pressing wants.
The necessary Hijab for face and voice has no roots within the tradition or the faith of Afghanistan folks because the Taliban argues. For instance, a documentary filmed by Nancy Dupree in northern Afghanistan 1974 showcases the authorized and customary rights of girls who didn’t conceal their faces or voices. Furthermore, thepromulgated gown code is a part of Islamic etiquette, not required conduct. Overlaying the whole physique besides palms and face was developed utilizing the Hadith, sayings of the prophet Muhammad, three centuries after his demise. Jurists of the Hanafi and Maliki colleges of thought additionally prescribed overlaying the whole physique besides the face.
The lately handed legislation is a testomony to 2 essential factors. First, the Taliban has established a gender apartheid regime. Gender apartheid is outlined by human rights legal professionals, teachers, and advocates as “… inhumane acts…, dedicated within the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination … by one gender group over one other gender group or teams, and dedicated to take care of that regime.” Though the time period gender apartheid will not be codified within the worldwide human rights conventions, advocates from Afghanistan and Iran have began to marketing campaign for the codification of gender apartheid as a criminal offense in opposition to humanity. Because the takeover of Afghanistan in mid-2021, the Taliban has handed multiple hundred decrees banning a large spectrum of girls’s rights, to call a number of the precise to work, the precise to get educated, and the precise to motion. It’s time for worldwide legal professionals and teachers to advocate for the popularity of gender apartheid as a criminal offense in opposition to humanity.
Second, the Taliban legislation is simple proof that Taliban apologists had been fallacious concerning the Taliban’s supposed ideological shift. The fact is that the Taliban haven’t advanced; somewhat, they’ve change into much more brutal and merciless. Of their view, girls will not be even thought of second-class residents. Afghanistan teachers, legal professionals, and activists had lengthy asserted that the Taliban had not modified. Nonetheless, their warnings went unheeded.
This level is essential as a result of the Taliban has not confronted important penalties for his or her ongoing ban on girls’s primary rights. Regardless of this, the Taliban authorities has obtained billions of {dollars} as humanitarian support. The irony of this example lies in the truth that, whereas they profit from worldwide support, Article 20 (20) of the Regulation on Propagation of Advantage and Prevention of Vice prohibits any type of friendship or help with infidels. But, the Taliban persistently seeks worldwide recognition, a seat on the UN, and the continuation of humanitarian support.
Opinions expressed in JURIST Dispatches are solely these of our correspondents within the discipline and don’t essentially replicate the views of JURIST’s editors, employees, donors or the College of Pittsburgh.
Source / Picture: jurist.org
