Living in Afghanistan for the female folk is becoming more burdensome and humiliating as the Taliban government has now banned women’s voices and faces in public under new laws to promote ‘virtue’ in the Islamic country. according to the Associated Press.
Reports from the Associated Press say the Islamist group had set up a ministry for the ‘prevention of vice’ after seizing power following the withdrawal of US and coalition forces in 2021.
Reports from the Associated Press say the Islamist group had on Wednesday, Officials published its 114-page vice and virtue rulebook that covers aspects of everyday life such as public transport, music, shaving, and celebrations.
The laws, which have been approved by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, make it compulsory for all women to cover their bodies in public, adding that face coverings are mandatory to ‘avoid temptation and tempting others’.
While declaring that Clothing should not be thin, tight, or short, and failure to adhere could result in arrest, the laws added that a woman’s voice is deemed intimate and so should not be heard singing, reciting poetry, or reading aloud in public.
The laws make it an offence for women to look at men they are not related to by blood or marriage and vice versa and also prohibit music, women travelling alone, and men and women socializing together unless they are related to each other.
Associated Press stated that Last month, a report by the United Nations said the ministry for the ‘prevention of vice’ created after seizing power following the withdrawal of US and coalition forces in 2021 was contributing to a climate of fear among Afghans.
Head of the human rights service at the UN mission in Afghanistan, Fiona Frazer, noted that “The position expressed by the de facto authorities that this oversight will be increasing and expanding gives cause for significant concern for all Afghans, especially women and girls”.
