UN rapporteur condemns detention of Afghan women over dress code

The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, has strongly condemned the detention of Afghan women and girls by Taliban morality police in Herat, calling the arrests "illegal and unacceptable" and demanding their immediate release.

Bennett's remarks came after local sources reported that at least 21 women and girls were detained in Herat for allegedly violating the Taliban's dress code regulations.

"I am deeply alarmed that for a third consecutive day, scores of women in Herat continue to be arbitrarily arrested and detained for violating the Taliban's dress code. It is illegal and unacceptable. The arrests must stop, and the women must be released immediately," Bennett said in a post on X.

According to local reports, the arrests took place in several parts of Herat, including the Southern Road area, Almas Market and the Qasr locality. Among those detained was reportedly a nurse employed at Herat Regional Hospital.

The detentions follow a recent directive issued by the Taliban's Directorate for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Herat, instructing male family members to ensure that women comply with the group's interpretation of Islamic dress requirements.

Under the directive, women appearing in public without a prayer veil, with uncovered faces, wearing tight-fitting clothes or makeup could face detention and be transferred to a women's detention facility.

The incident is the latest sign of intensified enforcement of the Taliban's morality laws, which rights groups say have dramatically curtailed women's freedoms since the group's return to power in August 2021.

Human rights organisations have repeatedly warned that the regulations have expanded state control over women's clothing, movement and participation in public life, while further restricting their access to education, employment and healthcare.

Since taking control of Afghanistan, the Taliban has barred girls from attending secondary schools beyond the sixth grade, prohibited women from studying at universities and imposed sweeping restrictions on women's employment in both the public and private sectors.

The latest arrests in Herat are expected to draw renewed international scrutiny of the Taliban's treatment of women, which the United Nations and rights groups have described as one of the most severe rollbacks of women's rights in the world.

With IANS inputs