They are also restricting women’s access to work, travel and healthcare if they are unmarried or do not have a male guardian, and arresting those who do not comply with the Taliban’s interpretation of hijab, or Islamic headscarf.
The UN mission’s report, published on Friday, said the decrees are being enforced through arrest, harassment and intimidation. Women said they increasingly fear going to public spaces, owing to the threat of arrest and the “long-lasting stigma and shame” associated with being taken into police custody.
Over half of the women interviewed for the report felt unsafe leaving the house without a male guardian, or mahram. Risks to their security and their anxiety levels worsened whenever a new decree was announced specifically targeting them, the report said.
Women who went out with a mahram felt safer, but noted the stress from depending on another person to accompany them. Some said their male guardians chided them for “wasting time” if they wanted to visit certain shops or stray from a route limited to performing basic necessary tasks.
This undercut chances to “enjoy even micro-moments of stimulation or leisure” outside the home, said the report.
Some women said that male relatives were also afraid and reluctant to leave the home with female relatives, as this would expose them to Taliban harassment.
Nobody from the Vice and Virtue Ministry, which is the Taliban’s morality police and enforces decrees, was immediately available for comment about the UN report.
02:48
‘They didn’t kill us, but they did everything else’: Afghan returnees arrive in ‘poor condition’
‘They didn’t kill us, but they did everything else’: Afghan returnees arrive in ‘poor condition’
Heather Barr, from Human Rights Watch, said that Afghan women’s fear of leaving home unaccompanied was “damning and devastating” but not surprising.
It seemed to be a specific goal of the Taliban to frighten women and girls out of leaving their homes, Barr said.
“This begs the question of what on earth this discussion is in Doha, with the UN hosting special envoys. We need to be asking why the focus of this meeting and every meeting isn’t about this crisis that is unprecedented for women around the world.”
The UN envoy for Afghanistan last year warned the Taliban that international recognition as the country’s legitimate government will remain “nearly impossible” unless they lift the restrictions on women.