Attachments
OVERVIEW
This report provides an update on the decrees and directives that the Interim Taliban Authority (ITA) announced between July–December 2024. It builds upon ACAPS’ previous reports on ITA directives and their humanitarian implications, published in April 2023, December 2023, and July 2024.
Between 1 July and 2 December 2024, the ITA issued at least 16 new decrees and directives influencing various aspects of life in Afghanistan. Of these, eight were issued at the national level, and nine were issued at the provincial level. All appear to expand upon previous decrees and directives.
Many decrees and directives relate to measures of social control and primarily target women. These include the introduction of the new Law of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (LPVPV), along with 14 decrees and directives affecting access to income and employment (4), access to education (4), and measures of social control (6). The last include dress codes and prohibitions on park entry, smartphone use, and religious debate among scholars.
The introduction of the LPVPV has raised concerns, especially among women and humanitarian responders. The law adds legal force to the ITA’s moral rulings, largely justified on religious grounds. It has drawn comparisons to similar moral laws introduced during the Taliban’s first period of rule (1996–2001). That said, punishments meted out under the LPVPV are comparatively milder than during the first period of rule and mainly involve verbal admonitions and fines.
The new decrees and directives and the LPVPV continue to affect employment, education, livelihood opportunities, and private and public behaviour. They are likely to aggravate the current humanitarian crisis and affect aid access, especially for women and girls. To date, the ITA have not reversed or repealed any prior directives, making the Afghan context one of increasingly diminished rights and freedoms, especially for women and girls, whose access to public life and freedom of movement are increasingly limited.
KEY FINDINGS
- The recent ITA decrees and directives and the LPVPV are likely to significantly worsen humanitarian needs and protection risks, especially for women and girls, women-headed households, and widows who face compounded vulnerabilities owing to restrictions on education, employment, and healthcare access.
- The ban on women’s attendance at medical and semiprofessional institutions, coupled with a deficit in midwives and limited access to healthcare for women and girls (who are unable to receive care from male medical practitioners without the presence of a Mahram), will reduce the number of qualified female healthcare providers and aggravate barriers to care for women and girls. It will also further strain Afghanistan’s already struggling healthcare system.
- A lack of clarity and ambiguities in the LPVPV – including the lack of references to other statutes and notes on what takes precedence, as well as the lack of clarity around which punishments relate to which offences – may result in inconsistencies in the application of the law and extensive rights violations.
- The introduction of the LPVPV is a signification escalation in restricting individual and collective freedoms in Afghanistan. Rule of law in Afghanistan has long been highly localised. The codification of previously issued decrees and norms (including the Mahram requirement) in the LPVPV and the role of the Muhtasibin (enforcers) in enforcing the law may close critical loopholes that allowed humanitarians to previously negotiate access and programming with religious and traditional leaders.
- The LPVPV has heightened anxiety among humanitarian staff and codified existing restrictions, such as the Mahram requirement for travel. The ban in Kandahar on women’s access to smartphones (which could later be implemented nationwide) makes it harder for humanitarian responders to communicate with women and girls; since 2022, there has already been a steady increase in the number of women unreachable by phone. These challenges disproportionately affect women-focused programming, limiting the reach and effectiveness of humanitarian assistance.