UNAMA Says Taliban Decree No. 18 Entrenches Discrimination and Permits Child Marriage in Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s Taliban published Decree No. 18 “on judicial separation of spouses” in the Taliban’s Ministry of Justice, setting rules for marital separation and including provisions that UN bodies say touch child marriage.

“The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Thursday expressed “grave concern” over a new Taliban family law regulation, warning that it further entrenches discrimination against women and girls and weakens their access to justice”

Amu TV

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said the code “further entrenches discrimination against women and girls” and warned that it weakens women’s access to justice through a “deeply unequal framework.”

Amu TV

UNAMA said the regulation includes a chapter on separation for girls who reach puberty while married and that it “implies that child marriage is permitted.”

The Taliban government rejected the accusations, with the South China Morning Post reporting that the government said the decree follows Islamic law and that Afghanistan has already banned the forced marriage of girls.

The Independent argued that on 14 May the Taliban instructed courts in Afghanistan that the silence of a “virgin girl” is consent to marriage, while “A boy’s silence is not consent.”

The Independent framed the decree as a legal codification of rape, writing that “Only girls” are treated as consenting through silence and that “Marriage implies two people choosing.”

KIRO 7 News Seattle

UNAMA’s criticism focused on consent and access to justice, saying the decree allows a girl’s silence upon reaching puberty to be interpreted as consent to marriage and raising concerns about “the principle of free and full consent.”

UNAMA also warned that women’s access to justice remains “severely constrained,” citing procedural ambiguity, limited access to courts, and discrimination within the justice system.

In Egypt, Deputy Amira Al-Adly submitted a bill criminalizing child marriage, saying the amendments come in light of “recent incidents of abuse against children” and aim to develop the legislative framework.

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KIRO 7 News Seattle

The bill’s memorandum cited World Bank and International Center for Research on Women findings that developing countries will lose “trillions of dollars by 2030 if child marriage continues,” linking child marriage to school dropout and child labor.

Egyptian data cited in the bill’s memorandum included CAPMAS figures that “117,000 children aged 10 to 17 are married or have been married,” with the highest rates in Upper Egypt and the lowest in governorates including the Red Sea, Sinai, Matrouh, and Aswan.

In Turkey, a separate report said the legal age of marriage is 18, with limited exceptions for 17-year-olds marrying with parental or legal guardian consent and 16-year-olds marrying by court order with parental or legal guardian consent.