UN ‘concerned’ as Afghan women arrested over Taliban dress code

A Taliban fighter stands guard in a market ahead of Eid al-Adha, or "Feast of the Sacrifice", in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

The United Nations expressed its “concern” on Monday over a series of arrests of Afghan women in the capital Kabul who were accused of breaching the Taliban government’s strict dress code, with officials denying such detentions.

Since their return to power in 2021, the Taliban authorities have imposed a severe interpretation of Islamic law and require all women to be covered from head to toe.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it was “concerned by the arrest of numerous women & girls in Kabul between 16-19 July due to their alleged non-compliance with the de facto authorities’ hijab instructions”.

“These incidents serve to further isolate women and girls, contribute to a climate of fear, and erode public trust,” the agency wrote on X, adding that they had contacted the authorities about the matter.

A witness told AFP last week that while driving in central Kabul, he saw a unit of the Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (PVPV) “telling two women to go with them in the car”.

The women were wearing flowing abaya robes and wearing make-up. They resisted getting into the vehicle but were forced to do so by a PVPV official who was holding a gun, the witness said on condition of anonymity.

The Taliban authorities denied the arrests and said they have “only campaigned for (the) hijab” dress code.

“But there’s nothing like arresting someone or taking anyone to jail,” PVPV spokesman Saiful Islam Khyber told AFP.

Over the past four years, women have been progressively isolated by the Taliban authorities, which have banned them from universities, public parks, gyms and beauty salons, in what the UN has denounced as “gender apartheid”.

The Taliban government says that their interpretation of Islamic law “guarantees” everyone’s rights and that allegations of discrimination are “unfounded”.

On Monday, UNAMA called on the Taliban authorities “to rescind policies and practices that restrict women and girls’ human rights and fundamental freedoms”.