In a statement issued by the Council of the European Union on Monday 26 August, the EU says it is “appalled” by the Taliban’s recent decree, known as the “Law on Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice”, which imposes severe restrictions on Afghans, particularly women.
The decree imposes strict dress codes on women, silences their voices in public and gives the “Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice” enforcement powers, with a clear mandate to enforce the decree.
The EU stresses that this violates the legal obligations and treaties to which Afghanistan is a party, and deplores a further serious violation of the rights of Afghan women and girls, which may constitute gender persecution, a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The EU says it “stands by the women and girls of Afghanistan, and by all those in Afghanistan threatened by the Taliban”. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)