KABUL: A Taliban government spokesman has said the Afghan authorities were committed to engagement with the international community after a new morality law sparked tense exchanges over women’s rights.
The United Nations and the European Union have warned that the law — requiring women to cover up completely and not raise their voices in public — could damage prospects for engagement with foreign nations and international organizations.
Deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat was responding to comments by a spokesman for the UN secretary-general assuring continued engagement with the Taliban authorities after Afghanistan’s morality ministry said it would no longer cooperate with the UN mission in the country, UNAMA, over criticism of the law.
Fitrat said the authorities were “committed to positive interactions with all the countries and organizations in accordance with Islamic law,” in a voice message to journalists on Saturday.
“Interaction is the only way to achieve solutions to problems and for the progression and expansion of relations,” he said, urging nations and organizations to engage positively with the Taliban authorities.
Since taking power in 2021, no state has recognized the Taliban government but it has made diplomatic inroads recently, including attending UN-hosted talks on Afghanistan in Qatar.
On Friday, the spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “We will continue to engage with all stakeholders in Afghanistan, including the Taliban.”
“We have always done so following our mandate and I would say impartially and in good faith, always upholding the norms of the UN, pushing the messages of human rights and equality,” said Stephane Dujarric.
“We would urge the de facto authorities to, in fact, open more avenues for diplomatic engagement,” he added.
Earlier Friday, the morality ministry had said it would no longer cooperate with UNAMA over its criticisms of the “Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice,” which was ratified last week.
The law, which includes rules on many aspects of Afghans’ lives according to the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islamic law, sparked concern among Afghans, various countries, human rights advocates, UN agencies and the EU.
It prohibits women from raising their voices in public and requires them to cover their entire body and face if they need to leave the house “out of necessity.”
Men’s behavior and dress are also strictly regulated by the law, which gives morality police powers to warn and detain people for non-compliance.
UNAMA head Roza Otunbayeva said last week that the law offered “a distressing vision for Afghanistan’s future,” adding that it could set back cooperation efforts, a warning echoed by the EU.
The Taliban government has consistently dismissed international criticism of its policies, including restrictions on women that the UN has labelled “gender apartheid.”
Chief government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has said the law is “firmly rooted in Islamic teachings” that should be respected and understood, adding rejection of the law showed “arrogance.”
Afghan Taliban says ready to engage with world on morality law as per Islamic teachings
https://arab.news/mzu85
Afghan Taliban says ready to engage with world on morality law as per Islamic teachings
- New law by morality ministry requires women to cover up completely and not raise their voices in public
- Law has sparked concern among Afghans, various countries, human rights advocates, UN agencies, EU
UK interior minister insists asylum reforms ‘fair’ amid blowback
- Mahmood argued in a speech that she was “restoring order and control” to Britain’s borders
- Amnesty International called the latest measure a “punitive blow”
LONDON: Britain’s interior minister doubled down Thursday on her tough stance on immigration despite criticism from charities and unease within the ruling Labour party that it is shedding left-wing voters.
Shabana Mahmood announced that asylum seekers who break the law or work illegally will be thrown out of government-funded accommodation and lose their support payments.
The policy forms part of a major overhaul of migration rules announced late last year and modelled on Denmark’s strict asylum system that aims to slash irregular migration to the UK.
Mahmood argued in a speech that she was “restoring order and control” to Britain’s borders and that her overhaul of the asylum was “firm but fair,” adding she would open new and safe legal routes.
But Amnesty International called the latest measure a “punitive blow” that “risks forcing people into destitution, homelessness and exploitation while they wait for their claims to be decided.”
Mahmood’s reforms are widely seen as an attempt to stem support for the hard-right Reform UK party, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage.
It has topped opinion polls for a year, in part because of the government’s failure to stop thousands of migrants from arriving in England from northern France on small boats.
But her stance has also been credited with contributing to Labour losing support to the progressive Green party, which won a local election in a traditional Labour heartland last week.
Mahmood said there was a middle path between Farage’s “nightmare pulling up the drawbridge and shutting out the world” and Green Party leader Zack Polanski’s “fairy tale of open borders.”
Her reform that makes refugee status temporary, including for accompanied children, came into force this week.
The status will be reviewed every 30 months, with refugees forced to return to their home countries once those are deemed safe.
They will also need to wait for 20 years, instead of the current five, before they can apply for permanent residency.
She also announced earlier this week that the government would stop issuing education visas to nationals from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan.
It said there had been a surge in asylum applications by students from those countries and almost 135,000 asylum seekers in total had entered the UK using legal routes since 2021.
