Taliban authorities arrested 52 women and one girl in Kabul and Herat between July and September for alleged dress code violations, according to a statement by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). The report lists the offenses as wearing makeup, colorful scarves, leaving hair visible, and appearing in public without a male guardian, all violations of the Taliban’s 2024 Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
The law, codified in Article 13, mandates that women cover their entire bodies, conceal their faces, and suppress their voices in public settings. It further prohibits clothing that is thin, short, or tight, and requires women to be accompanied by a mahram when leaving home. The UN report notes that officers have used warnings, fines, and detention as enforcement tools, and that the latest arrests fall within this punitive framework.
The crackdown is part of a wider campaign that has barred girls from secondary education and limited women’s public participation since 2021. In June, Taliban forces opened fire on a rare protest in Herat over similar dress-code arrests, killing at least one person and wounding several others, witnesses say. The violence has emboldened the Taliban to tighten surveillance and punishment for perceived noncompliance.
UNAMA has called for an immediate investigation into the detentions and urges the Taliban to release the detainees. It warns that the current pattern could lead to additional arrests and abuses, and that the international community must monitor the situation closely. The next step, according to UNAMA, is a formal inquiry into the incidents and a push for the Taliban to end the arbitrary enforcement of the dress code law.