Taliban officials in Afghanistan on Sunday said that women cannot travel long distances without a close male relative accompanying them. Taliban's new guidelines for women's travel restrictions were issued by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. Taliban has also advised road transports to refuse rides to women who do not follow the Taliban imposed guidelines. The new set of regulations imposed on Afghan women despite the fact that the Taliban authorities are trying to moderate their image internationally. The Taliban government continues to fail at upholding human rights in the country. The new guidelines were widely circulated on social media networks. Women's rights were severely hampered during the Taliban's previous stint in power in the 1990s as well.
Key Points :
1. Taliban imposed a new set of guidelines that restrict long-distance travel of women without a close male relative. Moreover, Afghan women will also be denied from transport rides if they are not wearing the hijab, Islamic headscarf.
2. "Women traveling for more than 45 miles (72 kilometres) should not be offered a ride if they are not accompanied by a close family member," ministry spokesman Sadeq Akif Muhajir told AFP on Sunday and also said that the escort must be a close male relative.
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3. The travel restrictions imposed on Afghan women will hinder their free movement in public-sector roles and also hamper the life of working women and girls’ education. Women have been unable to return to their jobs and numerous secondary schools for girls have been shuttered.
4. "This new order essentially moves... further in the direction of making women prisoners," Heather Barr, Human Rights Watch's associate director of women's rights, told AFP."It shuts off opportunities for them to be able to move about freely, to travel to another city, to do business, (or) to be able to flee if they are facing violence in the home", Barr added.
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5. The new guidelines also banned road transport from playing music in their vehicles. Taliban had imposed multiple restrictions on women which are hampering their rights. The television dramas and soap operas featuring women actors were banned and women journalists on television need to strictly adhere to the rule of wearing hijab while presenting news.
