The Kabul Tribune (KT)-- The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) announced that the Taliban ordered some health centers, including a health facility in Uruzgan province, not to provide medical services to women unless they were accompanied by a male guardian, or mahram. According to the report, the Taliban intensified restrictions on women’s access to health care and their freedom of movement between April 1 and June 30, 2026.
The findings are contained in UNAMA’s latest quarterly human rights update, released this week, which documents a broad range of human rights concerns across Afghanistan during the three-month reporting period. The report describes continued enforcement of morality rules, restrictions on women’s rights, corporal punishment, pressure on independent media, abuses against former Afghan officials and new Taliban decrees affecting marriage, religion and the justice system.
Morality Policing
UNAMA said personnel from the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice were responsible for at least 389 arbitrary arrests and detentions and 65 incidents of ill-treatment during the reporting period.
According to the report, most of the cases were linked to alleged violations of the Taliban’s mandatory hijab rules for women, regulations governing men’s beard length and hairstyles, and bans on playing or listening to music.
The report said Taliban morality police also continued enforcing restrictions on women’s movement. Between June 6 and June 8, authorities arrested at least 30 women in Herat over what they described as improper hijab.
UNAMA said Taliban officials inspected shops and health facilities, instructing businesses not to serve women who were not accompanied by a mahram and reminding health workers that female patients should not receive treatment without one. The report also cited incidents in Logar and Badakhshan where women shopping without a male guardian were questioned, while shopkeepers who intervened on their behalf were detained, assaulted or had their businesses temporarily closed.
Women’s rights and education
UNAMA said June 30 marked 296 days since Afghan women, including United Nations female staff, contractors and visitors, were barred from entering UN compounds nationwide after the Taliban imposed the restriction in September 2025.
The report also highlighted the continued exclusion of women from higher education. It said about 120,000 male students sat public university entrance examinations during May and June, while no women or girls were allowed to participate because the Taliban’s ban on female higher education remained in force.
UNAMA also documented continued monitoring of girls’ schools by Taliban morality inspectors. In one case in Herat, female teachers wearing clothing other than a chador were prevented from entering their school and warned they could lose their jobs if they failed to comply with the Taliban’s dress requirements.
New Marriage Decree Raises Concerns
The report highlighted concerns over Decree No. 18, issued in May, governing judicial separation between spouses.
According to UNAMA, the decree makes the validity of a woman’s marriage dependent on her guardian’s permission, implicitly permits child marriage under certain circumstances, limits the ability of children forced into marriage to seek annulment after reaching puberty, and creates significant obstacles for women seeking to leave their marriages by requiring a husband’s consent except in limited situations.
Corporal Punishment Continues
UNAMA documented judicial corporal punishment against at least 137 people, including 112 men and 25 women, between April and June.
Although the Taliban Supreme Court has largely stopped publicly announcing floggings on its website and social media, the report said such punishments have continued across several provinces, often before smaller gatherings.
Among the cases cited was one in Balkh province, where six men convicted of breaking the Ramadan fast and one woman convicted of an illicit relationship each received 20 lashes after serving prison sentences.
Former Officials Targeted
The report documented at least 29 arbitrary arrests and detentions, five cases of torture or ill-treatment, and eight killings involving former Afghan government officials and members of the former Afghan National Defense and Security Forces during the reporting period.
UNAMA also described the disappearance of a former Afghan National Army officer who was deported from Iran in April and went missing shortly after returning to Herat. According to the report, his family has not heard from him since.
Pressure on Independent Media
UNAMA said Afghanistan’s media continued operating under difficult conditions.
The report documented the arrest of three journalists by the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence in Kabul during two separate incidents in May. Intelligence personnel also searched media offices and confiscated phones, cameras, computers and documents. The journalists were later released, but UNAMA said it had received no information about any charges against them.
The report also documented measures affecting at least nine media outlets. Taliban authorities suspended educational programming on Lawang Radio in Khost, temporarily closed Radio Bamyan before allowing it to resume broadcasting on June 23, and permitted Rah-e Farda TV to return to the air only after its management was replaced.
In addition, at least seven radio stations in Kandahar and Ghazni provinces ceased operations after failing to meet financial and licensing requirements.
Religious Freedom
UNAMA said Taliban authorities continued restricting religious practices in parts of Afghanistan.
According to the report, authorities have closed 33 Ismaili places of worship in Badakhshan province since January, including 17 in Zebak district, 14 in Ishkashim district and two in Wakhan district. Discussions between local communities and Taliban officials remained ongoing at the end of the reporting period.
The report also documented restrictions surrounding Ashura commemorations. In Kabul, 45 Shia men were detained overnight after displaying Ashura flags, while Shia communities in Parwan and Logar were instructed to hold commemorations only at designated mosques.
Security Incidents
Among the security incidents documented by UNAMA was an April 10 attack near a Shia shrine in Herat province that killed 12 civilians—nine men, two women and one boy—and injured 14 others. No group claimed responsibility.
The report also described unrest during Taliban poppy eradication operations in Badakhshan. It said two people died during protests in May, including a 9-year-old boy who fell from a cliff while fleeing gunfire and a man who died after his donkey fell down a slope during the demonstrations.
Justice System
UNAMA said the Taliban’s Office of Prison Administration announced the release of 1,191 prisoners nationwide for Eid al-Adha and said 755 Afghan prisoners, including five women, had been transferred from Iran to Afghanistan to complete their sentences.
The report also cited Taliban Supreme Court figures stating that courts had resolved 1,121 murder cases through mediation since August 2021, while the death penalty under qisas had been carried out in 12 cases. During the reporting period alone, the Supreme Court issued 34 announcements highlighting mediation in 36 killing cases across 13 provinces.
UNAMA said the report was based on monitoring conducted by its Human Rights Service under its mandate from the UN Security Council and covers human rights developments across Afghanistan between April 1 and June 30, 2026.
