On 7 January 2026, a new law called the “Criminal Procedure Code for Courts” was quietly approved by Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. The law contains 119 articles and was put into effect immediately. Within this document, Article 32 states that punishment can be given to a husband only if his wife is beaten so badly that broken bones, open wounds, or clear bruises are caused. Even then, if the case is brought before a Taliban judge and proven, no more than 15 days in prison can be imposed. If injuries of that level are not shown, the husband’s actions are effectively permitted under the law.
This cannot be described as culture or religion. Violence against women has been formally accepted through state policy. In doing so, Afghanistan’s obligations under international human rights law are being openly violated by the Taliban.
Afghanistan became a member of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 2003. Under Article 2, all discriminatory laws and practices must be removed. Under Article 16, equal rights in marriage and family life must be guaranteed, and women’s unequal treatment must be rejected. Through Article 32, husbands are given legal power to physically punish their wives, while only minor punishment is provided for severe abuse. Discrimination is being built into the legal system, and women are being treated as property rather than individuals with rights.
Fifteen days for breaking bones is not justice. It is a betrayal of humanity and of the international legal order that was built to prevent exactly this.
The law also conflicts with the Convention against Torture (CAT), ratified in 1987, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Under these agreements, gender-based violence must be prevented, investigated, and punished by the state. Instead, all responsibility for proving abuse is placed on the victim within a system controlled by those who regard women’s independence as a threat. Smaller acts of violence, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse are entirely ignored. Because of this, the law has been described by UN experts and Amnesty International as a form of legal endorsement of domestic violence.
The unfairness embedded in this law is stark. Reports have shown that forcing animals to fight can be punished with up to five months in prison — far harsher than the punishment for breaking a woman’s bones. The priorities of the regime are laid bare by that comparison. In the Taliban justice system, women are valued less than animals.
Since the Taliban seized power in 2021, girls have been banned from secondary education, women have been prevented from working or taking part in public life, strict dress codes have been enforced through violence, and women’s movement has been restricted without a male guardian. Through this new code, a legal structure has been created for the systematic removal of half the population from society. Civil society groups have described this as “gender apartheid”—a system where segregation and persecution are carried out on the basis of sex. Some experts have argued that it may meet the threshold of a crime against humanity.
When violence against wives is written into a penal code, silence from the world becomes a form of support.
Under international law, the Taliban are required to uphold Afghanistan’s treaty obligations because they exercise governmental power as the de facto authority. Claims of “Islamic law” cannot be used to evade these responsibilities. Core international norms—known as jus cogens—which ban torture and systematic discrimination, cannot be overridden by domestic ideology. Under the principle of due diligence, the state must protect women from private violence when abuse is widespread and is supported or tolerated by authorities. A recent UN legal review found 16 Taliban policies in violation of CEDAW, including this one.
So far, the international community’s response has been weak. Concerns have been expressed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur, but strong action has remained limited. Australia, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands have taken steps toward accountability at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) under CEDAW. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has also issued arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over gender persecution. However, diplomatic engagement has continued in forums such as the Doha Process, often without requiring these laws to be reversed before talks proceed.
International law exists to protect vulnerable people when domestic systems fail. When violence against wives is written into a penal code, silence from the world becomes a form of support. Article 32 and the wider discriminatory legal framework must be repealed by the Taliban. Until that happens, the international community—including Muslim-majority countries and Afghanistan’s neighbors—should make recognition or assistance conditional on clear and proven improvements in women’s rights. Afghan women and girls are not asking for anything extraordinary. They are demanding the basic protections their government promised when it ratified CEDAW and other treaties. Fifteen days for breaking bones is not justice. It is a betrayal of humanity and of the international legal order that was built to prevent exactly this.
