The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has strongly condemned Decree 18 issued by the Taliban government, which legitimizes child marriage by interpreting a young girl's silence as consent. The committee called this a systematic violation of international human rights.
The UN statement emphasized that any union involving a person under 18 is considered forced marriage because children cannot provide fully free and informed consent. The committee explicitly rejected the decree's premise that reaching puberty equates to legal adulthood or readiness for marriage.
Warning of the severe consequences, the UN noted that child marriage exposes Afghan girls to violence, early pregnancy, and long-term psychological harm. UNICEF also recently expressed deep concern over any regulations that justify or facilitate child marriage in the country.
#HumanRights #ChildMarriage #UN
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