UN concerned by Taliban's arrest of Afghan women and girls for dress code violations
In May 2022, the Taliban government issued a decree calling for women to show only their eyes and recommending they wear a head-to-toe burqa. The Taliban, which returned to power in 2021, has cracked down on the way women dress and behave in public, notably through morality laws forbidding them to show their faces outside the home.
The U.N. mission in Afghanistan said it was concerned by the arrest of 'numerous' women and girls in Kabul between July 16 and 19, who authorities claimed had not followed instructions on wearing the hijab, or the Islamic headscarf.
'These incidents serve to further isolate women and girls, contribute to a climate of fear, and erode public trust,' the mission added, without details including the number of arrests or the ages and where they have been held.
The U.N. mission urged the Taliban government to ' rescind policies and practices ' that restrict women and girls' human rights and fundamental freedoms, particularly the ban on education beyond sixth grade.
A Taliban representative was not immediately available for comment.
In January 2024, the country's Vice and Virtue Ministry said it had arrested women in the Afghan capital for wearing 'bad hijab.' A ministry spokesman, Abdul Ghafar Farooq, did not say how many women were arrested or what constituted bad hijab.
The U.N. mission said at the time it was looking into claims of ill treatment of the women and extortion in exchange for their release.
The Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces. Since then, the Taliban administration has sought international recognition while enforcing its interpretation of Islamic law. In July, Russia became the only country to grant formal recognition.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
13 minutes ago
- Reuters
Nikkei surges in boost to Asia as Trump announces Japan trade deal
SYDNEY, July 23 (Reuters) - A rally in Japanese shares led Asian markets on Wednesday after President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Japan and fuelled hopes of more to come, tempering the disappointment from U.S. earnings that highlighted the drag from higher tariffs. Trump late on Tuesday said a trade deal with Tokyo will include Japan paying a lower 15% tariff on shipments to the U.S. It followed an agreement with the Philippines that will see the U.S. collect a 19% tariff rate on imports from there. "Expectations for a breakthrough were low, so Trump's announcement delivers a mild upside surprise — providing near-term relief for Japanese equities," said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo. "Strategically, the deal allows Japan to sidestep immediate tariff escalation, while Trump's attention shifts elsewhere." Japan's Nikkei (.N225), opens new tab jumped 2.6% on Wednesday as shares of automakers surged on news the deal lowers the auto tariff to 15%, from a proposed 25%. Mazda Motor (7261.T), opens new tab rallied 17% while Toyota Motor (7203.T), opens new tab jumped 11%. Japanese government bonds slid, with the yields for 10-year JGBs up a whopping 8.5 bps at 1.585%, as the reduced uncertainty helped to clear the path for the Bank of Japan to resume interest rate hikes. The reaction in the yen was more muted, eking out a small 0.1% gain to 146.42 per dollar . Traders are on edge as Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was planning to soon decide whether to step down after assessing the outcome of the trade deal, Yomiuri newspaper said. Trump also said representatives from the European Union are coming for trade negotiations on Wednesday. That stirred hopes for a deal with Europe, as markets were worried about broader EU countermeasures amid receding signs of a trade agreement with Washington. EUROSTOXX 50 futures rose 0.8%, while Wall Street futures , were up about 0.1%. In another positive development, U.S. and Chinese officials will meet in Stockholm next week to discuss an extension to the August 12 deadline for negotiating a trade deal, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. Chinese blue-chips (.CSI300), opens new tab edged up 0.3% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index (.HSI), opens new tab gained 0.5%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS), opens new tab advanced 0.6%. Overnight, Wall Street closed mixed as investors assessed a spate of earnings that pointed to signs that Trump's trade war is hitting corporate profit margins. General Motors (GM.N), opens new tab tumbled 8.1% after the automaker reported a $1 billion hit from tariffs to its quarterly results. Shares of RTX (RTX.N), opens new tab dropped 1.6% after the aerospace and defense giant took a hit from tariffs despite strong demand for its engines and aftermarket services. Investors are now waiting for results from Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab and Google's parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab - the Magnificent 7 stocks that have driven much of the market rally fuelled by AI optimism. In the foreign exchange market, moves are a little muted with the dollar holding onto overnight losses along with lower Treasury yields. The dollar index was flat at 97.45, having slipped 0.4% overnight for its third straight day of declines. The euro dipped 0.1% to $1.1739 after rising 0.5% overnight. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields ticked up 2 basis points to 4.3559%, after slipping 3 bps overnight, as Trump continued to lash out at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates, although Bessent said there was no need for him to step down immediately. Bessent did say the Fed's vital independence on monetary policy is threatened by its "mandate creep" into non-policy areas and he called on the U.S. central bank to conduct an exhaustive review of those operations. Oil prices gained a little on Wednesday. U.S. crude rose 0.4% to $65.60 per barrel, while Brent was at $68.88 per barrel, up 0.4%. Spot gold prices were steady at $3,429 an ounce.
BBC News
13 minutes ago
- BBC News
Trump announces 'massive' trade deal with Japan, agreement with Philippines
Update: Date: 03:05 BST Title: Carmaker shares jump Content: Japan's benchmark stock index, the Nikkei 225, was more than 2.5% higher after Trump's announcement. Shares in motor industry giants - including Toyota, Nissan and Honda - jumped after broadcaster NHK said existing tariffs on Japanese carmakers would be cut. Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba later confirmed that the country's carmakers would now face a 15% tariff on exports to the US, down from 25%. Update: Date: 03:00 BST Title: Welcome Content: Thanks for joining us as we bring you the latest updates on Donald Trump's new trade deal announcements. Trump says the US has agreed to a "massive" trade deal with Japan, one of the country's largest trading partners. Separately, he also announced that the US would levy a 19% tax on imports from the Philippines and Manila would remove duties on US goods - an agreement that is yet to be confirmed by the Philippines. While the finer details of the deals remain vague, with the White House not having released any information, they nonetheless signal a major development in Trump's tariffs war.
Reuters
43 minutes ago
- Reuters
Key facts on the US-Japan tariff deal
TOKYO, July 23 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday said they had struck a trade deal that will include a 15% tariff on imports from Japan. Here's what we know so far. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the deal would include $550 billion of Japanese investments in the United States, improved market access into Japan for American goods including automobiles, rice and other agricultural products. The U.S. will also lower a punishing 25% tariff on Japanese automobiles to 15%, government and industry sources said. Trump made no comment on vehicle imports, which account for more than a quarter of all the country's exports to the U.S. The White House has yet to provide details of the agreement, Ishiba said he will scrutinize the deal made by his tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa in Washington before releasing the contents. Akazawa has traveled to the U.S. eight times since April for trade talks with U.S. officials including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The latest visit came days before an August 1 deadline when the Trump Administration said it would impose a 25% tariff on all Japanese imports. The U.S. is Japan's biggest export market. Economists had estimated that Trump's tariffs could lower Japan's GDP by as much as a percentage point. The tariff agreement comes three days after Ishiba's administration lost its upper house majority in an election, triggering calls for his resignation including from within his own ruling Liberal Democratic Party, according to local media reports. In the wake of that election defeat, Ishiba said he would stay in place to push for a trade agreement with the U.S. and to tackle Japan's looming economic problems. Japanese automaker shares led the Nikkei share average higher, which rose by 2% in early trading following the announcement. Toyota Motor Corp's (7203.T), opens new tab shares jumped by 10% with Honda Motor Co (7267.T), opens new tab up by 9%. The benchmark 10-year Japanese bond futures tumbled as much as 0.92 yen to 137.68 yen, the lowest since March 28.
