Domestic violence has been effectively decriminalised in Afghanistan under a new Taliban penal code, according to analysis by exiled Afghan human rights group Rawadari. The 90-page document, obtained and reviewed by the organisation, redefines the legal status of violence within the family and significantly reduces state protection for women and children.

The code explicitly permits husbands to beat their wives and children as long as the violence does not result in broken bones or open wounds. Under this framework, any assault that does not cross that physical injury threshold is no longer treated as a criminal act. This represents a rollback of prior, limited legal safeguards that had recognised a broader range of domestic abuse as punishable.

In cases where the law recognises “obscene force” – defined by injuries such as visible fractures or serious wounds – the maximum penalty for a husband is capped at 15 days in prison. Prosecution is contingent on the wife proving the abuse in court. Given that the justice system is now controlled by the Taliban and restricts women’s participation, the evidentiary burden placed on victims is high and, in practice, often prohibitive.

The code also introduces criminal penalties for actions that previously fell within the realm of personal or family autonomy. Married women can be imprisoned for up to three months for visiting their own relatives without explicit permission from their husbands. The legal language used in the document characterises wives in a manner that human rights experts interpret as reducing them to the status of property or dependants without independent legal agency.

This legal framework replaces and effectively dismantles the 2009 Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW). EVAW had criminalised forced marriage, child marriage and multiple forms of domestic abuse under the former, internationally backed government. Although enforcement of EVAW was inconsistent, it provided a statutory basis for legal challenges against gender-based violence and offered a reference point for judges, prosecutors and advocates.

Rawadari’s assessment is that the new code will normalise and legitimise abuse, maltreatment and punitive violence within the household. The organisation concludes that women and children will be exposed to ongoing domestic violence with minimal or no legal recourse. This assessment is made in the context of existing structural constraints: limited availability of shelters, courts dominated by hardline clerics and restricted access to legal representation for women. Under the previous system, visits to relatives had functioned as an informal support mechanism for those seeking temporary safety or assistance; the new penalties directly curtail that option.

In response, Rawadari has called for an immediate suspension of the code’s implementation by Taliban-controlled courts. The group has urged the United Nations, foreign governments and international legal institutions to employ available diplomatic and legal mechanisms to prevent the entrenchment of these provisions. Rights advocates describe the penal code as an extreme formalisation of gender-based repression, embedding into law a system in which violence against women is not only tolerated but explicitly authorised under defined conditions.