Note: Single-source report; awaiting corroboration.
Between April and June 2026, Afghan women experienced repeated human rights violations, including arrests over hairstyles and hijab compliance, according to a report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). At least 30 women were arrested in Herat in early June for wearing what was deemed "improper hijab." The Taliban’s Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs required the hijab to cover the entire body except the eyes, be loose, thick, and free of adornments or fragrance.
Additional decrees required women to be accompanied by a male guardian, or mahram, to enter shops and health clinics, including those selling cosmetics in Kandahar. In one Logar province incident, a woman was verbally warned for shopping without a mahram, while the male shopkeeper was slapped and briefly detained before community intervention secured his release.
A new Code on Judicial Separation of Spouses issued in April 2026 restricts women’s ability to marry or divorce without guardian permission, reportedly enabling child marriage and creating severe barriers to separation. Since September 2025, women have been barred from all United Nations premises nationwide, marking nearly 10 months of exclusion.
Education restrictions persist: no women or girls participated in public university entrance exams in May and June 2026, while about 120,000 male students did. Women and girls also remain banned from higher education following a 2022 decree.