The Taliban's brutal 'vice and virtue police' enforced a strict interpretation of Islamic law and beat women for 'offences' such as showing their wrists or ankles, wearing nail varnish or going outside their home without a male relative.

Women were also stopped from attending school, working, or being seen by a male physician, while women doctors and nurses were banned from working.

Men did not escape punishment and were beaten if they trimmed their beards.

A proposal by the Afghan Ministry of Religious Affairs to reinstate the department was considered by the cabinet on July 16 and has now been referred to parliament, which is likely to pass it into law.

The government says the new department will not be like the one operated by the Taliban but will focus on preventing alcohol, drugs, crime and corruption.

However, the Afghan Women's Network (AWN), the largest women's rights organisation in Afghanistan, representing 94 groups including a Christian Aid partner (Voice of Women), fears the department could impede women's rights and freedoms.

Following a meeting in Kabul to discuss their response, the AWN released a statement calling on the Afghan government not to re-instate the department.

Instead they want more support given to Imams, religious scholars, and ordinary teachers so that they can take responsibility for the moral and religious education of Afghan society.

'In the event that the Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is re-established there are concerns that it will be used for similar purposes as it was under the Taliban; a mechanism through which to hinder social development and the freedom of expression, impede the rights of mobility and privacy and, ultimately, stop the continued development of women,' the statement said.

The AWN believes that the government can fight what they term 'social and ethical' corruption through existing institutions such as the police, courts, schools and mosques.

And it said that if the department were to be reintroduced representatives from women's rights groups must be involved with the selection of staff.

'We are demanding a firm and binding commitment from our government that this department, should it become a reality, make an active, substantial and public commitment to the continued freedom and development of the women in Afghanistan,' the statement said.

 

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