In January, Afghanistan’s de facto authorities issued Decree No. 12, a 60‑page penal code of 119 articles that critics say entrenches gender and class inequality and violates international human rights obligations. The decree, signed by Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, was denounced at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva for prescribing lighter penalties for serious domestic violence than for some forms of animal cruelty.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk told the council the decree “defines several crimes and punishments that contravene Afghanistan’s international legal obligations” and urged Afghan authorities to withdraw it. The text both permits corporal punishment in the home and grants household heads, typically men, the authority to determine and carry out punishment, effectively legitimising violence against women and children, critics say.
The new code also criminalises dissent, making criticism of the de facto leadership and its policies an offence that curtails freedoms of expression and assembly. Human rights advocates warn the combined effect of these measures is to narrow legal protections and cut off avenues for redress.
Several provisions have drawn particular attention for their striking disparities. A husband who beats his wife severely enough to leave a visible cut, wound or bruise faces only up to 15 days in prison if the wife proves the case before a judge. By contrast, a woman who goes to her father’s home without her husband’s permission can be punished with three months’ imprisonment, and her relatives may face prison if they do not return her to her husband.
UN Women’s Special Representative in Afghanistan, Susan Ferguson, said the decree “formally removes equality between men and women before the law,” elevating husbands’ authority over wives and restricting women’s access to protection and justice.
The code imposes tougher penalties on organisers of animal and bird fights than on those who seriously injure family members. Anyone running animal fights faces up to five months behind bars; cockfights and partridge fights—pastimes banned since 2021—are singled out for punishment.
Punishments also vary by social status. The decree outlines graduated responses for the same offences: scholars and “high‑ranking people” may receive warnings; tribal leaders and businessmen can be given warnings and court summonses; “average people” risk imprisonment; and the “lower classes” may be subjected to physical beatings. For sentences involving lashes, the law specifies up to 39 strikes to be administered on “different parts of the body.”
Murder remains a capital offence under the decree. Insulting the Prophet Muhammad is also punishable by death, although the penalty can be reduced to six years’ imprisonment if the accused repents, according to the text.
Speaking in Geneva, Türk appealed to Afghan authorities to reverse policies that exclude and marginalise broad segments of society, saying: “Women and girls are the present and the future, and the country cannot thrive without them.” Human rights observers say the decree’s provisions risk deepening discrimination and undermining basic protections for expression, assembly, and equal treatment under the law.
