UN
Report on the Implementation, Enforcement and Impact of PVPV Law in Afghanistan
KABUL - The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Thursday released a report on the impact, implementation and enforcement of the “law on the propagation of virtue and prevention of vice”, or “PVPV law”, by Afghanistan’s de facto authorities.
The report, covering a six-month period since the law’s promulgation on 21 August 2024, is mainly based on impartial daily monitoring and observations of UNAMA across Afghanistan conducted in accordance with UNAMA’s mandate from the United Nations Security Council to monitor and report on political, security, human rights, social and economic developments in Afghanistan.
Six months into implementation of the PVPV law, UNAMA observed a determination by Afghanistan’s de facto authorities to ensure their vision of a pure Islamic system is implemented nationwide. UNAMA observed overall more systematic and consistent efforts in the de facto authorities’ enforcement of the PVPV law led by the de facto Ministry of the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice and Hearing of Complaints compared to the de facto authorities’ enforcement of earlier decrees.
These efforts include the establishment of PVPV law provincial implementation committees in 28 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces with the deployment of some 3,300 PVPV inspectors with broad discretionary powers conducting enforcement operations around the country. UNAMA observed far-reaching socio-economic impacts on Afghan men and women, including increased restrictions on Afghans’ personal and private spaces and on women and girls’ access to public spaces and healthcare, dress code, and travel. The report also documents impacts on the business, health and education sectors, and the media.
The report also observes that the direct and indirect socio-economic effects of PVPV law implementation are likely to compound Afghanistan’s dire economic and humanitarian situation, including on the ability of UN Agencies, Funds and Programmes and national and international NGOs to deliver humanitarian and basic human needs assistance to millions of people across Afghanistan.
The UN Security Council, in Security Council Resolution 2777 (2025) on Afghanistan, expressed its “serious concern about the increasing erosion of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, in particular for women and girls and their lack of equal access to education, employment, justice, economic opportunities, full, equal and meaningful participation in public life, freedom of movement, and enjoyment of basic services, the absence of which make peace, stability, and prosperity in the country unattainable, and in this regard reaffirms its call for the Taliban to swiftly reverse these policies and practices, including the “vice and virtue” directive”.
