this up I want to get you a quick sense of what's happening in Afghanistan which under the Taliban has become most unsafe for women who are subjected to various atrocities and cruelty according to the United Nations Afghanistan Remains the most repressive country in the world for women's rights there are numerous restrictions imposed on them on their right to travel on their right to study and work freely in fact the human rights situation in Afghanistan has continued to only deteriorate in 2023 as a Taliban commits widespread human rights violations particularly against young girls Afghanistan Remains the only country where women and girls cannot access secondary and higher education and are banned from most employment with International noos and even the United Nations except if it's in healthcare nutrition or primary education women face significant barriers to freedom of movement and speech and taliban's restrictions on women and their freedom of expression is only now growing louder the clamp down unfortunately is only escalating in a move to silence women again Afghanistan's Taliban has issued new laws the Taliban published a host of new wise and virtue laws as they call it last week the newly released 114 page document outlines 13 articles and addresses various aspects of daily life including public transportation music personal grooming and celebrations this also marks the first formal issuance of such regulations since the Taliban take over let me take you through what the KE provisions of this Draconian regressive and ruthless law are these are the KE provisions of Article 13 which requires Ires women to cover their bodies in public cover faces to avoid any Temptation wear clothing that is not thin tight or short women must cover themselves in presence of non-muslims no singing is allowed reciting or reading out in public is not allowed either anymore no looking at men who are not relatives and vice versa there's also a ban that's imposed now on publishing of images of living beings now these latest restrictions have been condemned by the UN assistance mission in Afghanistan the organization's Chief expressed deep concern about the new morality law particularly regarding its impact on women she said that the laws extend the already intolerable restrictions on the rights of women and girls with even the sound of a female voice outside the home apparently deemed a moral violation the un's criticism highlights the severe limitations on women's rights and freedoms imposed by the law calling for better treatment of the Afghan people amidst this ongoing crisis but the Taliban has rejected these concerns and criticisms raised by the United Nations the main spokesperson for the taliban's government warned against what he called arrogance from those who are not familiar with the Islamic law particularly non-muslims who might Express reservations or objections other Taliban may try to suppress all they want but the women of Afghanistan will not let their voice be choked much like kimay Sufi it's not a name that you may have already recall with but she's an Afghan Sprinter who at the Paris Olympics after her 100 meter Heats held up these words in a paper that you see on your screens education spot our rights that image right there will forever haunt the Taliban and give hope to millions of Afghan women and young girls that there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel I leave you with that thought