THE United Nations expressed “grave concern” on Thursday about a new law issued by Afghanistan’s Taliban government, which includes provisions on child marriage.

The UN accuses the Afghan government of further entrenching discrimination against women and girls.

The government rejected the accusations, saying the decree follows Islamic law and insisted the country has already banned the forced marriage of girls.

Afghanistan’s justice ministry published Decree No 18 “on judicial separation of spouses” last week, which sets out rules for separation of a married couple.

Among its most controversial provisions, it says that the silence of a girl reaching puberty can be interpreted as consent to marriage. 

“Decree No 18 is part of a broader and deeply concerning trajectory in which the rights of Afghan women and girls are being eroded,” said Georgette Gagnon, the UN’s Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and officer in charge of Unama.

Zabihullah Mujahid, an Afghan spokesman said its supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has already issued a previous decree that bans the forced marriage of girls. 

Afghan courts and the country’s ministry of vice and virtue have investigated thousands of such cases in the past year alone, he said, “which shows the Islamic Emirate’s concern for women’s rights.”