The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has issued a strong condemnation of Afghanistan’s de facto authorities following the adoption of a new decree that it says legitimises child marriage and redefines silence as consent. The committee described the measure as a grave and systematic violation of international human rights law and warned that it undermines decades of global progress in protecting children from forced and early marriage.
According to the committee, child marriage is universally recognised as a harmful practice and a form of forced marriage, since individuals under the age of 18 are not considered capable of providing full, free and informed consent. It reaffirmed its interpretation in collaboration with other human rights bodies that legal adulthood and marital consent cannot be inferred from biological puberty alone.
The controversial Decree No.18 (2026), issued by Afghanistan’s de facto authorities, reportedly introduces legal distinctions based on puberty and states that a girl’s silence after reaching puberty may be interpreted as consent to marriage. The committee said this approach directly contradicts the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strips girls of legal protection at a critical stage of vulnerability.
The committee stressed that puberty cannot be used as a legal benchmark for adulthood or marital consent, warning that such provisions are fundamentally incompatible with international child protection standards. It further stated that child marriage exposes girls to heightened risks of violence, exploitation, early pregnancy, interrupted education, and long-term physical and psychological harm, with consequences that often last a lifetime.
In its statement, the committee said any legal framework that normalises or enables child marriage violates children’s rights and erodes their dignity, autonomy, and future opportunities. It added that the implications of the decree are especially severe in a context where girls already face significant restrictions on access to education and public life.
The Afghanistan situation, according to the committee of 18 independent child rights experts, is further complicated by what it describes as a broader pattern of discriminatory measures, including restrictions on girls’ secondary and higher education. The experts warned that such policies have deprived millions of Afghan girls of their fundamental rights, deepened inequality, and increased long-term poverty risks across the country.
The committee called on Afghanistan’s de facto authorities to immediately repeal all measures that violate children’s rights, explicitly prohibit child marriage, and restore full access to education, protection, equality, and participation for girls. It urged compliance with obligations under international human rights law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, reinforcing that children’s rights must be upheld without exception.
