Gender Alert — Decree No. 18 – Code of Principles on Separation of Spouses

On 14 May 2026, the de facto authorities (DFA) of Afghanistan published Decree No. 18 on Judicial Separation of Spouses. The Decree regulates the conditions under which a marriage may be annulled or judicially dissolved. This Gender Alert reviews the key provisions of Decree No. 18 and explores how they may be interpreted, applied, and enforced in practice. The Alert also examines the short and long-term implications of the decree for the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, their access to justice, and equality before the law.

The Alert finds that Decree no. 18 establishes judicial pathways that are disproportionately complex and restrictive for women and girls seeking to leave a marriage, while preserving men's unilateral right to divorce. Under several of its provisions, a woman cannot obtain judicial separation without her husband's consent, and the decree implicitly permits the marriage of prepubescent children. Introduced in a context of widespread hardship and where women's access to protection and resolution mechanisms has been substantially diminished, the decree risks binding many Afghan women and girls to marriages without their free and full consent.