Shiite Personal Status Law [Afghanistan]

This controversial Shia personal status law, published in the country’s official Gazette (Gazette 988), regulates the personal affairs of Afghanistan’s Shia population. It regulates divorce and separation, inheritance, and age of marriage. The law is regarded as being very repressive towards women.  Many human rights activists believe it violates Article 22 of Afghanistan’s constitution which states: “The citizens of Afghanistan – whether man or woman – have equal rights and duties before the law.”

An unofficial translation of this law done for United States Agency for International Development (USAID) by the staff of USAID’s Afghanistan Rule of Law Project (ARoLP) is available in link below. The official authoritative text of the law of Afghanistan can only be found in the original and official printed publications of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) in their respective Dari and Pashto versions. The validity, enforceability or legal effect of the law is solely determined by the GIRoA through its ministries, agencies and courts.