Taliban leaders in Afghanistan have banned women’s voices and bare faces in public, following new laws approved by the supreme leader in an effort to combat vice and promote virtue.

The laws were enacted on Wednesday after they were approved by Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, a government spokesman said. The Taliban had set up a ministry for the “spreading of virtue and prevention of vice” after seizing power in 2021.

The ministry on Wednesday published the virtue and vice laws covering aspects of daily life such as public transport, music, shaving and parties.

They are laid out in a 114-page, 35-article document seen by The Associated Press, the first formal statement of vice and virtue laws in Afghanistan since the takeover.

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“Inshallah we assure you that this Islamic law will be of great help in promoting virtue and eradicating vice,” ministry spokesman Maulvi Abdul Ghafar Farooq said on Thursday.

The laws give the ministry the authority to take the lead in regulating individual behavior, imposing penalties in the form of warnings or arrests if law enforcement officials allege that Afghans have broken the laws.

Article 13 concerns women. It states that it is obligatory for a woman to cover her body at all times in public and that a face covering is essential to prevent seduction and the temptation of others. Clothing must not be thin, tight or short.

Taliban fighters celebrate the third anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from Afghanistan, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)

Women are required to cover themselves from non-Muslim men and women to avoid being corrupted. A woman’s voice is considered intimate and should not be heard singing, reciting or reading aloud in public. It is forbidden for women to look at men to whom they are not related by blood or marriage and vice versa.

Article 17 prohibits the publication of images of living beings, posing a threat to Afghanistan’s already fragile media landscape.

Article 19 prohibits playing music, carrying single women and mixing men and women who are not related. The law also requires passengers and drivers to pray at certain times.

According to the ministry’s website, promoting virtue includes prayer, aligning Muslims’ character and behavior with Islamic law, encouraging women to wear hijab, and calling on people to adhere to the five pillars of Islam. It also says that eliminating vice involves prohibiting people from doing things that are forbidden by Islamic law.

Last month, a UN report said the ministry contributed to a climate of fear and intimidation among Afghans through its edicts and the methods used to enforce them.

The ministry’s role was said to be expanding to other areas of public life, including media monitoring and eradicating drug addiction.

“Given the many problems outlined in the report, the de facto authorities’ position that this surveillance will increase and expand is of grave concern to all Afghans, particularly women and girls,” said Fiona Frazer, the head of human rights at the UN mission in Afghanistan.

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The Taliban rejected the UN report.