UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called Tuesday for the Taliban’s recently enacted “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” law in Afghanistan to be repealed.

A spokesperson for Türk, Ravina Shamdasani, condemned the new law as “utterly intolerable,” demanding, “[w]e call on the de facto authorities to immediately repeal this legislation, which is in clear violation of Afghanistan’s obligations under international law.”

The newly-adopted Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice law is composed of 35 articles and was ratified by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. The press briefing notes, “[t]he long list of repressive provisions that this law imposes on women reinforces a number of existing restrictions that violate their fundamental human rights, including their freedom of movement, their freedom of expression, and their right to life free from discrimination.”

Among the extensive list of provisions, the legislation mandates that women completely cover their bodies, including their faces in public, prohibits hearing women’s voices in public and imposes further restrictions to their freedom of movement. The Taliban, in Article 13 of the law, require women to completely conceal their bodies due to “the fear of temptation” and classify women’s voices as “awrah” (intimate parts) when heard through loudspeakers, in chants, singing and recitations. The law also imposes restrictions on men’s clothing and appearances. Several provisions in the law are vaguely defined.

Rejecting concerns and objections raised by the UN, a spokesperson for the Taliban’s government has defended the law, urging a more thorough understanding from critics.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has denounced the repressive limitations as they “attack women’s personhood and autonomy, contributing to their further erasure from society,” further denouncing the law for “reducing their voices and bodies to things and sources of sin is an egregious act of sexualization and objectifying women.” HRW champions the resistance of Afghan women in defying the ban, noting that “[s]ome women inside Afghanistan posted videos of them singing. Others gathered in parks outside the country singing about fiefdom and women’s resistance.”

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights warns, “disempowering and rendering invisible and voiceless half the population of Afghanistan will only worsen the human rights and humanitarian crisis in the country.” The press briefing states: “This is a time to bring together all the people of Afghanistan, irrespective of their gender, religion or ethnicity, to help resolve the many challenges the country faces.”