UN Women in Afghanistan has warned that the Taliban’s newly promulgated penal code is tightening legal restrictions on women and girls and increasing the risk of violence against them.

The regulation, which has been in court since January, effectively removes the principle of equality between men and women under the law and elevates the husband’s position in the legal framework of the family, according to a statement from the organization. Only “serious bodily harm” is prosecutable in marriage, and other forms of violence, including psychological and sexual violence, are not explicitly prohibited.

The UN representative, Susan Ferguson, stressed that the new structure makes it extremely difficult for women to access justice; women are forced to appear before a male judge and in the presence of a male guardian, even if he is the accused, to prove their violence.