Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, has warned that Afghanistan is facing the world’s most severe crisis of women’s rights.
Gumbonzvanda made the remarks at a meeting on women, peace and security, expressing concern over the restrictions imposed on women and girls in Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan, which today is facing the world’s most severe crisis of women’s rights, is denying girls an education that could transform their lives,” she said.
She also warned that wars have become more “deadly” for women and girls than ever before, and said the world must not remain indifferent to the rising number of civilian casualties and the suffering of women and girls.
The UN official said that more than 37,000 civilians were killed in armed conflicts last year, a quarter of them women and girls.
According to her, more than 750 million women and girls live within 50 kilometres of areas affected by active conflict, and at least 25 women and girls are killed every day.
The Deputy Executive Director of UN Women said that war has also seriously jeopardised women’s access to healthcare and pregnancy and childbirth services.
Referring to the situation in Gaza, she said that the destruction of hospitals and maternity centres, and disruption to access to essential supplies, had been accompanied by a 41 per cent decline in live births and a 300 per cent increase in miscarriages.
Gumbonzvanda also expressed concern over the rise in conflict-related sexual violence, saying that the United Nations documented 9,788 cases of such violence in 2025.
The UN official called for women to be included in all peace negotiations as decision-makers, and for funding to be provided to women’s organisations.
In Afghanistan, women and girls have been deprived of the right to education, employment, participation in public life and many other fundamental rights.
