The United Nations Women’s section in Afghanistan has recently described the situation of women and girls returning from Iran and Pakistan as critical.
In a report titled “Gender Alert” published on its official X account, the organization stated that women and girls made up nearly one-third of returnees from Iran in 2025 and about half of those returning from Pakistan.
It is worth noting that women and children are among the most vulnerable groups among the deportees. The UN has called this crisis a “test of our collective humanity” and urged the international community to increase funding to support returning women and girls.
Part of the report highlights that since September 2023, over 2.43 million undocumented Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan, with more than 1.1 million of them coming from Iran just in the current year.
Meanwhile, upon returning to Afghanistan, women face widespread restrictions such as bans on education, denial of the right to work, and gender-based discrimination, making their situation extremely fragile and vulnerable.
These deportations have intensified following the Iran-Israel war, while Afghanistan is already facing a severe human rights and humanitarian crisis. Many deportees — including women, journalists, and human rights defenders — are at real risk of human rights violations.
