Kabul: The international community must provide greater support to Afghan women and girl returnees from Iran and Pakistan who face increased risk of impoverishment, early marriage, and growing threats to their rights and safety. UN Women, along with the international humanitarian agency CARE International and partners, issued this call in a report published on Thursday, highlighting the key challenges and needs of women aid workers assisting the returnees.
According to EMM, the Gender Alert comes amid a surge in returnees to Afghanistan, where the Taliban has ruled for four years, implementing numerous decrees that restrict women’s rights amid economic crisis, climate shocks, and immense humanitarian needs. Like all women and girls in Afghanistan, the returnees face increased risks of poverty, early marriage, violence, exploitation, and unprecedented restrictions on their rights, movements, and freedoms.
Vulnerable women and girls arriving with nothing into communities that are already stretched to breaking point puts them at even greater risk, stated Susan Ferguson, UN Women Special Representative in the country. She emphasized the urgent need for safe and affordable shelter, livelihood support, and girls’ education. The report reveals that only 10 percent of women-headed households live in permanent shelter, nearly four in 10 fear eviction, and all girls are banned from attending secondary school.
Funding cuts and movement restrictions increasingly hamper the efforts of women humanitarian workers at border points. Women humanitarians are required to be accompanied by a male guardian, or mahram, when traveling. However, funding cuts have sharply eroded staff mahram support in the provinces of Kandahar and Nangarhar, leaving provision inconsistent, delayed, or absent altogether.
Graham Davison, CARE Afghanistan Director, highlighted the urgent need for support to provide basic services, safe spaces, and protection for women and girl returnees. He noted that Afghanistan is already facing one of the world’s most dire humanitarian crises, driven by decades of conflict, poverty, and natural disasters. The partners have urged the international community to act now to protect the rights of Afghan women and girls and to invest in the women humanitarians who support them.
Separately, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has also called for international support as Afghanistan confronts one of the largest return movements in recent history. Returnee numbers are on track to increase as one million more Afghans are expected to return from Pakistan following the Government’s decision not to extend their stay. IOM operates four reception centers at major border crossings in Afghanistan and is appealing for additional funding to scale up its response to address growing needs at the borders and in areas of return.