UNHCR: Afghan Girls Face Increasing Threats After Forced Return to the Country

Photo: Wakil Kohsar / AFP via Al-Monitor

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has stated that Afghan girls recently deported from Iran and Pakistan are facing increasing dangers inside Afghanistan.

By sharing images of returned girls on the social media platform X, the agency warned that their dreams are at risk of being destroyed.

UNHCR says that in recent months, around two million Afghan migrants have been deported or forced to return from neighboring countries to a homeland already grappling with deep humanitarian crises, where girls are more at risk of threats and deprivation than others.

The organization has warned that many returnees suffer from severe psychological trauma caused by detention, separation from family, loss of property, and inhumane treatment experienced at the borders of Iran and Pakistan.

According to UNHCR’s report, women and girls who have returned face severe restrictions on rights, personal freedoms, and social participation in Afghanistan. Ethnic and religious minorities, human rights defenders, and journalists are also among the groups the agency says face even greater risks.

This international body, while reaffirming its continued support for returnees, has announced that its financial resources are limited and that it urgently needs support from the international community to continue delivering life-saving services.

The United Nations also emphasized that the mass return of migrants, alongside rising unemployment, natural disasters, and lack of service infrastructure, has further worsened Afghanistan’s humanitarian situation.

In recent months, Iran and Pakistan have forcibly returned hundreds of thousands of Afghan migrants, including women and girls, to a country where girls’ education is banned and the Taliban have deprived women of participation in most social, professional, and public spheres.