The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) urgently seeks funding to protect over 1.5 million people who have returned or been forced to return to Afghanistan this year, including over 1.2 million from Iran. Separately, the World Health Organization (WHO) in Afghanistan has expressed concern about the health needs of Afghan returnees, particularly women and children.
Since June of this year, arrivals from Iran have picked up, with more than 600,000 arriving since the beginning of June. The daily number of returns from Iran has risen significantly since mid-June, with the highest number recorded on Friday, when over 50,000 people returned. Most are families with children who have never before set foot in Afghanistan.
“This is a stark increase from the January to June average of 5,000 arrivals per day. From Pakistan, we saw a rapid increase in numbers in April, with nearly 150,000 people returning that month,” said Babar Baloch, UNHCR spokesperson, on Tuesday in Geneva, noting that an estimated one million more people could return by the end of the year.
“Our teams are at the borders, receiving and assisting streams of exhausted, hungry, and scared people every day. Staff and structures are absolutely inundated.”
UNHCR has deployed additional staff and is providing essential relief items, hot meals, and emergency financial assistance to help meet urgent needs.
“But amid funding constraints, and given the scale and pace of returns, we will not be able to sustain support for more than a few weeks,” Baloch said.
In response to questions, he said that many returnees had reported experiencing detention and harassment. He added that many returnees were urban residents, and the large number of returnees was making the situation chaotic.
UNHCR is concerned that returns are happening under extremely difficult conditions and that many are not voluntary.
“Many people who returned said that they felt compelled to leave, as they saw fellow Afghans being deported. Returnees who arrived in Afghanistan in recent months have been sharing concerning stories of increased restrictions, harassment and discrimination,” the UNHCR spokesperson said.
“This is part of a broader, worrying regional trend. Refugee-hosting countries have issued return orders with deadlines for Afghans to depart, or face deportation. Since these announcements, the situation for Afghans in bordering countries has deteriorated quickly.”
Baloch warned that the psychological scars would stay with the Afghans who had been forced to return. Family separation is a major concern for returnees. Forty-one percent of returnees who spoke with UNHCR mentioned family separation, and the future of returnees’ children is also a major concern.
The UN agency urges countries in the region to ensure that returns to Afghanistan are voluntary, safe, and dignified. Forcing or pressuring Afghans to return risks further instability in the region, with potential onward movement towards Europe.
UNHCR calls on the international community to urgently and substantially increase funding to meet critical needs upon arrival and provide long-term assistance to help returnees settle in Afghanistan. Its response in Afghanistan this year is only 28 percent funded out of the required US$216 million.
“The global community must not turn away from the people of Afghanistan at this pivotal time, and should stand with them to restore hope, and give them a fighting chance of recovery, stability and prosperity,” Baloch said.
In a separate statement on Tuesday, the WHO in Afghanistan said that returnees, including pregnant women, mothers with infants, and unaccompanied children, arrived with little more than they could carry. Many of them were in desperate need of medical care, food, and shelter.
WHO-supported health teams have seen a surge in wounds, infections, dehydration, and undernutrition, particularly among children and the elderly. According to the UN health agency, more than 84,000 people have received basic health services at border crossings and reception centers with WHO support.
“We are challenged by the number of mothers, children and elderly persons returning to uncertainty, often unwell and unsupported,” said WHO Representative in Afghanistan Edwin Ceniza Salvador.
“We are doing everything we can, but the scale of need is growing fast. Without urgent support, we risk losing the ability to respond where it matters most.”
To date, WHO has deployed 17 mobile health teams and several prefabricated health clinics in high-flow areas. Screening teams have checked over 39,000 individuals for signs of illness. The most pressing needs are basic care, safe deliveries, support for maternal and child health, mental health and psychosocial support services, access to clean water, and essential medicines.
As hundreds of thousands of Afghans are forced to return from neighboring countries and the global humanitarian funding crisis takes a heavy toll on the country, the prospect of an even deeper humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan looms large.
Millions of Afghans, especially children and women, continue to struggle to survive amid one of the world's largest and most overlooked humanitarian crises. The United Nations estimates that 22.9 million people, including 12.3 million children, will require humanitarian assistance and protection in 2025.
Humanitarian needs remain severe throughout Afghanistan due to the cumulative effects of violent conflict, displacement, drought, and other natural disasters. Aid agencies and human rights groups are particularly concerned about the fate of women and girls, who face increasing restrictions on access to employment, education, and freedom of movement under Taliban rule.
Since the Taliban regained power in August 2021, Afghanistan has been in the midst of a major human rights crisis. The de facto authorities have targeted the rights of women and girls by excluding them from public and political life, economic activity, and education — further exacerbating the humanitarian situation of the female population.
The Taliban government is not officially recognized by any other country except Russia, and the UN has repeatedly rejected requests by Afghanistan's de facto authorities to represent the country internationally, largely due to its violations of women's rights.
On Tuesday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced that it had issued arrest warrants for Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban's supreme leader, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the Taliban's chief justice. They are accused of crimes against humanity for the widespread persecution of the country's female population.
The Pre-Trial Chamber judges found reasonable grounds to believe that Akhundzada and Haqqani committed the crime of persecution against girls, women, and other individuals who do not conform to the Taliban's gender policies, as well as against individuals perceived as "allies of girls and women".
In a related development, on Monday, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on Afghanistan to uphold human rights and adhere to international law amid the worsening humanitarian crisis, the rising numbers of returnees, and the enduring impact of decades of conflict.
The resolution was adopted by a recorded vote of 116 in favor to 2 against (with Israel and the United States voting no), and 12 abstentions. The 193-member body had previously adopted a similar resolution in 2022.
Among others, the Assembly expressed “its serious concern about the grave, worsening, widespread and systematic oppression of all women and girls in Afghanistan by the Taliban, which […] has put in place an institutionalized system of discrimination, segregation, disrespect for human dignity and the exclusion of women and girls”, while recalling the obligations of Afghanistan under international law, in particular human rights, refugee and international humanitarian law.