Published on: 2026-09-09
Source: United Nations – United Nations –
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September 9, 2026 Human Rights
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned a number of repressive restrictions imposed in Afghanistan and called for pressure on the country’s de facto authorities to comply with international obligations.
Tightening of repressions
“Today the situation of people in Afghanistan is worsening day by day,” said Volker Türck. “Millions are plunged into poverty, respect for basic human rights continues to decline, while hundreds of thousands of people are returning [to the country] against their will.”
According to the High Commissioner, the de facto authorities of Afghanistan are tightening repressive measures with each passing month.
“It seems that the world has abandoned the people of Afghanistan, leaving them alone with their troubles, which worsen with each passing day,” noted Volker Türk. “The silence is deafening.”
The UN chief human rights official expressed regret over the restrictions that seriously undermine Afghan women’s access to education and employment, limit their freedom of movement and participation in public life, and exclude them from any public decision-making structures.
Violations of women’s rights
New decrees issued by the de facto authorities this year, continued by Turk, make it harder for women to dissolve marriages and effectively allow child marriages and violence against women and children. A year ago, the Taliban banned Afghan women, including UN staff, from entering United Nations premises across the country. Since 2021, about 2.2 million Afghan girls and women have been deprived of access to secondary and higher education.
“The systematic exclusion of women and girls from public life is an unacceptable human rights violation that has been normalized and de facto institutionalized by the authorities,” the High Commissioner stated. “Such restrictions imposed on women and girls essentially represent gender apartheid and cannot exist in any society.”
According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Afghan women and men are regularly detained by representatives of the “Department for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice” for violations of instructions regarding clothing, beard length, playing musical instruments, or listening to music. In the first half of this year, at least 449 men and women were subjected to corporal punishment for such “offenses.”
Pressure on the press
Afghan media, Volker Turk noted, continue to operate under censorship and other forms of pressure. They are prohibited from broadcasting and publishing materials that the authorities de facto consider “contradictory to Afghan culture” or their rules. Arrests of journalists and closures of media outlets continue.
Forced returns
Despite the “horrifying backdrop of human rights violations,” forced returns to Afghanistan continue, the High Commissioner stated. According to the UN, more than 400,000 Afghans have been forcibly returned to the country, mainly from Iran and Pakistan.
“Many of these people are forced to go to a country they have never been to, where they face deep poverty, a shortage of food, clean water, lack of access to medical care, education, and employment,” Turk emphasized, reminding that 21.9 million Afghans – about 45 percent of the country’s population – are in need of humanitarian aid.
“Those who wield influence in the region must stand up for the equality and dignity of all Afghans,” concluded the High Commissioner. “Wherever we live, these principles remain inviolable.”
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