Afghan women and girls face increased risks of poverty, early marriage, harassment and exploitation amid a surge in returns to the country
In a new report, UN Women, CARE International and partners urge long-term support for women and girls.
Kabul, 7 August – Afghan women and girl returnees from Iran and Pakistan urgently need immediate humanitarian assistance and sustained support to rebuild their lives in communities already under severe economic and environmental pressure, UN Women and CARE have warned.
Since September 2023, more than 2.43 million undocumented Afghans have returned – many forcibly – from Iran and Pakistan. Women and girls represent one-third of returnees from Iran so far in 2025, and about half of all returnees from Pakistan.
Many return to a country they have never lived in, arriving with no home, no income and no access to education or healthcare. Afghanistan is already facing an economic crisis and climate shocks. Like all women and girls in Afghanistan, returnee women and girls 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,” said UN Women Afghanistan Special Representative Susan Ferguson. “They are determined to rebuild with dignity, but we need more funding to provide the dedicated support they need and to ensure women humanitarian workers are there to reach them.”
The new report from the Afghanistan Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group – a humanitarian working group co-chaired by UN Women and CARE International – highlights the urgent and long-term needs of these women and girls:
- Safe and affordable shelter, livelihoods and girls’ education are what women most frequently name as immediate needs. Only 10 per cent of women-headed households live in a permanent shelter, while nearly four in ten fear eviction.
- Women-headed households and single women face some of the greatest barriers to access humanitarian assistance due to movement restrictions, safety risks and lack of documentation.
- Girls are losing access to education as all girls are banned from secondary school in Afghanistan.
- Women humanitarian workers at the border are critical to reaching women and girls. But their work is increasingly limited by foreign aid cuts and movement restrictions.
Massive cuts in international funding have severely weakened the capacity of humanitarian organizations to respond. At border crossings, women humanitarian workers report being overwhelmed by the volume of arrivals and being unable to meet even their basic needs.
“Witnessing the volume of arrivals and the hardship faced by women, children and families – many distressed, disoriented and without hope – has left a deep impact on all of us responding to this crisis,” said Graham Davison, CARE Afghanistan Director. “This is what our teams on the ground are seeing every day. We urgently need support to provide basic services, safe spaces and protection for returnee women and girls.”
Afghanistan is already facing one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises, driven by decades of conflict, poverty and natural disasters. The latest wave of returns threatens to push already fragile communities even further into crisis.
We urge the international community to act now – protect the rights of Afghan women and girls and invest in the women humanitarians who work tirelessly on the frontlines to support them.
