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As the Security Council met on Afghanistan, senior officials and civil society representatives delivered a clear warning Monday: despite relative security under the Taliban, worsening humanitarian conditions, restrictions on women and growing economic pressures are creating a fragile and uncertain future. <\/p>\n
Georgette Gagnon, UN Deputy Special Representative currently leading the UN mission, UNAMA, reflected on recent visits across the country and said communities repeatedly described mounting hardship.<\/p>\n
Ms. Gagnon noted that the country\u2019s de facto authorities have consolidated territorial and administrative control and currently face \u201cno meaningful armed or political challenge,\u201d but warned that this apparent stability masks deeper risks<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat exists is increasing control by the de facto authorities without a clear end-state,\u201d she told the Council. <\/p>\n She pointed to demographic and economic pressures as major concerns, noting that nearly 5.9 million Afghans have returned since 2023 and up to 2.8 million more could return this year<\/strong> despite limited opportunities and strained communities. <\/p>\n Afghanistan remains one of the world\u2019s largest humanitarian crises, with 21.9 million people requiring assistance in 2026. <\/p>\n The top official warned of \u201csevere and growing restrictions\u201d with long-term consequences when it comes to women and girls, noting that an estimated 3.8 million girls aged seven to 18 are out of school<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cEach year, approximately 250,000 more girls are permanently excluded from secondary education pathways, creating a lost generation of talent and potential<\/strong>,\u201d she said, adding that increasing restrictions have damaged Afghanistan\u2019s economy and weakened sectors such as health and education. <\/p>\n She also renewed calls for authorities to reverse restrictions affecting women, including the continued exclusion of Afghan female UN staff from UN premises.<\/p>\n Edem Wosornu, Director of OCHA\u2019s Crisis Response Division, warned that humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate under the combined pressures of conflict, hunger, climate shocks and underfunding.<\/p>\n \u201cAfghanistan remains one of the world\u2019s largest and most complex humanitarian crises,\u201d she said. \u201cNearly half the country needs help.\u201d <\/p>\n She reported that renewed fighting along the Afghanistan\u2013Pakistan border earlier this year displaced more than 100,000 people and left vulnerable communities cut off from assistance for weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cHunger is growing across Afghanistan<\/strong>,\u201d Wosornu said, noting that 4.7 million people now face severe food insecurity, 50 per cent more than at the same point last year, while 3.7 million children are suffering acute malnutrition. <\/p>\n She described reports of some families making desperate decisions to survive, including selling their own daughters<\/strong>, while restrictions on women continue to undermine humanitarian operations.<\/p>\n Civil society representative Metra Mehran, founder of the Afghanistan Justice Archive, described what she called a system of institutionalised gender oppression in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n \u201cSince August 2021, the Taliban have enacted over 230 decrees<\/strong>,\u201d she said, arguing that authorities have systematically stripped women and girls of basic rights including to education, employment, movement and participation in public life. \u201cThe Taliban have even criminalized women\u2019s voices and faces<\/strong>.\u201d <\/p>\n She highlighted a recently enacted Criminal Procedure Code that she said formalizes discrimination and legalises violence against women.<\/p>\n \u201cMen effectively own their wives,\u201d Ms. Mehran told the Council, warning that women resisting restrictions have faced arrests, violence and intimidation. <\/p>\n She also warned that states and international institutions have legal obligations under international law to act now.<\/p>\nStruggling women and girls <\/strong><\/h2>\n
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UN Photo\/Loey Felipe Edem Wosornu (on screen), Director of the Crisis Response Division of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, addresses the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Afghanistan. <\/p>\n\u2018Nearly half the country needs help\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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UN Photo\/Loey Felipe Metra Mehran, Founder of the Afghanistan Justice Archive, addresses the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Afghanistan. <\/p>\nInstitutionalised oppression<\/strong><\/h2>\n