UNITED NATIONS, Geneva — United Nations human rights experts on Friday urged Iran, Pakistan and other countries to immediately stop deporting Afghan migrants and refugees, warning that Afghanistan remains unsafe nearly four years after the Taliban’s return to power.
More than 1.9 million Afghans have returned or been forced back from Iran and Pakistan so far in 2025, the experts said. That includes more than 1.5 million from Iran and more than 300,000 from Pakistan, among them thousands of unaccompanied children. At least 410,000 have been deported from Iran since June 24 alone.
Afghans have lived in large numbers in Iran and Pakistan for decades, with waves of refugees fleeing war and repression since the Soviet invasion in 1979 and the years of civil war that followed. Many work in low‑wage sectors such as construction, agriculture and domestic labor, often without legal documentation and with limited access to education or health care.
After the Taliban seized control of Kabul in August 2021, the number of people seeking refuge across the borders surged. According to UNHCR, millions of Afghans remain in Iran and Pakistan, making those two countries home to some of the largest refugee populations in the world.
The experts said conditions inside Afghanistan have sharply deteriorated since the Taliban seized power, with widespread rights violations and little protection for vulnerable groups. “Afghanistan is not a safe country for returnees,” they said. “Those forced to return face real risks of persecution, threats and violent reprisals.”
They noted that women and girls are systematically denied basic rights under Taliban rule, barred from most education and public employment. Former officials, journalists, human rights defenders and members of ethnic and religious minorities are especially vulnerable to arbitrary detention and violence.
The experts warned that such mass returns may violate international law, including the principle of non‑refoulement, which prohibits sending people back to places where they face persecution. They called on governments to expand resettlement programs, create more safe pathways to third countries and provide funding to humanitarian agencies assisting returnees, as Afghanistan continues to face one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
