Afghan women’s rights activists are warning that a growing number of returning Afghan women face immediate danger, as systematic repression under Taliban rule intensifies and deportations from neighboring countries continue unchecked.
In a meeting held Sunday in Ankara with UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett, activists urged the United Nations to scale up independent monitoring of human rights violations in Afghanistan, particularly those targeting women and girls. They cited a sharp increase in domestic violence, forced and child marriages, harassment, arbitrary detentions, and even torture since the Taliban’s return to power.
Their concern now extends beyond those still inside Afghanistan: the recent surge in deportations from Iran, Pakistan, and Türkiye is pushing vulnerable women directly back into the hands of a regime that has stripped them of nearly all basic rights.
“Returning women are being sent back into a legal black hole, no rights, no protection, no voice,” one activist said. “Deportation has become a death sentence in slow motion for many of them.”
UN Rapporteur Bennett has previously reported that families, many driven by poverty, have been forced to marry off daughters to avoid Taliban demands or forced unions. He’s described women’s reality in Afghanistan as defined by “multiple layers of gender and ethnic discrimination.”
The activists, operating from outside Afghanistan due to threats and exile, demanded that the UN not only expand its documentation of abuses but also push for international accountability. Without real pressure, they warned, the Taliban’s repressive policies will only deepen, especially against women who speak out, or worse, return.
