The latest report from the UN Human Rights Office, “No Safe Haven,” confirms what Afghan communities, civil society organisations, and returnees have been warning for months: Afghans deported from neighbouring countries are being returned to danger, not dignity.
Over 3,000 individuals deported from Pakistan and Iran between September 2023 and May 2024 were interviewed. Their testimonies are harrowing. Returnees described being arrested, tortured, and detained by Taliban authorities—some without ever facing a trial. Many were accused of spying or working for foreign governments simply for having sought refuge abroad.
Women and girls, particularly those who fled due to gender-based persecution, are returning to a country where education, employment, and mobility are denied to them. Many fear retribution for having crossed international borders without male guardians—an act now criminalised under Taliban-imposed interpretations of Sharia.
Darius Nasimi from the Afghanistan and Central Asian Association (ACAA), a British charity supporting refugees in the UK and Afghans back home, said:
“Afghans are being deported to a land where the current de-facto authority the Taliban can neither protect nor provide for them. Afghanistan is already facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with over two-thirds of the population in need of aid. There is no infrastructure to absorb this scale of return. Aid budgets are overstretched, health services are crumbling, and humanitarian funding has plummeted due to global donor fatigue, US aid freezes, and shifting international priorities. Meanwhile, local charities, like the ACAA are already facing face mounting demands with limited financial resources.”
On behalf of the Afghanistan and Central Asian Association (ACAA), Darius calls for:
• Expanding humanitarian pathways, protection measures, and resettlement schemes for at-risk Afghans, particularly women and girls.
• Direct funding to Afghan-led organisations—like ACAA and its partners—that are providing life-saving support to returnees and refugees, including shelter, legal aid, psychosocial care, and integration programmes.
• Support from the public to Afghan-led charities and diaspora organisations like the ACAA by donating, volunteering, and amplifying their work.
As an organisation with over 25 years’ experience supporting refugees, we reaffirm our commitment to protecting the rights, safety, and dignity of all Afghans—wherever they are forced to flee, and wherever they are forced to return.