Pakistan’s forced expulsion of Afghan refugees: exacerbating risks of persecution for Afghan women, girls, and gender non-conforming people
Authors: Mursel Sabir, Arash Azizzada, Nelowfar Ahmadi
Submission on access to justice and protection for women and girls for the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan
Pakistan’s forced expulsion of Afghan refugees: exacerbating risks of persecution for Afghan women, girls, and gender non-conforming people
Introduction
Since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, the widespread violations of human rights, particularly education and gender rights, has forced thousands of Afghan families to seek refuge in neighboring Pakistan. These families join the population of millions of Afghan-refugees who’ve sought refuge in Pakistan due to decades of ongoing political, economic, and social instability in Afghanistan.
The Government of Pakistan continues to commence a series of forced, unlawful expulsions targeting Afghans living in Pakistan with Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) in addition to undocumented Afghans. Beginning on 1st November 2023, the Interim Government of Pakistan began arbitrary detainment and expulsion of Afghans across Pakistan, citing “security concerns” over its decision to unjustly target regular Afghan civilians. Since then, about 845,000 Afghans have been expelled from the country with three million Afghans remaining in Pakistan. The exact numbers are difficult to ascertain, and do not account for the thousands of families who have become internally displaced, and are now in hiding from police raids across the country. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) over 250,000 Afghans returned in April 2025 alone, with 96,000 forcibly deported by the Government of Pakistan.
With the rapid rate of returns, the border and areas of Afghanistan face an overwhelming need to resettle vulnerable Afghans now facing hardship under the rule of the de facto Taliban regime. These series of expulsions raise the risk of persecution of Afghan women and girls, particularly those of Hazara ethnic background and from marginalized religious backgrounds.
About the Organization
Afghans For A Better Tomorrow (AFBT) is a grassroots, community-led Afghan advocacy organization with the aim of organizing our communities to ensure Afghans can lead lives of dignity, safety and freedom in the U.S. and elsewhere. Our focus areas are immigration, gender apartheid and peacebuilding. We were founded ahead of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and took part in advocacy to ensure women were at the negotiating table in Doha between the U.S. and the Taliban. Since then, our organization has welcomed close to 1,400 Afghans in the U.S., including vulnerable Afghan women and girls who were victims of the Taliban’s gender persecution in Afghanistan.
The Issue
The deterioration of security and safety for Afghan refugees in Pakistan, looming under the shadow of systematic-wide human rights violations in Afghanistan, prevents Afghans, particularly women, girls, gender nonconforming persons, and those from historically persecuted ethnic and religious identities, from accessing justice and protection. The inability for Afghans to seek justice for forced expulsion, arbitrary detention and arrests, theft of property and livelihoods, and violations of protections safeguarded under international law, is gravely concerning and requires international intervention.
Yet, the international community continues to fail Afghans on two fronts: from the lack of meaningful measures to hold perpetrators of crimes against humanity in Afghanistan accountable, and the lackluster response to the violations committed by the Government of Pakistan on the rights of Afghans in exile.
Case Studies
The following case studies and observations are presented in conjunction with the work of two organizations, Generation Outside Afghanistan (GOA) and Afghans Empowered. Generation Outside Afghanistan and Afghans Empowered are diaspora-led NGOs that provide direct support, technical assistance, and financial aid, as well as advocacy to protect the rights of Afghans in exile.
Afghans For A Better Tomorrow (AFBT) has summarized these case studies and data provided by the two organizations, in order to make an analysis of the policy requests necessary to address the larger systemic impacts exacerbating the conditions of the participants and clients served by GOA and Afghans Empowered. Certain identifying information is omitted to protect the communities served by the above-mentioned NGOs.
Hazara female-led households in Islamabad, Pakistan
Generation Outside Afghanistan (GOA)’s leadership and support for Hazara female-led households in Islamabad, Pakistan has uncovered a myriad of challenges that prevent these households from securing sustainable livelihoods, pursuing self sufficiency, and achieving protection from exploitation, expulsion, and persecution. GOA has supported over 900 Hazara-Afghan refugees, a majority of whom come from female-led, widowed households. Families are provided with housing assistance, legal aid, seed funding for microenterprises, and educational courses.
As both Hazara and women, the compounding demographics puts these households at exceptional risk in Afghanistan, where the Taliban and Daesh both have targeted Hazara communities. In addition, as widowed households with no maharam, or male guardians, these families will suffer tremendously in a country like Afghanistan where decrees forbid the freedom of movement, work, access to public life, and other rights for women, especially those without a male guardian.
While Pakistan has provided temporary refuge for the families, GOA reports that the Pakistan government’s deportations and expulsions have gravely worsened the conditions of the families they serve. These families have reported harassment, are forced to stop working, and their children are not attending schooling, due to the credible threats and fears of deportation and family separation. GOA reports significant barriers faced by their clients in the form of discrimination and extortion. Securing affordable, safe housing has been immensely difficult, with rental prices aggressively inflated for Afghan-refugees, at rates that are over 50% market value. Families are unable to report the exploitative housing practices used by Pakistani landlords to the relevant authorities as they fear retribution, and thus remain silent about the injustices they face. GOA and Afghans Empowered additionally report that exorbitant costs of visa renewals are a barrier to maintaining the protection of the families they serve. Organizations such as GOA and Afghans Empowered are only able to provide some financial relief for the legal fees for their clients, however they have to rely on providing assistance for the “most vulnerable” cases, despite all cases being considered as vulnerable.
The Pakistan government began deporting Afghan-refugees in late 2023, claiming to only target “undocumented” Afghan-refugees in the country. However, since the beginning of widespread deportations, all Afghan-refugees were targeted including those with valid visas, residency, and other identification documents. For Afghan-refugees without “legal documentation”, obtaining these documents has become a deliberate hurdle. The Pakistan Government has not permitted the renewal of the Afghan Citizen Cards since 2017, nor has UNHCR issued Proof of Registration cards since 2007 for Afghans to remain “lawfully registered”. Even more so, the registration and renewal process for lawful documentation is riddled with corruption, and high barriers of entry that has prevented many Afghans from accessing renewal of their documents . For example, GOA reports that although a regular visa costs $20, the Pakistani authorities only accept visa applications through agencies forcing vulnerable refugees, attempting to save themselves, to pay anywhere from $700 to $1,500 to renew their visas. Recently, the 3-month medical and the 6-month tourist visa renewals cost $20 but now all visas must be renewed monthly, making it difficult for families to manage renewing their documents on time, thus remaining in the country undocumented and their deportation easily justified.
In addition, GOA reports that they have received dozens of reports of rape and sexual assault in Islamabad, with no trustworthy authority available to file charges for these crimes. Fear of government authorities prevents women and girls who are victims of sexual crimes from seeking justice, medical care, and other critical support as these institutions are complicit with the order to identify and expel Afghan-refugees. These victims remain unprotected and their perpetrators are afforded practical immunity from facing justice for their heinous crimes. Deportation to Afghanistan additionally puts women, girls, and gender nonconforming persons at risk of being victims of sexual crimes, forced marriages, and gender-based violence in Afghanistan.
Education center in Quetta, Pakistan
GOA and Afghans Empowered reports that waves of systematic deportation have significantly impacted the attendance of school children at the Ofoq Education center in Quetta, Pakistan, a space that provides K-12 curriculum to hundreds of students, including Afghan girls who would otherwise be barred from education above the 6th grade if they lived in Afghanistan. Dozens of families have moved away from city hubs to avoid detection and deportation, while the education center itself was moved this year to protect the students and their families from police raids.
Pakistan’s forced expulsion impacts the right and access to education especially when these rights are already stripped for Afghan women and girls in Afghanistan. Justice has yet to be served in the form of meaningful policy changes and international action to address the Taliban’s crackdown on girls and women’s education. Now, inaction prevents women and girls, who’ve fled Afghanistan in search of safety and to pursue their education rights from doing so while in Pakistan as the government seeks to deport them back to the country they’ve fled.
Deportation of Afghan women rights activists
In January 2025, GOA and Afghans Empowered responded to an alarming case of forced deportation of Afghan women rights activists. An organization named Window of Hope Women’s Movement sent out a public letter urging support and assistance in response to the expulsion of Afghan women and girls, including two Afghan women rights activists who fled Afghanistan following arbitrary detainment and torture by Taliban officials for their acts of civil disobedience against the discriminatory decrees issued by the Ministry of Vice and Virtue. The two women were rounded up by Pakistan authorities and forcefully expelled to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, alongside countless other vulnerable individuals. Window of Hope Women’s Movement reported that since their team members’ deportation from Pakistan back to Afghanistan in January 2025, they were not able to get in contact with their colleagues. The whereabouts of these women is still unknown, signifying an alarming trend in the inability to seek proper justice and accountability for these women, and to guarantee their protections. These women face severe violence and threats in their own country, and their forced return to Afghanistan greatly endangers their lives and safety.
Funding Cuts
GOA and Afghans Empowered report drastic funding cuts from US originated funding sources since US President Donald Trump’s issuance of executive orders indefinitely shutting down foreign aid. The organizations report a significant reduction in funding resources earmarked for refugee populations, humanitarian aid, and education, specifically in countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. Such severe reductions of financial support threaten the work carried out by NGOs providing critical protections, advocacy, direct services, and opportunities for vulnerable Afghan refugees, especially women and girls of ethnic and religious minority backgrounds.
Funding issues disproportionately impact Afghan women and girls from accessing institutions for justice and protection in Pakistan due to the threats they face by its government. Without programmatic services such as accompaniment and case management, many women and girls who are in need of assistance to obtain housing, legal documents, seek medical care, settle domestic matters, report crimes, and find employment, will be unable to do so in a safe, and protected manner if the programs are shut down due to funding constraints.
Advocacy efforts and responses
On July 31, 2024, AFBT, along with dozens of civil society organizations and human rights groups, met with Mr. Jan Hofmokl, Head of Division for ASIAPAC 2 at the EU’s External Action Service to discuss the situation of Pakistan’s expulsion of Afghan refugees. Mr. Hofmokl received credible testimony and ground reports of violations committed by Pakistan officials, and was inquired about the EU’s plans to advocate for protection and justice for Afghan refugees. This meeting followed an open letter addressed to the European Commission in response to Pakistan’s egregious violations of human rights via forced expulsion and deportation of Afghan refugees in 2024.
An official response was received by the European Commission in late May 2024, acknowledging the Commission’s monitoring of the human rights situation, and acknowledgement of the concerning situation regarding the Pakistan’s government to deport Afghan-refugees. While the EU’s response to our organization sought to provide reassurance, the ground realities have proven that the lack of sufficient response has clearly failed to prevent the subsequent +850,000 Afghan refugees, as documented by the UN. The EC, UNHCR, and other multilateral institutions have so far largely only performed monitoring and evaluation duties, with some humanitarian assistance for Afghan returnees. Yet, these organizations have not been able to influence meaningful, long term policy changes to compel Pakistan’s government to adhere to international human rights law.
Although the European Commission says it is gravely concerned about the situation of women and girls’ rights in Afghanistan, Afghan girls and women deported from Pakistan will now lose access to their right to education as the Taliban continue to wage war against women’s and girls’ rights. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, a partner of the European Commissions’ Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, Afghan returnees, especially female-led households, face many difficulties such as humanitarian aid needs, and work opportunities. AFBT continues to use its advocacy efforts to sound the alarm on this situation, seeking to hold policymakers accountable to their commitments to protect the rights of Afghan women and girls.
Analysis and Conclusion
The situation of Afghans in exile, particularly those with intersectional gender and racial identities, is gravely concerning. Pakistan’s continued deportation of vulnerable Afghan-refugees amounts to a death sentence for women, girls, and gender nonconforming persons who are forced to return to Afghanistan where their rights are not protected. Furthermore, international inaction to respond to Pakistan’s unlawful deportations robs vulnerable Afghan-refugees from accessing justice and seeking protection. The Pakistan government must be held accountable for its unlawful, abusive, and exploitative treatment of Afghan-refugees. Afghan organizations, activists, civil society leaders, and practitioners, urge the UN Human Rights Council to act quickly to protect and safeguard the rights of Afghans in exile, particularly Afghan women, girls, and gender nonconforming persons.
This report makes the following requests to the relevant authorities and international bodies:
Urge Pakistan to halt its violation of international law regarding the principle of non-refoulement for its unlawful expulsions of Afghans from Pakistan, as documented previously by the United Nations Special Rapporteurs; and pursue international action at the UN level against Pakistan for these actions;
Provide asylum and secure housing for Afghan refugees who are under threat and violence, especially women, girls, and gender nonconforming persons
Strengthen international oversight of Pakistan's immigration policies to protect the rights of Afghan refugees.
Collaborate with humanitarian and relief organizations to provide immediate and emergency support to refugees forcibly returned to Afghanistan, especially women and girls in critical conditions.
Urgently compel Pakistan to work with UNHCR to provide registration documents for Afghan refugees in Pakistan as UNHCR is willing and ready to support mechanisms to undertake the registration process.
Enforce and strengthen the UN and its Member States’ commitment to protecting Afghans at risk