Afghanistan’s worsening humanitarian crisis is being driven by the accelerating erosion of fundamental rights – especially for women and girls – alongside mass displacement, economic decline and shrinking aid, senior UN officials warned on Wednesday.

Briefing the [Security Council](https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/), Georgette Gagnon, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, and Tom Fletcher, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, said nearly half the population will need protection and humanitarian assistance in 2026.

**Women and girls remain “systematically excluded” from almost all aspects of public life,** Ms. Gagnon said, as the ban on secondary and higher education for girls has now entered its fourth year, depriving the country of future doctors, teachers and leaders.

“**Media freedom is increasingly restricted. Journalists face intimidation, detention and censorship, reducing the space for public debate and public participation,**” she added.

Afghans – both women and men – also face daily intrusions under the de facto authorities’ law on the “propagation of virtue and prevention of vice,” she added, describing a pattern of systematic interference in private life.

[Read The Full Article Here](https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/12/1166560)

Afghanistan’s crisis deepens as human rights recede and aid funding falls