Remarks by UN Women Afghanistan Special Representative, Susan Ferguson, at UN Headquarters in New York, speaking from Kabul.
For women and girls in Afghanistan, 2026 was already proving to be an extremely difficult year.
Now, with the conflict in the Middle East and on-going hostilities with Pakistan, many are facing even more trauma and hardship.
Just last night in Kabul, an airstrike by Pakistan military forces impacted a healthcare facility for the treatment of drug-addicted individuals, many of whom were killed and injured.
We join UNAMA in expressing our deepest condolences to the families of those who were killed.
Under international law, of course, attacks on hospitals and civilian facilities are strictly prohibited.
In eastern Afghanistan, women and children are paying a heavy price for the continuing violence.
Many of the 289 civilians killed or injured as of yesterday, before the Kabul bombing, as has been verified by UNAMA, have been women and children.
According to assessments in four of the most affected districts near the Pakistan border, at least 64,000 people have been affected by the military escalation – just over half of them women and girls.
This includes thousands of families who have been displaced yet again after living for six months in temporary camps following the August 2025 earthquake, and among them are women and girls who had already returned from Iran or Pakistan.
In other words, for many women, this is the second, or even third time they have been forced to flee in the past year.
Women report fearing violence or exploitation while on the move, and their access to basic services and livelihoods has once again been severely disrupted.
Initial assessments by the UN and partners show women’s most urgent needs are shelter, healthcare and clean water.
UN Women is working with partners to ensure women are included in assessment teams – so that women’s needs are understood – and to support access to services for women.
Women humanitarians on the frontlines are under enormous pressure, worrying about their own safety while also helping others.
We reiterate UNAMA’s calls for an immediate cessation in hostilities to prevent further loss of civilian life and for all parties to meet their obligations under international humanitarian law.
In western Afghanistan, we anticipate a sharp increase in Afghans returning from Iran in the coming weeks, including women travelling alone or with children.
Together with our sister agencies, including IOM, UN Women is prepared to deploy more women humanitarians at the border to help Afghan women returnees with registration and support services.
Because, in Afghanistan, there is no alternative: Services for women must be provided by women, or women don’t receive the service.
UN Women is mobilizing resources to expand cash support for women-headed households, provide well-being or dignity kits, and help women start small livelihood businesses.
We will also continue to support women-only safe spaces at the border and in communities where returnees and internally displaced people are settling.
But we urgently need more funding to meet these needs at this critical moment.
Beyond displacement, we are also alarmed about the economic impact of these conflicts.
Women and girls in Afghanistan simply cannot afford yet another economic shock.
More than 10.7 million women and girls were already expected to need humanitarian assistance this year.
Now, rising prices, linked to conflict in the region, will make it even harder for families – especially women-headed households – to afford food and other essentials.
As we know, all this is unfolding in a country where women are already facing the world’s most severe women’s rights crisis.
In one of the latest developments, Decree No. 12 on Criminal Rules of Courts formally removes equality between men and women before the law and authorizes violence against women by allowing punishments – including physical violence – to be carried out by husbands in the home.
It also makes it harder for women to seek protection or justice.
We are deeply concerned about this Decree and call on the de facto authorities to ensure that laws and policies protect the rights of women and girls, in line with Afghanistan’s international human rights obligations.
Noting the theme of this year’s Commission on the Status of Women – Access to justice for all women and girls – I want to point out that even before Decree No. 12, women faced a widening justice gap in Afghanistan.
New findings from UN Women, UNAMA and IOM, based on nationwide consultations in December last year, underscore how many Afghan women have been left without safe or effective avenues to resolve disputes or hold perpetrators of abuse to account.
According to the findings, only 14 per cent of women reported having access to formal dispute resolution services, compared to 53 per cent of men.
UN Women continues to call for the ban preventing Afghan women UN staff and contractors from accessing UN premises to be lifted.
However, it is important to be clear that, no matter what, UN Women is staying and delivering in Afghanistan.
Despite the many restrictions on women and girls, and the current conflicts, we continue to find ways to operate and stand with those who need support the most.
For example, in 2025 alone, UN Women protected access to life-saving services for more than 350,000 Afghan women and girls and supported nearly 200 women’s civil society organizations to function and offer services.
But to continue, we urgently need more support.
UN Women is currently facing a 50 per cent funding gap for our work in Afghanistan in 2026.
And across the wider response in Afghanistan, the gaps are even greater.
Under the 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, partners aim to support 17.5 million people – including more than 5 million women.
To do this, USD 1.7 billion is needed, including nearly USD 500 million for women alone.
If the current hostilities continue, needs will only grow and this will affect the resources required.
Finally, I want to highlight one of the greatest risks facing Afghan women that is on-going, and that is normalization – the risk that the world becomes used to the restrictions that women face here.
When we start to accept this as normal, we stop believing it can change, and we stop seeing it.
So, to the international community, including decisionmakers gathered in New York this week for the Commission on the Status of Women, I would say: Don’t call this normal.
Despite all the obstacles and restrictions, Afghan women continue to show extraordinary courage and determination, and we need to as well.
Change is still possible – but only if the world continues to stand with Afghan women.
Thank you very much.
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