Four years after the Taliban seized power, the humanitarian and human rights situation in Afghanistan is catastrophic. Millions of children suffer from hunger, exploitation, and lack of education. Those who have stood up for freedom and democracy live in constant danger. Women and girls are systematically deprived of their rights.
“After the withdrawal of international troops, the Afghan population was promised protection and support. Today, however, we are seeing that these promises have hardly been kept – Afghanistan is being abandoned,” explains Joshua Hofert, Executive Director of terre des hommes . “Due to the massive decline in international aid, the plight of children and families is worsening. Our aid projects are also increasingly lacking in resources. The situation is now life-threatening for many children and families.”
According to UNICEF, over 3.5 million children under the age of five in Afghanistan are acutely malnourished – 900,000 of them so severely that their lives are in danger. Many parents see no other option than to send their children to work or marry them off early so that they can survive.
The situation is further exacerbated by mass deportations: According to the UNHCR, around 2.1 million Afghans have already returned from Iran and Pakistan or been deported to Afghanistan in 2025. The already inadequate structures for receiving returnees are now completely overwhelmed. In many places, the provision of food, drinking water, and medical assistance, as well as the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and other dangers, is not guaranteed.
The situation is particularly dangerous for Afghan human rights activists and former local staff of German organizations. Some of them had received promises of resettlement in Germany. Trusting in these promises, many sold their belongings and left for Pakistan. However, the German government has currently halted these resettlements. Since then, around 2,300 people – mostly women and children – have been stranded in Pakistan despite German promises of resettlement. If they are not brought to Germany quickly, they face deportation back to Afghanistan, where they face torture, ill-treatment, and other serious human rights violations, as confirmed by a recently published UN report .
“The German government must honor its commitments to accept refugees – anything else would be a breach of promise with dramatic consequences for those affected. Thousands of people are in acute danger, including former employees from Terre des Hommes projects who campaigned for children's and women's rights. Otherwise, they will lose their last hope for protection,” explains Joshua Hofert.