The situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating dramatically, especially for women and girls who are practically excluded from public life. According to a United Nations report, almost half of the country's population will depend on humanitarian aid by the end of the year
"Cemetery of human rights" - that's what the High Commissioner for human rights United Nations Volker Turk described Afghanistan at the 61st session of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations in Geneva, which ended on Tuesday (March 31).
While the attention of the global public turns to new wars and crises, the United Nations report on the situation in Afghanistan goes unnoticed. And in it, a picture of a country where basic rights are systematically erased. The crisis was further exacerbated by earthquakes in late 2025 and a reduction in international aid.
Since the return of the Taliban to power in 2021, Afghanistan has found itself in political and economic isolation. Laws are in force that are supposed to "promote virtue and eliminate vice", and prohibit women from showing their faces outside their homes, speaking loudly in public, walking in parks, standing on terraces or looking out of windows.
Girls are forbidden to study after the sixth grade. For the second year in a row, they have been banned from taking medical exams, and there are no new female medical workers. The problem is all the greater because women cannot be treated by male doctors without the presence of a male relative.
As a further restriction on education and freedom of expression, books written by women have been removed from the shelves of bookstores and libraries, and even university libraries in some provinces - regardless of the subject, content or nationality of the author. Topics such as human rights and gender studies are expressly prohibited.
Since September last year, Taliban security forces have prevented women, including UN staff, collaborators and visitors, from entering United Nations premises across the country, severely limiting the activities of the international organization.
"The government has de facto criminalized the presence of women and girls in public life," concluded Turk, warning that the country's future depends on their participation.
The UN report points to other violations of Afghanistan's international obligations in the field of human rights. Since 2021, the Taliban have carried out 12 public executions, including two in sports stadiums. Corporal punishment, such as flogging, is carried out on a weekly basis, also in public.
Journalists face arrests and serious charges, often unfounded. Live political broadcasts are prohibited, and neither music nor drama programs are allowed on television and radio. The few female journalists who are still working face additional pressures. During a press conference in August last year, one had her microphone deliberately turned off while she was asking a question to a government spokesperson.
"Millions of Afghans live in absolute poverty, deprived of the right to adequate food, clean water and access to education, health care and employment," Turk said.
But perhaps the most alarming part of the report is not the state of the country, but the world's reaction to what is happening in Afghanistan.
International aid is falling, even as the UN warns of a collapse of basic rights.
Cutting humanitarian aid "takes away people's last straw of life," Turk warned, calling on countries to reverse the trend of aid cuts.
Despite its weight, the Geneva report did not provoke a wider political or media reaction. Unlike in previous years, Afghanistan is no longer in the focus of the global media, nor the political priorities of major powers. Other crises are emerging as more urgent, and the situation in Afghanistan is becoming a silent disaster.
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