Afghanistan: People face increasing pressures - UNAMA Briefing | United Nations

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A top UN official said, “We continue to receive alarming reports of families forced into desperate choices, including selling daughters, simply to survive” in Afghanistan. Addressing the Security Council, Georgette Gagnon, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, said that “on the surface,” the country under the de facto authorities remains stable. “For now, what exists is increasing control by the de facto authorities without a clear end-state,” she added. Gagnon said that up to 2.8 million Afghans are projected to return this year, “many with limited assets and few livelihood prospects – and - Afghans are returning to communities and an economy that cannot fully reintegrate them. As the World Bank has reported, in real terms Afghans are becoming poorer.” She also said, “Afghanistan also remains one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. Some 21.9 million people - approximately 45 percent of the population - require humanitarian assistance in 2026.” She highlighted, “What we are witnessing are severe and growing restrictions - the imposition of systemic and institutionalized harm with long-term generational consequences for Afghan society as a whole. An estimated 3.8 million girls between 7 and 18 years of age are not in school, including more than 2.6 million adolescent girls. Each year, approximately 250,000 more girls are permanently excluded from secondary education pathways, creating a lost generation of talent and potential.”