Gender Alert: Needs of Afghan women and girls returning from Iran and Pakistan and the women humanitarians supporting them

Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group in Afghanistan

The window to prevent a full-scale humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan is closing fast, as significant numbers of Afghans — including many women and girls — continue to arrive each week, from Iran and Pakistan. The United Nations has warned the crisis is a ‘test of our collective humanity’ as the sheer volume of returns – many abrupt and involuntary – should be ‘setting off alarm bells across the global community’. Women and children face the greatest risks, the UN said, given the severe restrictions on their access to basic rights and services in Afghanistan.

Since September 2023, more than 2.43 million undocumented Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan – more than 1.1 million of them returning Iran this year alone, according to the IOM. Women and girls accounted for just under one-third of returnees from Iran in 2025, and about half of all returnees from Pakistan.

This Gender Alert, developed by the Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) working group in Afghanistan, draws on first-hand accounts from women and girls who have returned, and the women humanitarians supporting them. It calls on donors to increase funding for women and girls returning and to invest more in women aid workers on the frontlines.