UN warns of deepening rights and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan
The UN has warned of a worsening rights and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, with women and girls facing severe restrictions and aid funding falling.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
The United Nations has issued a fresh warning about the deteriorating human rights and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, five years after the Taliban returned to power. The UN is calling on countries to halt forced returns to the country and to renew pressure on the Taliban government to end its oppressive restrictions, particularly those targeting women and girls.
Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, spoke from Kabul about the scale of the crisis. He described the discrimination against women and girls as "unbelievable," noting that girls have been barred from education beyond primary school for five years, and that restrictions on female work and movement remain severe. He also highlighted the funding shortfall, saying donors have cut support dramatically since the Taliban took power, leaving many families starving and without adequate shelter.
The BBC has gained rare access inside Afghanistan, spending time with senior Taliban figures and ordinary Afghans. In northern Afghanistan, Taliban Governor Abdullah Sarhadi, a former Guantanamo Bay inmate, was seen enforcing strict Sharia law. One case involved an 18-year-old woman seeking a divorce from an abusive husband. Her husband demanded four times the original dowry, and the governor ruled she should not seek divorce, issuing only a warning to the husband against further abuse.
A woman who protested when the Taliban returned now meets in secret. She told the BBC: "I think the Taliban are scared. They are scared of educated women. They know educated women won't give birth to ignorant beings such as the Taliban." She accused the Taliban of breaking promises to respect human rights and allow women to participate in public life.
Sky News has reported on the health crisis gripping the country. Women cannot leave home without a male guardian, making it difficult to access medical care. The ban on training female health workers has led to a severe shortage of staff, affecting all patients. In Afghanistan's largest pediatric hospital, doctors are struggling to save children suffering from hunger and disease, with multiple deaths every day. The UN has described the situation as "gender apartheid," with more than 800 edicts issued by the Taliban, at least 100 of them focused on restricting women's lives.
The Taliban have also shut down shelters for abused women, and many women are forced to work in secret, such as running home-based sewing businesses. Some are continuing their education online, risking punishment. The international community's response has been criticised as inadequate, with aid agencies warning that the coming winter will bring even greater suffering unless funding is restored.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | BBC News | BBC One | Sky News |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Taliban governor is enforcing a strict interpretation of Sharia in his region. | · | ||
| A woman who protested the Taliban takeover now lives in secret and believes they fear educated women. | · | ||
| Girls in Afghanistan are banned from education beyond age 12 and from attending university. | · | ||
| Taliban policies today are similar to the hardline interpretation of Sharia they imposed in the 1990s. | · | ||
| The governor advised an 18-year-old woman not to proceed with a divorce. | · | ||
| The Taliban governor in northern Afghanistan is a former Guantanamo Bay detainee. | · | ||
| Afghanistan's largest paediatric hospital records multiple baby deaths a day. | · | · | |
| Humanitarian work in Afghanistan is severely underfunded, leading to starvation. | · | · | |
| Lyse Doucet had not received a visa to enter Afghanistan for three years before this trip. | · | · | |
| The BBC gave the Taliban vague bullet points about planned stories to get permission, without allowing the Taliban to dictate specific stories. | · | · | |
| The female education ban is causing a shortage of female health workers. | · | · | |
| The Taliban did not physically follow the BBC team in Kabul or Kandahar, but some provinces are more interventionist. | · | · |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
BBC News focused on rare on-the-ground access to Taliban officials and ordinary Afghans, giving a human face to the crisis. It highlighted the Taliban's strict interpretation of Sharia, including a divorce case, and featured a woman protester who criticised the regime. The channel also covered the UN's warning and the humanitarian funding shortfall through an interview with Jan Egeland.
- “I think the Taliban are scared. They are scared of educated women.”
- “The discrimination against girls, women, is unbelievable, really.”
- “As an insurgency, the Taliban proved it could survive. The question now is whether it can govern a country in crisis and for how long?”
BBC One West, a regional channel, carried the same BBC rare access report, focusing on the human stories from Afghanistan. It presented the material as part of its national and international news coverage, with a similar emphasis on the Taliban's governance and the impact on women, but without the additional UN interview or the health crisis report.
- “In northern Afghanistan, Taliban governor Abdullah Sarhadi starts his day. He's a former Guantanamo Bay inmate now responsible for enforcing a strict Sharia across his region.”
- “Upon returning to power, the Taliban said they had changed. Five years on, it's a country run by men, for men.”
Sky News produced a special report focusing on the health crisis and the Taliban's attempts to erase women from public life. It used graphic images of sick children and interviews with women to highlight the shortage of female health workers and the impact of the ban on girls' education. The report also noted the UN's description of 'gender apartheid' and the large number of edicts restricting women.
- “Death stalks the young in Afghanistan and it's a constant battle to keep them alive.”
- “The UN calls it gender apartheid.”
- “If there is no doctor, no nurse, no midwife, who will help them? The men? Their family will not allow the ladies to go and deliver their babies with a man.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.