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UN official tells Security Council Afghanistan faces widening humanitarian and rights crisis
Summary
Georgette Gagnon told the Security Council that Afghanistan faces intersecting crises: a ban on girls' education entering its fourth year, growing humanitarian needs (more than 23 million people), mass returns from neighboring countries, restrictions on UN staff and media, and rising regional tensions.
Georgette Gagnon, who identified herself as a United Nations official, told the United Nations Security Council on Human Rights Day that Afghans face a deepening humanitarian, human-rights and economic crisis and urged stronger international support.
"Women and girls continue to be systematically excluded from almost all aspects of public life," Gagnon said, and she warned that "the ban on secondary and tertiary education for girls persists now into its fourth year," depriving Afghanistan of female doctors, entrepreneurs, teachers and leaders.
The briefing emphasized scale. "More than 23,000,000 Afghans, over half the population, continue to require humanitarian assistance in 2026," Gagnon said, adding that nearly 2,500,000 people returned from Iran and Pakistan in 2025, a figure she described as a "6%…
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