Anderika Rathwate, former Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations in Afghanistan, has stated that the country is facing one of the world\u2019s “most severe and complex” protection crises; a crisis deepened by the Taliban administration\u2019s gender-based restrictions.<\/p>\n
In an article published in the UN Chronicle, Rathwate wrote that the system of gender restrictions has severely limited women\u2019s and girls\u2019 access to education, employment, public participation, and essential services, thereby exacerbating the country\u2019s fragile situation. She believes these policies have weakened the resilience of half of Afghanistan\u2019s population and seriously reduced humanitarian agencies\u2019 capacity to provide principled and inclusive assistance.<\/p>\n
Rathwate emphasized that the bans on secondary and higher education for girls, prohibitions on women working in key sectors, and ongoing restrictions on female staff in the humanitarian aid sector have increased protection risks. She added that in such a fragile context, geopolitical tensions and regional instability also add further pressure.<\/p>\n
According to the former UN official, Afghanistan is simultaneously experiencing one of the largest waves of refugee returns in its recent history. Over the past two years, around five million people have returned from neighboring countries, equating to nearly a 10% increase in the country\u2019s population. In 2025 alone, 2.8 million Afghan citizens returned\u2014the highest annual figure in recent years.<\/p>\n
She noted that many returnees came under pressure and compulsion, without documentation, assets, or support networks; a situation that has increased strain on already overstretched services, especially in border provinces and major urban centers.<\/p>\n
Rathwate also highlighted the impacts of climate change, stating that years of drought have depleted groundwater resources, damaged crops, and weakened farming systems. Floods, landslides, and recurrent earthquakes continue to destroy homes, livelihoods, and critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n
According to the article, over 70% of households report insufficient food consumption, and many have resorted to crisis coping strategies such as selling productive assets, early marriage, or reducing spending on health and education. She described this as a multi-layered crisis exposing millions to severe deprivation.<\/p>\n
Despite the humanitarian community reaching over 17 million people in 2025, Rathwate stressed that the scale of needs exceeds available resources, and an effective response requires a strategic, multi-year approach that combines immediate aid with strengthening basic services and building resilience.<\/p>\n
Rathwate\u2019s mission as Deputy Special Representative for UNAMA and Humanitarian Coordinator from 2024 to 2026 recently concluded. The United Nations announced that Bruno Georges Lemarquis, a French official, has been appointed as the new Deputy Special Representative and Humanitarian Coordinator in Afghanistan, also taking on the duties of Resident Coordinator.<\/p>\n
According to the UN, Lemarquis has over three decades of experience in humanitarian and development sectors and previously served as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UN warns Afghanistan faces a severe multi-layered crisis worsened by Taliban gender restrictions, refugee returns, and climate change impacts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-important-news","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}