22 October 2026
UN experts* today expressed alarm
about reports of European Union (EU) Member States deporting
Afghan nationals back to Afghanistan, recalling these
states’ obligations to comply with international human
rights and refugee law, including the principle of
non-refoulement.
“The human rights situation in
Afghanistan remains dire. Women and girls are suffering
gender persecution on such a widespread and systematic scale
that they may amount to crimes against humanity,” the
experts said.
“There are serious violations,
including torture and extrajudicial killings against other
groups such as ethnic and religious minorities, human rights
defenders, journalists, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and
other gender-diverse individuals, former personnel of the
Afghan National Security and Defence Forces and certain
public servants.”
International law’s
non-refoulement obligation prohibits the removal of any
person to a State where they are at risk of arbitrary
deprivation of life, torture and other ill-treatment,
enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention, flagrant
denial of justice and other serious violations of human
rights.
The experts reminded EU Member States of their
non-refoulement obligations under the Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, the Refugee Convention, and the European
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms.
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“States must ensure
individualised assessments of risk prior to return,” the
experts said. “Involuntary returns require due process.
Diplomatic assurances from a destination State do not
release States from their international obligations and
should not be used as a loophole to undermine
non-refoulement.”
The European Commission hosted the
first ever official visit of the Taliban delegation to
Brussels in June 2026.
The experts warned against
steps towards normalising relations with the
Taliban.
They noted that while the meeting had been
described as ‘technical’ by the Commission’s
spokesperson, the leader of the Taliban delegation had
described it as ‘historic’.
“We remain concerned
that such engagement, without clear redlines on the need for
improvements in respect for human rights, leads to the
normalisation of gross human rights violations by the
Taliban, including gender persecution,” the experts said.
“And yet, some European Member States continue such
‘technical discussions’ to facilitate and prepare
deportation and have accepted Taliban consular officials on
their territories.”
“We urge EU Member States to
enhance advocacy aimed at improving the human rights
situation in Afghanistan,” they said.
“There must
be no normalisation or legitimation of the Taliban unless
there are concrete improvements on human rights, including
the lifting of the ban on the education of girls and women
over sixth grade,” they said.
The experts have
formally contacted the European Union and the Governments of
several EU Member States regarding this
matter.
