GNV News 2025/5/8

On May 5, 2025, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that during the month of April 2025, more than 280,000 refugees of Afghan origin who had been living in Pakistan and Iran were forcibly returned or pushed out under pressure from authorities and sent back to Afghanistan. In Pakistan, the resumption of the Pakistan Illegal Immigrants Repatriation Plan rolled out in 2023 saw about 144,000 people returned to Afghanistan over the course of April. Many of them left Afghanistan decades ago, or are children born in Pakistan, and many have no one to rely on in Afghanistan. Some left most of their belongings behind in Pakistan and see little prospect for life in Afghanistan, yet compensation for them is noted to be extremely limited.

Iran and Pakistan are currently hosting 3.75 million and 1.75 million refugees from Afghanistan, respectively. However, amid rising anti-immigrant sentiment among the public, returns have accelerated, and since September 2023 it is estimated that a combined total of as many as 3 million people have been sent back to Afghanistan from the two countries. While ostensibly only irregular migrants are targeted for return, in practice people beyond that category are also being pressured to go back to Afghanistan due to a complex legal framework.

This large-scale return is also a major burden for Afghanistan. The country is already mired in widespread poverty, with half the population relying on aid and a highly fragile economy, and the surge in returns is expected to further worsen Afghanistan’s already crisis-stricken situation.

Learn more about Afghanistan’s politics → “Afghanistan: The Taliban’s resurgence and the current situation”

Learn more about the crises and human rights abuses occurring in Afghanistan → “Afghanistan: Turmoil and stability”

Learn more about refugees and media coverage → “Refugees around the world: Is their situation being reported?”

Tents set up in Torkham, Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan, in 2023 (Photo: UN Women Asia and the Pacific / Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0])