GENEVA – 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.
“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.
