L'Asile en France ET EN Europe: Les réfugiés afghans en quête d’un espace de protection

July 2023: Afghanistan is facing a ‘Gender Apartheid.’ Since the fall of Kabul in August 2021, the rights of Afghan girls and women have been systematically reduced and erased. Today nearly 2.5 million (80%) of school-aged Afghan girls and young women are out of school, given the ban on education of girls. 

In a recent paper, for L'Asile en France Samuel Hall’s Nassim Majidi and Cyrus Ettehadieh illustrate how international support from Europe and neighbouring Iran and Pakistan is paramount in sustaining protection through migration for Afghans. 

In Afghanistan, the high costs of obtaining a passport restrict a section of population from migration. Most Afghans cannot afford to pay for a legal way out. The challenge today is not to know whether Afghans are entitled to international protection - but how to access this right to asylum in the context of regional closure, both in their region and in Europe. 

They emphasise on the need to improve access to asylum and strengthen asylum policies for Afghan girls and young women. Together, we call for an end to forced returns and facilitating special visas to allow Afghan girls and women to access international protection.