Nearly one in three Afghan children endure severe hunger while 3.7 million under-fives suffer acute malnutrition, as education bans, dismantled protections and funding shortfalls threaten an entire generation’s future.
An entire generation of Afghan children faces long-term and potentially irreversible harm from overlapping crises of severe hunger, acute malnutrition, restricted education and the systematic dismantling of child protection systems under Taliban rule, the United Nations special rapporteur on Afghanistan has warned in a major new report.
Richard Bennett’s findings, prepared for the UN Human Rights Council session that began on Monday, cover developments from November 2025 through August 2026 and review five years of Taliban policies since their return to power. The report paints a stark picture of children growing up amid human rights and humanitarian emergencies that threaten their development, well-being and future prospects. Drawing on food security data, Bennett stated that about 9 million children – roughly one in three in the country – face severe hunger, while 3.7 million children under age 5 are acutely malnourished.
These figures align closely with recent UNICEF assessments. The UN children’s agency projects that 3.7 million children under five and 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women will need treatment for acute malnutrition in 2026, with 12 provinces already at critical levels. In July alone, UNICEF and partners screened 1.1 million children and admitted more than 104,000 for treatment, including nearly 60,000 suffering severe wasting. Overall, UNICEF estimates 21.9 million people, including 11.6 million children, require humanitarian assistance this year, with 17.4 million needing urgent food support.
Hunger and Malnutrition Drive Immediate Threats
Preventable hunger and malnutrition are among the most immediate dangers, Bennett emphasised. Families consulted for the report described cutting both the quantity and quality of meals, with some children arriving at school hungry and unable to concentrate. The crisis is compounded by mass returns of Afghans from Iran and Pakistan – more than 1.08 million between January and July 2026 alone, including over 413,000 deportations – along with disease outbreaks, flooding and economic collapse.
UNICEF reported 245 disease outbreaks in July, with more than 125,000 cases of epidemic-prone illnesses such as acute watery diarrhea, measles and pertussis. Flash floods affected thousands of families, damaged 164 schools and disrupted education for over 51,000 children. Natural disasters have already impacted more than 92,000 people in 2026, killing 97 and damaging nearly 12,000 homes.
Mental health is deteriorating sharply, particularly among girls. Restrictions on education and freedoms, combined with chronic poverty and lack of future opportunities, have fuelled high levels of distress. Bennett cited consistent reports of psychological suffering and some girls attempting suicide. One Afghan girl from Balkh told the special rapporteur: “Three words have come to define our lives: fear, tears and despair.” Limited mental health services, shortages of professionals, stigma and barriers for girls seeking confidential support leave many without help.
Education Bans Create a Lost Generation
Education remains a central casualty of Taliban policies. An estimated 3.8 million Afghan girls aged 7 to 18 were out of school in 2024, including more than 2.6 million adolescent girls. At least 1 million girls have been directly affected by the secondary education ban over the past five years, a number projected to exceed 2 million by 2030 if policies persist. Girls remain barred from secondary schools, while women are excluded from universities and most higher education.
“When education was closed to us, my dreams were destroyed,” a girl from Herat told Bennett. “I wanted to become a pilot. Now, I cannot become a pilot, and my youth has been wasted. Who will give me back these lost years?”
Although primary enrollment for girls reportedly rose from 74 per cent in 2022 to 87 per cent in 2024, this does not constitute complete education. Taliban inspectors from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice have monitored primary schools, sometimes preventing girls showing signs of puberty from continuing or measuring height and imposing full hijab requirements. Girls and women have turned to online classes, clandestine schools and peer-to-peer learning, with more than 100 organisations providing alternatives. Yet these cannot replace formal education and remain inaccessible to many, especially in rural and poor households lacking internet or devices.
The rapid expansion of government-registered madrasas – from about 5,000 before 2021 to more than 23,000 by September 2025 – raises further concerns. Religious education increasingly substitutes for mainstream schooling rather than complementing it. Boys also face declining education quality due to fewer qualified female teachers, shortages of specialists and the removal of subjects such as art, sports, English and civic education. UNICEF projects Afghanistan could lose up to 20,000 female teachers and 5,400 female health workers by 2030 because of restrictions on women’s education and training – about a quarter of the 2021 female workforce in those sectors.
Child Protection Systems Dismantled
Taliban authorities have dismantled much of Afghanistan’s previous legal and institutional framework for protecting children. The 2019 Law on the Protection of Child Rights, which defined a child as anyone under 18, has been suspended, leaving the country without a legal definition of childhood. Laws on juvenile justice and protection from harassment have also been suspended. Child protection centers have closed; some girls, including survivors of sexual abuse, have been transferred to state-run orphanages and boys to religious schools.
The juvenile justice system has been dismantled, with children sometimes detained alongside adults, heightening risks of abuse. Children, particularly boys, have reportedly been flogged alongside adults for offenses including theft, drug use or alleged extramarital relations.
Recruitment of children by Taliban forces is another serious concern. Citing a UN secretary-general report, Bennett noted that authorities recruited 204 boys in 2025 – 62 for combat roles and 142 for support. The absence of a legal definition of a child may facilitate such recruitment. Children also suffer from ongoing armed violence and explosive remnants of war. The UN recorded 1,070 grave violations against children in 2025, including 103 killed or injured in cross-border shelling and airstrikes by Pakistani forces. Between January and June 2026, 72 children were killed and 183 injured in cross-border violence. About 130 children were killed or injured by unexploded ordnance between January and May.
Rising Child Labour, Forced Marriage and Exploitation
Child labour is increasing, especially among boys, as poverty forces families to rely on children’s earnings. Children work in hazardous sectors including agriculture, brick making, mining and domestic labour. Labour by girls is likely underreported because much occurs unpaid inside homes.
Child and forced marriage are reportedly rising despite a 2021 Taliban decree prohibiting the practices. Economic hardship, restrictions on women and girls, and the disappearance of educational and employment opportunities drive the increase. Some girls are forced to marry significantly older men or enter polygamous marriages; others have been sold to settle debts or forced to marry Taliban affiliates. Children continue to face rape, sexual violence and bacha bazi – the sexual exploitation of boys – despite Taliban rules prohibiting associated conduct, with allegations involving officials and commanders.
New Taliban decrees in 2026 further weaken protections. A May decree on separation of spouses creates nearly insurmountable barriers for women leaving abusive marriages and appears to implicitly recognise child marriage by treating a girl’s silence after puberty as consent, without setting a minimum age. A January decree on criminal rules of courts effectively permits violence against women unless it causes fracture, wound or bruising; even then, the burden of proof rests with the woman and the maximum punishment is 15 days’ detention. It also codifies the death penalty and flogging for various offenses, raising due process concerns.
Funding Shortfalls and Calls for Action
The humanitarian response faces severe funding gaps. The 2026 Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan requires $1.71 billion, but only 17 percent had been received by July. UNICEF’s $949 million appeal was 47 percent funded, leaving a gap of over $500 million. Shortfalls are especially acute in water, sanitation, hygiene, nutrition and child protection.
Bennett concluded that most policies reviewed are incompatible with Afghanistan’s international human rights obligations. He called on Taliban authorities to dismantle the institutionalised system of gender discrimination, restore protections for women and children, revoke the 2026 criminal court rules, reinstate a functioning child protection system and define a child as anyone under 18. He urged countries not to normalise relations with the Taliban until there are significant, measurable and independently verified improvements in human rights, particularly for women and girls. Additional recommendations include halting involuntary returns of Afghans that violate non-refoulement, increasing humanitarian funding, supporting alternative education for girls and strengthening international accountability mechanisms.
Without urgent action to remove structural restrictions and expand child-sensitive services, Bennett warned, an entire generation of Afghan girls and boys risks long-term and potentially irreversible harm to their well-being, development and ability to enjoy their human rights.
