Governments across Europe are ramping up deportations of Afghan refugees at a moment when Afghanistan is in the grip of one of its worst humanitarian crises in years — and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is warning that forced returns could cost lives, according to an IRC press release. At least 40% of Afghanistan’s population is facing hunger, at least 17 million people are food insecure, and around 5 million are one step away from famine-like conditions. Over 22,000 Afghans have been ordered to leave the EU as of late 2025, under pressure from member states seeking to crack down on irregular migration.
The IRC’s own teams on the ground in Afghanistan describe families skipping meals because they have nothing to eat, and children being sent to work to bring in income. IRC Afghanistan Director Lisa Owen said deporting people to a country “where almost half of the population cannot feed themselves is not a migration policy — it is a decision that could cost lives.” Consecutive years of drought, sudden conflict escalation, and major disasters including earthquakes and flooding have uprooted entire communities, while the withdrawal of global humanitarian funding over the past year has dismantled much of the support system that millions depended on. The health system is overwhelmed, and critical infrastructure is barely functioning.
The human reality along the route to Europe tells its own story. Since late 2021, IRC teams at the Italy-Slovenia border have met nearly 30,000 Afghans — one in four of them children. IRC Area Manager in Trieste Alessandro Papes said what people endure on these journeys is “unthinkable” — exploitation by smugglers, violence, threats, and sleeping rough upon arrival. In 2025 alone, IRC staff assisted almost 900 unaccompanied Afghan children seeking protection in Europe. Afghanistan remains the main country of origin for people arriving through the Balkan Route and was the third top source of EU asylum applications in 2025.
IRC EU Advocacy Director Marta Welander urged European governments to place the safety and agency of Afghan asylum seekers at the heart of political decision-making, calling forced returns “short-sighted” and legally and morally questionable while conditions inside Afghanistan remain this dire. The IRC’s message to the international community is direct: this is not the moment to step back. It is the moment to scale up funding, engage with the crisis, and stop treating deportation as a substitute for policy.
