Afghan deportations risk serious abuses: UN experts challenge EU ties with Taliban

UN experts have raised alarm over reports that European Union member states are deporting Afghan nationals to Afghanistan, where widespread abuses put people at risk of persecution, torture and other serious harm, reminding governments that returns must comply with international human rights and refugee law.

The experts described a dire human rights situation, with women and girls facing gender persecution on a scale and with a degree of organisation that may amount to crimes against humanity, alongside serious violations affecting minorities and people targeted because of their work, identity or previous government service.

Their warning also addressed European engagement with the Taliban, including an official delegation's visit to Brussels in June 2026 and discussions intended to facilitate deportations, which the experts said risk granting legitimacy to the Taliban without securing concrete improvements in human rights.

Deportations must account for the risks facing each person

The experts cited torture and extrajudicial killings among the abuses affecting ethnic and religious minorities, human rights defenders, journalists, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and other gender-diverse people, former Afghan National Security and Defence Forces personnel and certain public servants.

Under the principle of non-refoulement, states must not send anyone to a country where they face a risk of arbitrary loss of life, torture or other ill-treatment, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, a flagrant denial of justice or other serious human rights violations.

The experts reminded EU governments that their obligations arise 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.

Every person's circumstances must be assessed before a return, with due process required for involuntary removals, the experts said, stressing that diplomatic assurances from a receiving state do not remove the sending government's obligations or provide a loophole for bypassing protections against return to danger.

Brussels visit raises concerns over Taliban relations

The European Commission hosted the first official visit by a Taliban delegation to Brussels in June 2026, a meeting its spokesperson described as "technical", and the delegation's leader called "historic", drawing attention to the different meanings attached to the engagement.

The experts warned that contact without clear conditions requiring better respect for human rights could normalise the Taliban's gross abuses, including gender persecution, and expressed concern that some EU member states continue technical discussions to prepare deportations and have accepted Taliban consular officials on their territory.

Their concern centred on the consequences of those contacts, with arrangements presented as practical cooperation potentially giving the Taliban greater acceptance despite the continuing persecution and other violations documented in Afghanistan.

Rights improvements must guide European engagement

The experts urged EU member states to strengthen their advocacy for people in Afghanistan and said there must be no normalisation or legitimisation of the Taliban without concrete human rights improvements, including lifting the ban on education for girls and women beyond sixth grade.

They have formally contacted the European Union and several member-state governments about the issue, calling for an approach that upholds protection against unsafe returns and makes meaningful changes in Afghanistan's human rights situation a condition for normalising relations.