The situation in Afghanistan - Security Council, 10058th meeting

Resilience of Afghanistan’s population under severe strain as multiple crises escalate, speakers warn Security Council, urging scaled-up humanitarian, political action.

• Categories: Meetings & Events / Security Council
• Video Length: 02:22:27
• Production Date: 10 December 2025
• Asset Language: Arabic; English; French; Russian; Spanish; Chinese; Original
• Personal Subject: TANJA FAJON; THOMAS FLETCHER
• Corporate Name: TALIBAN; UNITED NATIONS ASSISTANCE MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN - UNAMA
• Subject Topical: AFGHANISTAN SITUATION; CHILDREN; GENDER EQUALITY; HUMAN RIGHTS; HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE; INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION; TERRORISM; WOMEN; WOMEN'S RIGHTS; HUNGER; NUTRITION; POLITICAL CONDITIONS
• Geographic Subject: AFGHANISTAN
• MAMS Id: 3514232
• Parent Id: 3512274
• Alternate Title: MTG SC 10058 AFGHANISTAN 10 DEC 2025 AM

Description

As Afghanistan faces several escalating crises and an extreme humanitarian emergency, the resilience of its people is being severely tested, senior UN officials today warned the Security Council, calling for urgent international action to alleviate the suffering and steer the country onto the right path.

“More than 23 million Afghans — over half the population — continue to require humanitarian assistance in 2026. Their needs are staggering and growing,” said Georgette Gagnon, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, Officer-in-Charge of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), told the 15-member Council on International Human Rights Day.

Pointing out that women and girls continue to be systematically excluded from almost all aspects of public life, she said: “The ban on secondary and tertiary education for girls persists now into its fourth year, depriving Afghanistan of female doctors, entrepreneurs, teachers and leaders critical to the country today and its future.”

Afghans also continue to experience systematic infringements into their daily lives through the enforcement of the de facto authorities’ law on the propagation of virtue and prevention of vice, she said. And the National Development Strategy aimed at economic self-sufficiency is undermined by political risks and ideological restrictions, including the ongoing ban on UN female national staff entering UN premises, which violates their human rights and hampers the UN mandate.

• Presidency: Her Excellency Tanja Fajon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Slovenia
• Briefer: Ms. Georgette Denise Gagnon, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan and Officer-in-Charge, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)
• Briefer: Mr. Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
• Briefer: Ms. Negina Yari, Founder and Executive Director, Window for Hope Network
• Statement: Her Excellency Tanja Fajon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Slovenia
• Statements: China, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation
• Statement: Guyana (on behalf of: Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone, Somalia)
• Statements: Greece, Denmark, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, France, Pakistan, Panama, United States of America
• Statements: Afghanistan, India, Kazakhstan, Islamic Republic of Iran

Related Sites and Documents

UN Meetings Coverage

S/2025/789