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STORY: UN / AFGHANISTAN UN WOMEN PRESSER
TRT: 04:05
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 17 MARCH 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior UN Headquarters
17 MARCH 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press room dais
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Ferguson, Special Representative in Afghanistan, UN Women:
“For women and girls in Afghanistan, 2026 was already proving to be an extremely difficult year. Now, with the conflict in the Middle East and ongoing hostilities with Pakistan, many are facing even more trauma and hardship.”
4. Wide shot, press room dais
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Ferguson, Special Representative in Afghanistan, UN Women:
“According to assessments in four of the most affected districts near the Pakistan border, at least 64,000 people have been affected by the military escalation, just over half of them women and girls. This includes thousands of families who've been displaced yet again after living for six months in temporary camps following the August 2025 earthquake. And among them are women and girls who've already returned from, Iran or Pakistan.”
6. Wide shot, press room dais
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Ferguson, Special Representative in Afghanistan, UN Women:
“Initial assessments by the UN and partners show women's most urgent needs are shelter, health care, and clean water. UN Women is working with partners to ensure women are included in assessment teams, so their needs are understood, and to support access to services for women. Women humanitarians on the front lines are under enormous pressure, worrying about their own safety while also helping others. We reiterate UNAMA’s calls for immediate cessation in hostilities to prevent further loss of civilian life, and for all parties to meet their obligations under international humanitarian law.”
8. Wide shot, press room dais
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Ferguson, Special Representative in Afghanistan, UN Women:
“In western Afghanistan, we anticipate a sharp increase in Afghans returning from Iran in the coming weeks, including women traveling alone or with children. Together with our sister agencies, including IOM, UN Women is prepared to deploy more women humanitarians at the border to help Afghan women returnees with registration and support services.”
10. Wide shot, press room dais
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Ferguson, Special Representative in Afghanistan, UN Women:
“UN Women is mobilizing resources to expand cash support for women headed households, provide well-being or dignity kits, and help them start small livelihood businesses. We'll also to continue to support women-only safe spaces at the border and in communities where returnees and internally displaced people are settling. But we urgently need more funding to meet these needs at this critical moment. Beyond displacement, we're also alarmed about the economic impact of these conflicts. Women and girls in Afghanistan simply can't afford yet another economic shock.”
12. Wide shot, press room dais
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Ferguson, Special Representative in Afghanistan, UN Women:
“When we start to accept this as normal, we stop believing it can change and we stop seeing it. So, to the international community, including decision makers, gathered in New York this week for the Commission on the Status of Women, I would say, don't call this normal. Despite all the obstacles and restrictions, Afghan women continue to show extraordinary courage and determination, and we need to as well. Change is still possible, but only if the world continues to stand with Afghan women.”
14. Wide shot, press room dais
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Ferguson, Special Representative in Afghanistan, UN Women:
“We will continue on, no matter what happens with UNAMA. Of course, we hope that the UNAMA mandate is renewed for a further year, and we look forward to that. And it's important to us because it also includes some of the, the aspirations on gender equality and women's empowerment and human rights. but whether the mandate is rolled over or not, UN women will remain in the country, and it will be even more important that we're here, because we will continue to focus on the needs and issues of women and girls.”
16. Wide shot, end of briefing
UN Women’s Special Representative in Afghanistan, Susan Ferguson, today (17 Mar) told journalists in New York that for women and girls in Afghanistan, “2026 was already proving to be an extremely difficult year,” and with the conflict in the Middle East and ongoing hostilities with Pakistan, “many are facing even more trauma and hardship.”
Briefing virtually from Kabul, Ferguson said, “at least 64,000 people have been affected by the military escalation, just over half of them women and girls. This includes thousands of families who've been displaced yet again after living for six months in temporary camps following the August 2025 earthquake. And among them are women and girls who've already returned from, Iran or Pakistan.”
She said in Afghanistan, “women's most urgent needs are shelter, health care and clean water,” and noted that UN Women “is working with partners to ensure women are included in assessment teams, so their needs are understood, and to support access to services for women.”
Ferguson reiterated the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan’s (UNAMA) calls for “immediate cessation in hostilities to prevent further loss of civilian life, and for all parties to meet their obligations under international humanitarian law.”
In western Afghanistan, she said, “we anticipate a sharp increase in Afghans returning from Iran in the coming weeks, including women traveling alone or with children,” and stressed that UN Women and partners are “prepared to deploy more women humanitarians at the border to help Afghan women returnees with registration and support services.”
UN Women, Ferguson continued, “is mobilizing resources to expand cash support for women headed households, provide well-being or dignity kits, and help them start small livelihood businesses,” while also continuing to support women-only safe spaces.
She said, “we urgently need more funding to meet these needs at this critical” and stressed that “women and girls in Afghanistan simply can't afford yet another economic shock.”
The UN Women official said, “when we start to accept this as normal, we stop believing it can change and we stop seeing it. So, to the international community, including decision makers, gathered in New York this week for the Commission on the Status of Women, I would say, don't call this normal. Despite all the obstacles and restrictions, Afghan women continue to show extraordinary courage and determination, and we need to as well. Change is still possible, but only if the world continues to stand with Afghan women.”
Asked about the role of UN Women in Afghanistan if UNAMA’s mandate is not renewed, she said, “we will continue on, no matter what happens with UNAMA, adding that “whether the mandate is rolled over or not, UN women will remain in the country, and it will be even more important that we're here, because we will continue to focus on the needs and issues of women and girls.”
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