Countries: Afghanistan, Iran (Islamic Republic of) Source: Malala Fund Malala Fund urges the international community to demand an immediate halt to Iran’s forced mass deportation of Afghan refugees.The Iranian government has already deported more than 250,000 Afghan refugees in recent weeks — part of a campaign that may see more than 4 million people forcibly returned without any due process. Human rights observers are calling it one of the largest mass deportations in modern history. Among those being pushed back are thousands of women and girls, many of whom have lived in Iran for years, even decades. Now, they are being returned to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan — into a system of gender apartheid that has stripped them of education, work, freedom of movement and safety.“You could see the signs of torture in most of the people's faces. Some had broken arms, others had wounds on their backs. Many hadn’t eaten for days and were dehydrated from walking in extreme heat.” — Maiwand Rohani, Executive Director, INARA, at the border in AfghanistanThe Iranian government’s decision to forcibly return tens of thousands of Afghans to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is a direct act of harm. Many of those being deported have built lives, families and communities in exile. For the women and girls among them, being forced to return delivers them back into the hands of a regime that erases their rights, and strips them of any chance to rebuild their futures.A number of them have been human rights activists, educators and vocal protesters against the Taliban’s gender apartheid. For these women, deportation is not only an act of gender-based persecution, it is retribution for resistance. It places them at immediate risk of torture, imprisonment, sexual violence and other grave abuses. These expulsions violate the principle of non-refoulement under international refugee law and signal a flagrant disregard for human dignity and global solidarity.With temperatures now reaching 52 °C, people are collapsing from heat and exhaustion during forced crossings — only to be delivered into one of the world’s most severe human rights crises.“These deportations are not bureaucratic procedures, they are violent and brutal acts of cruelty. Families are being torn apart at gunpoint. Women and girls are being pushed across borders in unbearable heat, with no shelter, no protection and no due process. This must stop immediately.” — Sahar Halaimzai, Senior Director of the Afghanistan Initiative, Malala FundIran is not acting alone. Pakistan has already deported more than 1 million Afghan refugees since late 2023, including women and children, many without due process or documentation. Amnesty International has described this campaign as a mass violation of the principle of non-refoulement under both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the 1951 Refugee Convention.These governments are reinforcing a system that treats women and girls as expendable.We urge the international community to respond urgently:Demand an immediate halt to all forced returns.Expand asylum protections for those seeking safety.Double down on legal accountability, including codifying gender apartheid as a crime under international law.This is not a border crisis. It is a moral failure, part of a global system of impunity that treats Afghan women and girls as disposable and signals to women and girls everywhere that their rights do not matter.Stop the deportations. Expand asylum. Codify gender apartheid.