According to the experts – who receive no salary for their work from any UN entity and are not employed by any organization – the Government’s mandatory death penalties and statutory presumptions under the Misuse of Drugs Act amount to “arbitrary deprivations of life” that “must stop.”

The UN has repeatedly called for Singapore to put an end to its use of capital punishment over the years, reiterating that the mandatory imposition of the death penalty constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of life under international law.

“States that have not yet abolished the death penalty may impose it only for the ‘most serious crimes,’ understood as crimes of extreme gravity involving intentional killing,” the experts said. “Drug-related offences do not meet this threshold.”

They called the abolition of the death penalty everywhere “the ultimate objective under international human rights law.”

Drug offences drive executions

The overwhelming share of executions in Singapore are for drug trafficking and related criminal convictions. In 2025, they comprised 15 of 17 executions.

Under Singapore’s 1973 Misuse of Drugs Act, trafficking, importing or exporting specific threshold quantities of prohibited substances carries a mandatory death penalty.

The law was amended in 2013 to give judges discretion to allow life imprisonment instead of death in very limited circumstances.

Independent rights experts have long deplored the mandatory nature of the death sentences, which means that judges generally cannot assess each defendant individually.

On Tuesday, they also criticised the law’s shifting of the burden of proof to the accused, which they said undermines the presumption of innocence and presents “grave consequences when a person’s life is at stake.”

“Capital proceedings require the highest standards of fairness and due process,” they said. “No execution can be lawful where the death sentence results from proceedings that fail to meet these guarantees.”

Calls to end death penalty

The UN has long viewed the death penalty as a violation of fundamental human rights, specifically the right to life and the protection against cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Some 170 states have abolished or introduced a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, according to the UN’s human rights office, OHCHR.

Singapore does not have an upper age limit after which people cannot be executed.

If it is unwilling to abolish capital punishment entirely, Singapore should implement such a limit to ensure equality and nondiscrimination in its use of the death penalty, the independent experts said.

“The extreme physical and psychological suffering inherent throughout the death penalty process, culminating in the deliberate taking of a person’s life by the State, cannot be reconciled with the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, nor with respect for human dignity,” they stressed.

Key points

• The Talban have issued more than 100 decrees targeting women and girls, including one that’s left 2.4 million girls excluded from secondary education
• Unprecedented restrictions have triggered a mental health crisis
• UN culture agency, UNESCO, calls for the full restoration of the right to education

In the past year alone, this exclusion of women and girls from education, employment, public life, justice systems and healthcare has only intensified, entrenching what remains the “world’s most severe women’s rights crisis”, the organization’s gender equality agency UN Women said.

‘Devastating’ impact

“The results are devastating,” the agency added, stressing that shorter life expectancy, higher risks of maternal death, child marriage and gender-based violence alongside the loss of education, work and freedom of movement have also triggered a mental health crisis.

Over the past five years, restrictive decrees targeting women and girls have institutionalised discrimination and stripped them of their fundamental rights, with profound consequences for their lives and communities, according to new UN Women data.

Read the full report here.

Shut in

Half of Afghan women interviewed leave home only once or twice a month because of the severe restrictions on their movement and access to public spaces, according to UN Women.

In addition, more women are also reporting feeling unsafe leaving home without a male guardian.

“This unparalleled crisis of women’s and girls’ rights is at risk of being forgotten by the world,” the agency said.

Shut out

As of 2026, an estimated 2.4 million girls remain excluded from secondary education, with restrictions reversing two decades of progress in expanding access to education.

“Afghanistan is the only country in the world to formally prohibit access to education for girls and women beyond the primary level,” UNESCO said in a statement.  

“The continued exclusion of girls and women from education constitutes a grave violation of their fundamental human right to learn and risks condemning Afghanistan to decades of lost potential, deepening poverty, and irreversible harm.” 

‘Erased from public life’

Barred from secondary school and university and excluded from most paid work, women also face legal barriers to protect them against all forms of violence, UNESCO said.

“Women have been erased from public life,” the UN agency said. “As a new generation of girls grows without an education, their future becomes increasingly dark.”

UNESCO called for the full restoration of the right to education for Afghan girls and women, echoing entreaties from many UN agencies and leaders to protect and promote their human rights.

Stark funding cuts

UN agencies are reporting that the global aid cutback trend have taken a toll on the ground in Afghanistan, with UN Women stating that nearly three-quarters of women-led organizations surveyed in Afghanistan experienced funding cuts in 2025.

UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan Bruno Lemarquis said funding gaps could, among other things, force health centre closures, “leaving thousands of mothers and newborns vulnerable to preventable complications and death”.

Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme warned last week that devastating funding cuts will affect food deliveries to the most hungry at a time when a hunger crisis is affecting 14 million Afghans.

What’s the UN doing?

Here’s a snapshot of how agencies are supporting Afghans:

• UN Women: Efforts include bolstering livelihoods, helping safeguard access to lifesaving services and supporting nearly 200 women-led civil society organisations
• UNESCO: Activities include improving education quality and providing community-based livelihood and vocational skills training opportunities
• The UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA: Support for such initiatives as mid-wife training and Family Health Houses, which save lives in hard-to-reach areas
• UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF): From lifesaving vaccinations to building schools, efforts also support such emergency assistance as the response to recent deadly flash floods

Find out more about UN efforts in Afghanistan here.

Why the Myanmar crisis matters

• Civilians under fire: airstrikes on homes, schools, hospitals.
• Abuses continue: torture, arbitrary detention and sexual violence documented.
• Evidence preserved: information from more than 1,600 sources gathered to support prosecutions.

The findings come in the annual report of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), covering July 2025 to June 2026, published Tuesday.

“One of the areas that we’re concentrating on is, because of the suffering that’s happening in Myanmar, are the airstrikes [against communities] that are occurring…We’re looking at the command structure and how the orders would be given for such airstrikes,” said Nicholas Koumjian, head of the Mechanism.

“In particular there are many airstrikes targeting, hitting schools. Children are often the victims of these airstrikes and also hospitals. So our team is collecting that evidence of where it has occurred, the kind of munitions that are used.”

Myanmar has been engulfed in conflict since the military seized power in February 2021, overthrowing the civilian government and arresting top leaders including President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. 

The coup also triggered nationwide protests and subsequent armed resistance movements which control large swathes of the fractured country.

Relentless attacks

Attacks intensified in the run-up to elections completed in January and have not let up since, the report found. 

Investigators traced strikes on homes, schools, medical facilities, religious buildings and displacement camps, and identified some of the military units responsible. 

They also found the military’s growing use of motorised power gliders and drones has made attacks harder for civilians to see coming, cutting the time people have to flee or find shelter.

Lives devastated

“Behind every piece of evidence we collect are people whose lives have been devastated by these crimes,” said Mr. Koumjian.

“Communities across Myanmar are not only living under the constant threat of violence but are also coping with the profound and lasting impact of what they have endured.”

Investigators also documented widespread torture and sexual violence in military-run detention facilities, including cases tied to a 2025 law that criminalizes criticism of the elections – under which people have been jailed for up to 20 years, or face the death penalty, for acts as minor as posting critical comments online. 

While most of the evidence concerns the military and allied militias, the Mechanism said it is also investigating abuses by armed groups opposed to the military.

The findings draw on more than 1,600 sources, including over 750 witness accounts, along with photographs, video, forensic evidence and satellite imagery.

What is the IIMM?

The mechanism was set up by the UN Human Rights Council in 2018 to collect and preserve evidence of the gravest crimes committed in Myanmar since 2011, for use in future prosecutions. 

It doesn’t prosecute cases itself but shares its evidence with courts and authorities that do.

These include the International Criminal Court and courts in Argentina pursuing cases over crimes against the Rohingya, and the International Court of Justice, which is weighing whether Myanmar breached the Genocide Convention during the 2016–2017 crackdown on ethnic Rohingya communities.

In 2017, then UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein condemned the Myanmar military’s persecution of the Rohingya who fled in their hundreds of thousands to neighbouring Bangladesh. “The situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing,” Zeid told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Key points

• The Taliban have taken steps to promote discipline and oversight according to a new report by the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)
• However, these steps have lack sufficient transparency on oversight and accountability measures, for such institutions as the Supreme Court
• UNAMA recommendations include strengthening accountability by clarifying the rules governing the use of force, arrest, detention, searches and crowd policing

Five years after the Taliban seized power, such grave concerns as human rights violations, detention and discrimination against women and girls continue to be consistently raised by UN agencies and partners, from UN Women to the Security Council.

Since the takeover, UNAMA has monitored the situation of governance, rule of law, security and human rights across Afghanistan, including developments in domestic law, the criminal justice system and respect for victims’ rights.

UNAMA reports have already highlighted a significant lack of public information on the status of investigations or actions to hold perpetrators of human rights violations to account.

Insufficient transparency

While de facto authorities have taken some positive steps, there has not been enough transparency on oversight and accountability measures, the report highlights.

The findings examined bodies such as the so-called Security and Filtration Commission and the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which were set up according to the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Sharia Law, replacing the former democratic constitution.

“The limited amount of public information on complaints received, investigations conducted and disciplinary or judicial actions taken by relevant de facto bodies undermine confidence and weaken deterrence,” said Georgette Gagnon, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of UNAMA.

She said the suspension of the constitution had resulted in “a blanket annulment of all former [existing] laws”. 

Unresolved complaints

In the report, UNAMA documented instances where the de facto authorities conducted arrests and investigations of reported misconduct of security personnel – some of which were referred to Taliban military courts.

At the same time, many complaints reportedly remain unresolved, the report found.

Elements which are discouraging people from coming forward include fear of reprisals, lack of trust in institutions and barriers, particularly for women who are subjected to multiple restrictions in their daily lives, the report found.

Accountability

Ms. Gagnon said visible and consistent accountability measures should ensure that rules are applied equally and to every person, including those in positions of authority.

“Improving accountability is a legal obligation of the de facto authorities and a necessary step towards improving governance and respect for human rights, which support Afghanistan’s stability and its compliance with international obligations as a basis for the country’s reintegration into the international community,” she said.

UNAMA recommended de facto authorities strengthen accountability across all security institutions by ensuring that clear rules, procedures and codes of conduct are in place, consistent with international standards.

This includes clarifying the rules governing the use of force, arrest, detention, searches and crowd policing, establishing clear standards of professional conduct and requiring all personnel to report misconduct, with commanders responsible for enforcing discipline.

Read the full report here.

Agencies report that mass returns from Iran and Pakistan, combined with shrinking humanitarian assistance, the collapse of the rural opium-based economy, climate disasters – and ongoing restrictions on the rights of women and girls – are increasing vulnerability to trafficking and abuse.

Economic hardship fuels exploitation

Recent findings from the UN migration agency’s Returnee Resilience Overview paint a stark picture of the challenges facing returnees.

Only 11 per cent of Afghans surveyed by IOM were fully employed or owned a business, while 56 per cent of returnee households said they could not cover their basic living expenses.

Nearly half said they rely on loans or donations to survive, leaving many vulnerable to exploitative labour practices, debt bondage and other forms of abuse.

Crime fighting agency UNODC and IOM warned that victims continue to be subjected to forced labour, sexual exploitation, slavery-like practices and, in some cases, organ removal.

Women, children, returnees and indebted households remain among the groups most at risk. Many are exploited in domestic work, agriculture, mining, brickmaking and carpet weaving, while others are subjected to forced begging, forced marriage, child recruitment and sexual exploitation.

Scamming operations

The UN also highlights the growing global threat of trafficking for forced criminality, with victims coerced into online scams and fraud operations through deception, violence and intimidation.

“Scamming operations defraud millions of people, generating vast illicit profits for transnational organized crime. Powerful new technologies, including artificial intelligence, are helping the fraudsters spread at an alarming speed,” said Secretary-General António Guterres, marking Thursday’s World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.

Call for stronger protection

“The scale of returns currently taking place is greater than what Afghan communities can absorb without significant international support” said IOM Afghanistan Chief of Mission Mihyung Park.

Without access to livelihoods, housing and basic services, many people may be forced to resort to dangerous migration routes, increasing their exposure to trafficking, exploitation and abuse.

UNODC Country Representative Polleak Ok Serei warned that the convergence of mass returns, aid cuts, natural disasters and the loss of livelihoods highlights the urgent need to strengthen prevention efforts.

The agencies called for stronger regional cooperation to dismantle trafficking networks, expanded support for survivors, greater access to civil documentation and livelihood opportunities, and safer migration pathways.

“Human trafficking in all its forms is a gross violation of human rights. By working together, we can end this exploitation once and for all,” Mr. Guterres said.

The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) issued an alert *on Tuesday over the rapidly expanding, multibillion-dollar criminal industry that turns job seekers into forced cybercriminals.

International enterprise 

“We’re seeing victims from over 80 different countries being trafficked into the scam centres, which are specifically playing out across Asia,” said Amy Pope, IOM Director General, briefing journalists in Geneva.

UN News’s Dan Dickinson went on assignment two years ago to the region and produced a hard-hitting series you can read here on the scam farms, facilitated by the UN crime-fighting agency, UNODC

Recruiters target people who speak good English and often hold degrees, she said, advertising what look like ordinary jobs on social media.

Once victims arrive, they are locked inside compounds, stripped of their passports and phones, and put under constant watch. 

Many are beaten or threatened and forced – through violence and debt bondage – to run scam operations targeting people worldwide. “They’re often subjected to physical or mental abuse. They are often unable to leave,” Ms. Pope said.

‘Too good to be true’

The warning signs are there for anyone willing to look, she added: “What often presents as something that looks like an ideal job opportunity is just too good to be true.” One red flag IOM has identified is travel on a tourist visa rather than a work permit – a question every applicant should ask before departure.

Crucially, IOM insists that people forced to run scams from inside these compounds are trafficking victims, not criminals, and should be protected rather than prosecuted. “We’re seeing many of the survivors of trafficking actually being identified as criminals, but in reality, they are the victims of this crime,” Ms Pope said.

Though the scam centres are based in Asia, traffickers recruit globally through social media. Between 2022 and 2025, IOM assisted more than 3,500 victims of forced criminality in South-East Asia, drawn from 39 countries – most from Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Kenya and Bangladesh.

Staggering scam

Rescue is only the start of recovery: survivors often return home facing trauma, stigma, debt, missing documents and fear of prosecution.

The scale is staggering. New UN Office on Drugs and Crime data put 2025 losses from scam offences across East and South-East Asia, Australia and New Zealand at between $88.3 billion and $114.1 billion – dwarfing the resources devoted to fighting trafficking. “Unless we take the issue quite seriously, we anticipate it will continue to grow,” Ms Pope warned.

IOM is calling for greater investment in victim protection, safe return and reintegration, and wider public awareness of traffickers’ tactics.

*IOM released its latest findings ahead of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, marked on 30 July

The flooding, triggered by heavy rainfall on 20 July, also claimed the lives of three Afghan refugees at a returnee transit camp near the Torkham border crossing with Pakistan, while nine others were injured, according to the UN relief coordination office, OCHA.

The worst devastation was reported in Parun City, the capital of Nuristan province, where a sudden flash flood struck at about 3pm local time, overwhelming residential neighbourhoods and commercial areas.

Preliminary assessments indicate that at least 22 houses were destroyed and another 45 severely damaged. Four bridges, six sections of road, irrigation canals and flood protection walls also sustained extensive damage, disrupting access to affected communities.

Saving lives

In an update from Kabul, Olga Cherevko from UN aid coordination office, OCHA, told UN News that the extreme weather event had damaged homes, roads, bridges, water systems, irrigation infrastructure and livelihoods.

“The immediate priority right now is to save lives and reach people who may still be missing or injured. But as the waters recede, the needs will extend well beyond the initial emergency response,” she said.

“Families whose homes have been destroyed or damaged will need shelter and essential household items, while damage to water and irrigation systems risks affecting access to safe drinking water and livelihoods.”

Search and rescue ongoing

The flooding disrupted access to safe drinking water for around 1,000 families after the local water supply network was damaged. Approximately 10 hectares of agricultural land were also affected, adding to concerns over livelihoods in one of Afghanistan’s most remote regions.

The disaster also affected aid operations, with offices, warehouses, vehicles and assets of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) reportedly damaged. One NGO staff member is said to be missing.

Search-and-rescue operations remained under way as of Tuesday, while mobile health teams, medical supplies and emergency food assistance were being deployed. There are fears, however, that casualty figures could rise as more information becomes available.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partners are setting up a field clinic in Parun to provide trauma care and emergency medical services to people affected by the flooding.

Damage beyond Nuristan

Beyond Nuristan, flash flooding temporarily disrupted movement through the Torkham border crossing, a critical transit route between Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

Floodwaters also damaged shops, livelihood-related installations and the protection wall of a refugee repatriation compound, where humanitarian partners support returning Afghan refugees.

In neighbouring Laghman Province, flooding primarily damaged agricultural land and irrigation systems. No damage to homes had been reported there at the time of the latest assessment.

Urgent needs

According to OCHA, the most urgent needs include emergency shelter, food assistance, safe drinking water, hygiene supplies, healthcare, psychosocial support and household essentials for families who have lost homes and livelihoods.

Three inter-agency assessment teams are due to begin detailed needs assessments as responders work to establish the full scale of the disaster and identify the communities requiring immediate assistance.

The response, however, is being complicated by difficult terrain, damaged roads and limited access to remote mountain communities.

Humanitarian partners are also monitoring forecasts of further rainfall, warning that unstable weather could trigger additional flooding in the coming days while hampering rescue operations and delaying relief deliveries.

But Cook & Coff, which is located in Khao Khuen Lan, a town in eastern Thailand, is no ordinary coffee shop.

Open to the public, it is managed by Thailand’s Department of Corrections and run on a day-to-day basis by prisoners.

Tup* is 26 years old and is the man preparing today’s brew. He spent six months in a maximum-security prison in Khlong Phai, in northeastern Thailand, before being transferred to Khao Khuean Lan, a more open facility, where he learnt to be a coffee barista.

Every day after his shift serving customers finishes at 3pm, he returns to prison. Gradually he is relearning how to once again become accustomed to the outside world.

In 20 days, Tup is due to be released. He looks forward to seeing his mother. If she can help him, he’ll invest in a coffee machine and start his own business.

Reintegration

The stigma that incarcerated people carry in Thailand often makes reintegration back into society challenging.

To relieve this burden, Thailand is attempting to reduce reoffending through rehabilitation rather than punishment.

The Kyoto Model Strategies, adopted by UN Member States in December 2025, provide a comprehensive framework for the process.

They emphasise that breaking the cycle of crime requires addressing root causes, poverty, lack of education and social exclusion, and not just imprisoning offenders.

Social shortcomings

“The real problem lies in society,” said Thitiphan Manuchantrarut, director of the Khao Prik Agricultural and Industrial Correctional Institution in Sikhio, northeastern Thailand.

“Lack of money leads offenders to drug trafficking. If they learned the skills we teach them here in prison at an early age, in the real world, they would probably not have turned to drug trafficking in the first place. They would probably not have ended up in prison.”

Reoffending is also a challenge. “Most prisoners go back to their context,” Manuchantrarut added. “If, instead of going back home, they are given the opportunity to work elsewhere, to change their initial circumstances, they will be less likely to recommit the offence.”

UN assist

Skills training in prison offers prisoners who are willing to reform a second chance. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) works with Thai authorities to support programmes which ensure that changes extend beyond policy papers.

UNODC also works with the Thai authorities to improve prison management and conditions.

In the facility where Tup spent his early twenties, prisoners – the majority of whom were poor – used to have to pay for drinking water.

UNODC installed a water purification system that turns water from the nearby lake into potable water.

Beyond installing water systems, UNODC’s role in Thailand includes connecting prison directors with community resources and helping develop the frameworks that make reintegration possible.

The Nelson Mandela Rules

The improvements are guided by the Nelson Mandela Rules, the universally acknowledged blueprint for prison management in the 21st century.

Named after the former South African President Mandela, the global icon of resistance to Apartheid – who spent much of his life incarcerated and who the UN remembers annually on 18 July – the Rules outline minimum prison conditions, provide guidance and set clear benchmarks for prison staff on how to uphold safety, security and human dignity.

They focus on taking better care of prisoners by establishing mandatory training for prison officers and promotions based on their performance.

“You will never waste a penny if you invest in the Nelson Mandela rules,” said Sukanya Thainoy, a former training academy director.

“It’s basic support for officers. With well-trained officers, treatment of prisoners improves, then prisoners look up to them, respect their professionalism. This is what creates a safe space for prisoner and officer.”

Thailand’s prison system accommodates 310,000 people. Across the country’s 143 correctional facilities, prison managers are implementing a mindset change, guided by international frameworks like the Nelson Mandela Rules and the newly adopted Kyoto Model Strategies on Reducing Reoffending.

“If prison officers are smiling, prisoners will be smiling, then society will smile,” said Permpol Thiendusit president of the Songkhla Central Prison in Southern Thailand. “Prisoners know. They can feel if their rights are being respected or not.”

*The name has been changed to protect the interviewees’ identity

In a joint alert on Thursday, the UN migration agency, IOM, and UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said that both vessels had set sail from Myanmar’s Rakhine state in late June.

Why this matters

• Hundreds more ethnic Rohingya have likely drowned
• Funding cuts leave refugees in Bangladesh with fewer options 
• Myanmar conflict encourages perilous sea journeys 

Contact was lost with one boat carrying around 250 people shortly after it departed. A second boat, with 280 people on board, is believed to have sunk off Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady coast on 8 July.

The passengers were mostly ethnic Rohingya people from Rakhine state who have faced decades of persecution by the Myanmar authorities.

The boats used in such journeys are often ill-suited to the high seas and crammed well over capacity.

Some of those on board had also travelled from Cox’s Bazar refugee camp in neighbouring Bangladesh, which is home to around one million Rohingya, who fled State-led violence against them in 2017. 

High seas

The UN agencies noted that the boats had set sail outside the regular sailing season when conditions are more hazardous. 

“This is part of a worrying trend that’s been going on for some time now. Many people, hundreds of people have already reported to have lost their lives in that same region, in those same seas this year,” said UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh.

Before these latest tragedies, nearly 300 people had already been reported missing or drowned in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal so far this year, including Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals.

Recent torrential rain and flooding across the region is believed to have increased the risks associated with making dangerous sea crossings, UNHCR said.

The agency’s Mr. Saltmarsh also noted that that the situation inside Cox’s Bazar is increasingly difficult for those staying there, because of serious funding cuts. 

“These reports underscore the devastating impact of protracted conflict and displacement, as well as the continued lack of sustainable solutions for Rohingya communities,” IOM-UNHCR said in statement. 

War’s repercussions  

The agencies pointed to the worsening humanitarian situation in Myanmar where a civil war is ongoing, linked to a military coup in February 2021. The “limited assistance and opportunities” in refugee camps in Bangladesh have also contributed to convincing an increasing number of people to risk their lives on perilous sea journeys, in search of safety and protection.

A recent UN human rights office report highlighted how foreign parties continue to supply arms, parts, ammunition and munitions to Myanmar’s military, as well as jet fuel and other dual-use items. 

The report warned that reductions and suspensions in foreign aid are threatening locally led civilian protection efforts aimed at saving lives and ensuring a minimum level of access to essential services despite continuous military attacks on civilians.

Assisting the most vulnerable 

UNHCR and IOM support governments to coordinate search and rescue of vulnerable people on the move, reception, protection and durable solutions across the Asia-Pacific region.

This cooperation – through agreements including the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime – covers refugees, migrants and stateless people moving along key migration routes, including in South and SouthEast Asia. “This route-based approach aims to save lives, protect people and reduce harm, and support States in effectively managing mixed movements,” the agencies stressed.

The warning comes in a new report by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), published on Sunday, which said that child food and nutrition insecurity is among the main drivers of undernutrition in the country. 

Wasting is the most immediate, visible and life-threatening form of malnutrition, and is caused by recent food deprivation, illness, or both. 

Children suffering from the condition are too thin for their height and their weak immune systems leave them vulnerable to developmental delays, disease and death. 

A deepening crisis 

The report, Too Little, Too Late: The Diet Crisis Facing Young Children in Afghanistan, was released as the country enters a peak wasting season from July to September.  Recent data shows it’s worsened across 26 out of 34 provinces compared with 2025, indicating an early and deepening crisis. 

For the first time at this scale in Afghanistan, UNICEF measured child malnutrition alongside the lived experience of food and nutrition insecurity among the same group of children across all provinces.  

The new findings aim to help identify risk earlier, before children become severely malnourished and require urgent treatment. 

The study points to early warning signs such as reduced food variety, skipped meals, and children eating less than they need or going hungry. Children under age two have been hardest hit, accounting for 83 per cent of severe acute malnutrition cases and 77 per cent of moderate acute malnutrition cases. 

‘Invest in prevention’ 

“Young children in Afghanistan are being pushed closer to malnutrition before the peak season has even begun,” said Dr. Tajudeen Oyewale, UNICEF Representative in the country.  

“When families begin reducing meals or cutting back on nutritious foods, it is not only a sign of hardship. It is a warning that a child may soon become dangerously wasted.” 

He noted that although treatment saves lives, “we must also invest in prevention, starting with the diets of the youngest children and pregnant women.” 

Lack of water and funding 

The new analysis shows that children in severely food-insecure households are up to six times more likely to suffer from wasting during peak malnutrition periods.   

Moreover, UNICEF’s latest Afghanistan Nutrition Cluster alert underscores why response must go beyond nutrition services alone.  

In addition to poor child diets and rising food insecurity, worsening malnutrition is also linked to disease outbreaks, low immunization coverage, inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene services, and growing funding and supply gaps – all of which are weakening children’s health and increasing their vulnerability to wasting. 

‘The window to act is narrowing’ 

With the peak wasting season approaching, UNICEF is calling for urgent investment to protect young children’s diets and prevent more youngsters from becoming malnourished.  

Action also includes scaling-up in its First Foods Initiative, prioritising children aged six to 23 months, strengthening preventive nutrition services, and ensuring better alignment of essential services around children’s nutrition needs. 

“The window to act is narrowing,” UNICEF said, stressing that “the warning signs are visible earlier, and the response must come earlier too.” 

The agency underscored the need for urgent, flexible funding now to reach families before the crisis deepens further.