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COMMON ANALYSIS
Last update: January 2023

After the Taliban’s takeover, donors and international financial institutions suspended all financial support, leading to a liquidity crisis in the country, a near-collapse of the banking system, depreciation of the national currency, increasing prices and the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs [KSEI 2022, 2.1, p. 19]. Due to the economic crisis, the humanitarian situation – already affected by decades of conflict, severe droughts, and the COVID-19 pandemic – further deteriorated [KSEI 2022, 2.2, p. 21]. As of March 2022, Afghanistan was reported to be facing ‘one of the world’s largest food security crises’ and a ‘malnutrition crisis of unparalleled proportions’ with a sharp surge in the acute hunger-affected population [KSEI 2022, 4.1, p. 30].

In autumn 2021, the average household debt was reportedly more than six times the average monthly income. Loss of livelihood and employment, rising food prices and currency devaluation led to an increase in negative coping mechanisms such as increase in debts, the sale of assets, marrying off girls or the sale or exchange of children [KSEI 2022, 3.1, p. 25].

Women and female-headed households were particularly affected by the Taliban’s policies of banning women from returning to their jobs or using public transport alone, requiring them to be accompanied by a close male relative when leaving the house, and observing a strict dress code. These policies did not only limit women’s freedoms, but also affected their ability to work and make a living, driving them further into poverty [KSEI 2022, 3.2, p. 26]. In March 2022, it was indicated that for female-households it is more challenging to access aid ‘in the deeply conservative and patriarchal country’, as it is, for example, quite difficult for women to access food distribution centres when they are already overcrowded with men [KSEI 2022, 4.2, p. 35]. The decision by the Taliban to prohibit women in Balkh and Herat provinces access to public bath-houses (hammams) reportedly sparked outrage, as many households lacked the facilities and capacity to heat large quantities of water for washing and bathing at home [KSEI 2022, 5.1, p. 40].

Women were also found to be particularly affected by inheritance issues because communities and families discriminate against their inheritance rights, while informal legal systems discriminate in the application of the relevant legal frameworks. Consequently, the affected households lived in permanently unstable conditions, making them ‘particularly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation’. Such households needed further HLP assistance and cash for rent if they were threatened with eviction [KSEI 2022, 5.2, p. 41].

Households in Helmand, Zabul, Nangarhar, Kabul and Ghor provinces were reportedly most affected by land-related issues, inheritance disputes and access and use issues. It was noted that such disputes often arose when households were unable to pay their rent on time and subsequently were facing harassment and eviction, or abusive practices (such as a sudden rent increase or demanding rent during the month) by their landlords. As most households did not have rental agreements, tenants were vulnerable to such practices [KSEI 2022, 5.1, p. 41].

In urban areas, many IDPs reportedly faced discrimination, lacked access to basic services and faced a permanent risk of being evicted from illegally occupied displacement sites. Lack of livelihood opportunities often led to secondary displacement or IDPs turning to extreme negative coping mechanisms such as child-selling or organ-selling [KSEI 2022, 3.3, pp. 27-28].

Hundreds of Hazara Shia families had reportedly been forcibly evicted from their homes and land by the Taliban. Similar evictions were reported in Jawzjan province, with more than 1 000 members of ethnic Uzbek and Turkmen communities being expelled by Taliban fighters [KSEI 2022, 1.2, p. 17].

Serious harm must take the form of conduct of an actor (Article 6 QD). In themselves, general poor socio-economic conditions are not considered to fall within the scope of inhuman or degrading treatment under Article 15(b) QD, unless there is intentional conduct of an actor.

When these socio-economic conditions are the result of an intentional conduct of an actor (e.g. forced evictions), these conditions may qualify under Article 15(b) QD in relation to Article 6 QD, following an individual assessment.

Such conditions may also increase the risk of persecution or other serious harm, such as child marriage or sale of children, where the actor requirement under Article 6 QD would also be met.

In some of those cases, a nexus to a reason for persecution may also be substantiated and refugee status may be granted instead.