When the pandemic struck, around February 2020, tens of thousands of undocumented Afghans were deported, flooding the Gazargah Transit Centre. “Everybody was scared and the camp received thousands of deportees daily,” Ms. Zia remembered. “There were many deportees who were pregnant women and in critical situations in need of urgent support. I had to support them.”

“I was about seven years old when my mother organized a female genital mutilation ritual for me. The paradji [traditional birth attendant] used a piece of sharpened bamboo stick. I was screaming in severe pain, and I saw blood coming out,” recalled Hj. Helwana, a religious leader from the Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI). “I was and still am very traumatized.”

The Government of Japan has committed $1.4 million to support UNFPA’s work in Iran, aimed at improving maternal health for Afghan refugees and host community women and young girls to ensure no one is left behind.