reported thousands of cases in the first six months of the year, including beatings, killings and acid attacks. In January, a man cut off the nose of his 22-year-old wife in Faryab. The incident was condemned across Afghanistan, including by a Taliban spokesperson. In July, a 14-year-old pregnant girl was set on fire by her husband and her parents-inlaw to punish her father for eloping with a cousin of the girl’s husband. She died five days later in hospital in Kabul. Armed groups targeted women working in public life, including women police officers. Armed groups also restricted the freedom of movement of women and girls, including their access to education and health care, in areas under their control. UNAMA reported an increase in the number of women punished in public under Shari’a law by the Taliban and other armed groups. Between 1 January and 30 June, UNAMA documented six parallel justice punishments by armed groups of women accused of so-called “moral crimes”, including the executions of two women and the lashing of four others. REFUGEES AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE According to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, approximately 2.6 million Afghan refugees were living in more than 70 countries, making them the second largest refugee population worldwide. Around 95% lived in just two countries, Iran and Pakistan, where they faced discrimination, racial attacks, lack of basic amenities and the risk of mass deportation. Approximately 1.4 million refugees in Pakistan risked mass deportation with their registration tentatively expiring at the end of the year. UNHCR estimated that a further one million undocumented refugees were in Pakistan. According to UNHCR, more than 500,000 Afghan refugees (documented and undocumented) were repatriated from Pakistan during the year. This was the highest number since 2002. Officials reported up to 5,000 returnees during each 60 of the first four days of October. The situation was intensified with the deal signed between the Afghan government and the EU on 5 October 2016, agreeing to the unlimited return of Afghan refugees from EU member states. Internally displaced people By September 2016, the number of people internally displaced reached an estimated 1.4 million. Many continued to live in squalid conditions without access to adequate housing, food, water, health care, education or employment opportunities. According to UNOCHA, from 1 January to 11 December, 530,000 individuals became internally displaced mainly due to conflict. The situation facing internally displaced people (IDPs) has worsened in recent years. A national IDP policy launched in 2014 was hindered by corruption, lack of capacity in the government and fading international interest. IDPs, along with other groups, faced significant challenges in accessing health care. Public facilities remained severely overstretched, and IDP camps and settlements often lacked dedicated clinics. Medicines and private clinics were unaffordable for most IDPs and the lack of adequate maternal and reproductive health care was a particular area of concern. IDPs also faced repeated threats of forced evictions by both government and private actors. HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS Armed groups continued to target and threaten human rights defenders. Women human rights defenders in particular faced death threats against themselves and their families. In early 2016, a prominent human rights defender received a death threat via Facebook from the Taliban against himself and nine others. After the 10 activists approached the authorities about the threat, the intelligence agency National Directorate of Security arrested two people with reported links to the Taliban, but no subsequent Amnesty International Report 2016/17