Department of Home Affairs’ implementation of WPS – the case of Afghan women applying to come to Australia

This paper examines the Department of Home Affairs’ implementation of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda through the experiences of Afghan women seeking refuge in Australia. Drawing on practitioner reflections and case studies from advocacy work supporting hundreds of high-risk Afghan women, it critically analyses the extent to which visa policies and processes address the intersecting vulnerabilities of displaced women. The paper situates this analysis within the broader feminist frameworks, highlighting how security institutions operationalise WPS commitments. Quantitative data and qualitative cases reveal systemic shortcomings in Australia’s humanitarian, family reunion, community sponsorship, and skilled refugee labour pathways, including delays, restrictive eligibility criteria, and inadequate prioritisation of high-risk women including widows, young women, and human rights defenders. These gaps contravene Australia’s obligations under CEDAW General Recommendation 30 and undermine the stated goals of the National Action Plan on WPS. The paper argues that addressing these institutional failings requires gender-sensitive reforms to visa processing, recommitment to allocations of Woman at Risk visas, recognition of intersectional vulnerabilities, and removal of structural barriers to resettlement. In doing so, it contributes to scholarship on displacement within the WPS agenda and underscores Australia’s moral and legal responsibilities towards Afghan women after two decades of international intervention.