Standing Up for Vulnerable Afghanis
July 26, 2022
The International Women's Convocation has voiced solidarity with vulnerable genders in Afghanistan and is increasingly alarmed by reports of eroding human rights in the country. On July 20, 2022, the UN published the following information from their Assistance Mission in Afghanistan:
[The UN Mission] “confirms the erosion of basic human rights across the country since the Taliban takeover in August last year, pointing out they bear responsibility for extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and violations of fundamental freedoms.”
The report further states, specifically for women and girls: “…The erosion of women’s rights has been one of the most notable aspects of the de facto administration to date. Since 15 August 2021, women and girls have progressively had their rights to fully participate in education, the workplace and other aspects of public and daily life restricted and in many cases completely taken away. The decision not to allow girls to return to secondary school means that a generation of girls will not complete their full 12 years of basic education.”
Last year, IWC joined a statement of solidarity with vulnerable genders and populations at risk due to advancement of Taliban forces through Afghanistan, organized by the Women's Funding Network:
We stand in solidarity with vulnerable genders and populations at risk due to the advancement of Taliban forces through Afghanistan. We understand that this development poses potentially devastating consequences to the rights and wellbeing of many, particularly of women, girls, and gender nonbinary people who, since 2001, gained new freedoms by organizing and defending their human rights.
We recognize the gendered impact of conflict and the critical peacebuilding role women, girls, and gender nonbinary people play. Of the nearly 250,000 people in Afghanistan who have been forced to flee their homes since the end of May, 80 percent have been women and children.
We support the global movement of locally rooted solutions and crisis response that center the leadership of impacted populations.
We are calling on countries to stand up for women, girls, and gender nonbinary people everywhere. We ask individuals to call political representatives to expand or create emergency programs to immediately host Afghan refugees; and we ask all to consider donating to organizations doing vital work on the ground to support women under threat including the following:
Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights
Women’s Regional Network: Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (WRN)