Helping women and girls in Afghanistan
WDI calls on the international community to open reserved corridors for Afghan women and children
Women's Declaration International is calling on the UN and the international community to:
- Open humanitarian corridors specifically for women, girls and children who need to leave Afghanistan
- Support women’s rights organisations such as the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) who intend to stay in Afghanistan and resist
- Use any possible influence to prevent the Taliban’s assaults on women and women’s rights
- Protect women all over the world who are persecuted on the basis of their sex
We are concerned at the relatively low number of female political refugees reaching Europe, and ask the UN to focus its efforts more closely on protecting women, girls and children who are often in the greatest danger from the Taliban; and to open protected humanitarian corridors to allow those women and children a passage to safety.
We ask the UN to allocate resources to support the brave women who have chosen to stay and resist the Taliban and their organisations, such as the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan.
The Taliban regime is not a legitimate government. Not only are women’s rights curtailed by the Taliban to such an extent that they are treated as non-people in their own country, but they face physical punishment, imprisonment and death for the most minor contraventions of intensely misogynist rules. Women and girls throughout Afghanistan are at constant risk of rape and sexual slavery as Taliban fighters demand to be rewarded with sexual access to them.
In different degrees and respects, all women in the world undergo similar forms of oppression under male domination. The Afghan women’s struggle for liberation is the same struggle women face everywhere. WDI calls on the UN and national governments to protect women and girls all over the world who are persecuted and oppressed because of their sex; and to extend special refugee status and protection to all women and girls fleeing male violence.
WDI is looking into ways to help our sisters in Afghanistan - in the mean time, please sign these petitions and consider donating to one of these organisations. If you know of any other organisations or efforts to help please let us know and we will share them.
Petitions:
Sign the UK petition to protect Afghan women and girls' freedom and safety
Sign the Italian petition to create humanitarian corridors
Sign the Australian petition to bring vulnerable Afghan families to Australia
Petition to the Spanish Prime Minister to prosecute Taliban crimes before the International Criminal Court and grant asylum to afghan women in Spain
Call to the international community (in several languages): Abrid las puertas a Afganistán y las afganas / Let's open our doors to Afghanistan and Afghan women / Ouvrons nos portes à l’Afganistan et les femmes afganes / Afghanistan und den Afghaninnen die Türen öffnen
Support these organisations:
Pledge to support Afghan Airlift
Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan
European Network of Migrant Women
Swedish Committee for Afghanistan
CARE International - one of the world's largest humanitarian organisations with a long history of helping people in Afghanistan
International Federation of Journalists solidarity campaign (for journalists)
Georgetown Institute of Women, Peace and Security - How to Save the Lives of Afghan Women
Women's International Solidarity Australia
Articles and statements:
European Network of Migrant Women statement on the situation in Afghanistan and the rights of Afghan women and girls
Statement from the European Women's Lobby
Open letter to the German government from Trauma and Prostitution
Radical feminists rescue Afghan women - 4W article
Statement from FILIA - We Stand with the Women and Peoples of Afghanistan
Afghanistan: Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union
What Women's Advocacy Groups Worldwide are Doing for Afghan Women - Josie Fischel
Afghanistan and Gender: why can't women identify out of their oppression? Jaclynn Joyce
The World Must not Look Away as the Taliban Sexually Enslaves Women and Girls - Laura Hood (English)
El Mundo no Puede Mirar Hacia Otro Lado Mientras Los Talibanes Esclavizan Sexualmente a Mujeres y Ninas - Laura Hood (Espagnol)