Afghan Women and Girl's Survival Fund

As MADRE continues our work with Afghan women and girls human rights defenders, we are grateful to share some updates on our work with the United Nations and other long-term efforts to raise international awareness and recognition about gender-based persecution. 

Last year, MADRE released a report on gender persecution in Afghanistan as a crime against humanity. Issued as part one of a forthcoming analysis series, this report focused on the Taliban’s discriminative deprivations of three of women’s human rights–the rights to education, assembly, and expression–and provided examples of crimes the Taliban committed in order to enforce gender discrimination and inequality. 

With a better understanding of the different forms of gender persecution and the discrimination that underlies these crimes, we continue to strengthen work to support victims and end cycles of gender-based violence in communities across the globe.

Recently, the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on behalf of MADRE and other member organizations. The letter called for the meaningful inclusion of a diverse group of Afghan Women Human Rights Defenders and peacebuilders in the upcoming meeting of Special Envoys on Afghanistan, stating, “Afghanistan is an opportunity for the UN to truly lead by example.” 

Over 60 Afghan women representing diverse advocacy groups and coalitions met with the Special Envoys earlier this summer, sharing how their lives have changed since the Taliban returned to power, including the psychological and physical abuse Afghan women are facing, and demanding concrete action to hold the Taliban accountable for their human rights violations. 

The Afghan women in attendance also emphasized that “...this meeting does not take the place of official representation by Afghan women in the Doha Conference. As a collective of Afghan women, we demand that women are centered in every peace talk, international conference, and negotiation about Afghanistan.” 

MADRE furthered our efforts to bridge the gap between Afghan civil society and US policymakers by creating spaces for collaboration and solidarity-building in private and public channels. For instance, MADRE continued to fund and organize opportunities to bring together Afghan women leaders in-country and in exile to engage and strategize on advancing women’s rights and demands in Afghanistan and international advocacy spaces. 

MADRE remains committed to supporting the Afghan women’s movement during this time of instability and continues to be in conversation with Afghan women leaders forced into exile. Thank you for supporting this essential work.