Urgent Request : Stand with the people of Afghanistan

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Dear Members of the International Community,

We are writing to you as the “Afghan Diaspora International Platform” (ADIP) which has been established in response to the crisis of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, in order to unify our position and coordinate our approaches as well as to serve as a platform for the collective voice of Afghans. As you might be aware, there are over six million Afghans scattered across the globe, making us one of the largest diaspora communities in the world.

With the Taliban taking over Afghanistan, we are deeply concerned about the future of our country in general, but more specifically about the human rights and rights of women and girls. Taliban’s ruling of (1996 – 2001), reminds us of one of the darkest eras in our history and we have serious concerns that - unless there are targeted measures and swift actions by the international community, history will repeat and our fellow citizens will be deprived of their basic human rights once again. We are particularly concerned over the lack of access for women and girls to their fundamental rights of employment, education and overall participation in socio-political affairs.

While the Taliban are yet to announce their government, many of their media statements have indicated their position on women's rights, expressing ideologies and imposing policies which are fundamentally restrictive of women’s roles in Afghan society. Taliban spokespeople have made promises to ensure women’s access to education and employment, however, their specific policies and the reality on the ground indicate the opposite. Schools currently remain closed for all secondary and high school female students. The Taliban has issued detailed and deeply restrictive rules for girls and women attending higher education that will deprive them of access to education and many of any higher education at all. Also, women have been cautioned by the Taliban not to go to work and many are sent away when they show up to resume their work. The behavior of the Taliban toward women protesting in Kabul and Herat last week, also demonstrates their lack of willingness to respect women’s rights, including their right to free speech and assembly.

Afghanistan has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which makes Afghanistan, including in its current state under a Taliban regime, obliged to take actions to ensure full gender equality in all aspects of life. The Taliban’s current treatment of women and girls violates these obligations. Such treatment is also in contradiction to the religious beliefs of Afghan people and against Islamic values practiced globally. The Taliban should know that they are not the only Islamic government in the world. They must not enforce religious tyranny based on their fringe interpretation of Islam, nor should they suppress the diversity of our society which is ethnically, culturally and religiously varied and richer as a result.


In these difficult times, we try to be the voices of Afghan women and men trapped behind the walls of fear and desolation inside Afghanistan. We believe that the international community has a moral obligation to stand with our people at these difficult times and we bring to their attention the following recommendations:

i)                    Governments, donors, and international organizations should not recognize the Taliban as a legitimate “government” unless they demonstrate through their actions a genuine commitment to respecting Afghanistan’s obligations under international human rights law, including through formation of a truly inclusive government, respecting and protecting basic human rights including the rights of women and girls and the rights of free expression, and fulfilling their obligations in accordance to the international human rights standards.

Ii)                    While pressuring the Taliban to respect human rights, especially the rights of women and girls, governments, donors and the international community also must help avoid a deepening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. They should provide urgent humanitarian and development support - directly to NGO’s and UN Agencies, without Taliban interference- and not let Afghanistan go forgotten by the world once again.

Sincerely,

 

Afghan Diasporas International Platform Europe, Canada, the US, UK, Asia and Australia