As leaders consider next steps, Malala Fund calls for Afghan women and girls to remain at the centre of any discussion at the Doha conference in May.
For more than 600 days, Afghan girls and women have suffered increasing persecution by the Taliban. There are bans keeping women from working and girls from attending school. Women and girls are also restricted from many public spaces. The regime often uses force to silence protesters. International condemnation has failed to hold the Taliban to account.
With such repressive edicts in place, aid organisations are considering withdrawal from Afghanistan in order to not to breach humanitarian principles of non-discrimination. This would have devastating consequences for the livelihoods and rights of all citizens.
Afghan girls and women, along with their allies, continue to protest the legitimacy of the Taliban regime. They are also demanding to see their basic freedoms realised. They want the right to learn, work, enter public spaces, travel and choose what they wear. Malala Fund stands in solidarity with their fight. This gender apartheid must end.
From May 1 - 2, the UN Secretary General and Special Envoys will meet in Doha to discuss the steps needed to address the crisis in Afghanistan. Malala Fund calls on the UN and participating governments to invite leading Afghan women activists from diverse backgrounds to present their perspectives and experiences in the meeting. Throughout the discussions, leaders and the international community must keep the rights of Afghan women at the centre of all considerations. Their futures must not be traded away. It is against this principle that all action must be judged. Anything less will compound the erasure of half the population of Afghanistan.
