Fighting for the Women of Afghanistan

Last week, I attended a panel at the UN Human Rights Council on women's rights in Afghanistan. One of the speakers was Selay Ghaffar, a leader from HAWCA (Humanitarian Assistance for Women and Children of Afghanistan), which works for women's rights and empowerment. They focus on empowering women to claim their rights to dignity, equality, and justice. They work extensively on issues of violence against women and women's economic empowerment.
   
In her talk, Ms. Ghaffar outline the four main rights that need to be addressed: the right to live with dignity, the right education, the right to health, the right to work. Here are a few key statistics she pointed out:

• 87% of Afghani women face domestic violence in their lifetimes
• Women are resorting to suicide, self-mutilation, drug use, and other behaviors as a way of coping with the violence and abuse they are facing. Many women feel it would be better to die than to live in suffering.
• Only 16% of girls in the provinces have access to basic/elementary education
• In the last several years, security issues have become a major concern and a major obstacle for girls to obtain education. Acid attacks, poisonings, kidnappings, and other threats have become common against young girls trying to attend school. Thus, families feel it is safer to keep their daughters at home than to risk sending them out.
• In most areas of Afghanistan, there are no clinics or hospitals for women and girls to address basic health needs. Many women do not know where to go or how to get help when they are pregnant or when they go into labor.
• Women and newborns are dying at alarming rates from lack of adequate medical care.
• Security for women who want to work outside the home is a major issue. Harassment, abuse, discrimination, and kidnappings are widespread.

Ms. Ghaffar discussed the challenges women are facing and the struggle to provide services. She is understandably disappointed in the lack of response and assistance from the international community, and she expressed frustrations with the ongoing armed conflict and the failures of the current government. She shared several important insights into life within Afghanistan.

    

In response, I would like SSGF to get involved in providing much needed assistance to some of the long-standing women's groups within Afghanistan. In particular, I am interested in providing assistance to the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). For more information about this organization, visit their website here: RAWA.

   

I will be giving more details about SSGF plans for this project, but for now I would like people to start thinking about how they can help. I want to hold a donation drive to collect items that RAWA has expressly requested, including school supplies and digital cameras. Providing tangible donations is a great way to get involved, and RAWA is an amazing and worthy organization that is doing great work for women and girls. I hope to write more on this issue when I have the time. For now, feel free to explore their website and if you have any ideas on how you would like to help, let me know.

    

With peace and freedom,

Lauren