Fatima meeting with the children of the GoF remotely, from her home.
Dear Friends,
It was Christmas Eve when we wrote you about the shocking new Taliban restrictions banning women from working for NGOs, which includes the teachers for our project, the Garden of Flowers Montessori Preschool. Your global responses were so strong that we compiled them on this page on our website.
Now, one week later, we have some updates to share, and ideas for action.
Updates
As of now Razia and Fatima of the GoF are at home, since the NGO work restrictions apply to them. They are doing ok but are subdued, and they miss the children and their work very much. They are using this time to identify desperately poor families that need food or firewood for the winter that MEPO can help. In the city, streets are tense as people are angry, but the Taliban and their guns intimidate. Meanwhile, Nik Mohammad and Hedayat are running the GoF with Obaid’s help. Yesterday when we called, Obaid was in the yard playing ball games with the children while Nik Mohammad was cleaning up from the day’s activities. The teachers are in touch with the men daily and are beginning to conduct remote activities such as recording songs or doing video lessons and games with the children. Everyone is restricted by limited electricity availability, but they are resourceful and making it work.
Politics and Action To Be Taken
The world is speaking up more and more against the Taliban. Perhaps some of you might remember that in a recent newsletter we wrote that crimes against women are crimes against humanity – well, it turns out that perhaps the UN thinks so too! This recent quote from an article from a respected news outlet is significant:
‘U.N. experts said last month that the Taliban’s treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan may amount to a crime against humanity and should be investigated and prosecuted under international law.
They said the Taliban actions against females deepened existing rights violations — already the “most draconian globally” — and may constitute gender persecution, which is a crime against humanity.’
The Taliban are not giving in but the global pressure is growing. So what can we do?
What if State players and the UN received an avalanche of direct emails from individuals around the world, people like you, insisting that they do even MORE to put pressure on the Taliban?
Below are links to several email addresses, including the UN Human Rights Council and countries with ties to the Taliban. If you feel inspired, please send an email to one or all of these addresses, speaking from your heart about how you feel about the Taliban’s actions and what you think should be done. For example, Qatar spent billions on the World Cup: surely they can spend some money and time to use their influence on the Taliban …?
ohchr-InfoDesk@un.org UN Human Rights Commission
otp.informationdesk@icc-cpi.int International Criminal Court, Office of the Prosecutor
www.gco.gov.qa/en/contact-us/ Qatar Government Office
spokesperson.office1@mofa.gov.pk Pakistan Government
*For those of you who use Twitter, all these countries have social media presence and a Twitter blast is another way to contact them and publicize this issue more. Good ones to target would be Pakistan, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, etc.
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In summary, while such actions may feel small in the face of these global powers-that-be, we will not know the effect unless we try. There are more than 500 people on this mailing list, and all then forward this effort to more people who also take action, there is the potential for those powerful offices to receive THOUSANDS of emails from around the world, in support of Afghan women. Let’s do this together for the women of Afghanistan!
In the spirit of resilience and joy, please enjoy the video below. Razia sent it to us from her home today, showing her neighborhood blanketed in the thick snow that fell overnight in Kabul. You can hear her congratulating everyone about the beauty of the first snow, expressing her hope that the snow represents a time of a new era when they can all go back to work, and wishing everyone a Happy New Year.
Thank you for being there with us.
The MEPO Team, and Allison and Mostafa
PS-If you are interested in more of the recent journalism about the situation, here are some additional links:
- A powerful interview shares more about the situation and the effect on women and the country.
- Countries all around the world, from the UN Security Council to the G7 to many Muslim countries and Muslim leaders are speaking up directly to the Taliban, exhorting them to stop this and reverse their misogynist decisions.
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