Call to Action
To witness is to see, to listen, to refuse to look away. But it is only meaningful when it leads us to action. And that is what we ask of you. To find your agency to support women and girls in Afghanistan - not as victims - but as agents of change.
Afghan women are speaking, organizing, resisting, teaching, creating, and imagining a different future, often at extraordinary risk.
Those of us with the freedom to speak and act can use that freedom with purpose: to carry their voices into rooms they cannot enter, to keep their stories in public view, and to help create the space in which their own efforts can be heard and sustained.
Use Your Platform
Whatever your platform, social media, a classroom, a workplace, a faith community, a professional association, an arts organization, a conference, or a public event - use it to amplify the voices of Afghan women.
Remind the world that the Taliban’s systematic oppression of women and girls has been recognized as gender persecution - a crime against humanity - and constitutes what UN experts and Afghan women’s rights advocates have described as gender apartheid.
Demand accountability now!
Share their testimony. Invite Afghan women to speak. Include their perspectives in conversations about Afghanistan and women's rights. Create opportunities for their work, writing, art, education and advocacy to reach audiences they cannot safely reach themselves.
Contact Those with the Power to Act
You do not need to be an expert on Afghanistan to ask those who represent you what they are doing.
Identify your national representatives and the government officials responsible for foreign affairs, international development, human rights, refugee policy, or relations with Afghanistan. Reach out to elected representatives and government officials including members of Congress or Parliament, foreign ministries, cabinet officials, and diplomatic representatives.
Ask what your government is doing to protect the rights of Afghan women and girls. Ask that Afghan women be meaningfully included in decisions and negotiations concerning Afghanistan. Ask what concrete measures are being taken to support their education, safety, freedom of movement, economic participation, and ability to participate in public life.
Give With Care
Financial support can make an immediate difference but choosing where to give deserves care.
Rather than directing you to a single organization, Where Justice Lives encourages you to research organizations working in support of women and girls in Afghanistan, particularly organizations led by Afghan women inside and outside Afghanistan. Look for organizations that are transparent about how funds are used, have demonstrated experience in Afghanistan or with Afghan communities.
Support may take many forms: education, humanitarian assistance, legal advocacy, emergency protection, resettlement, journalism, livelihoods, and support for women-led civil society.
Choose the work you believe in. And give what you can.
Do Not Look Away
The exclusion of Afghan women and girls from education, work, public life, and fundamental freedoms should never be normalized. The human rights atrocities carried out in one context has repercussions far beyond its borders. If you stand for human rights then stand for the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.