Free Women Writers, in collaboration with Femena is raising funds to support women activists and human rights defenders who are escaping Taliban persecution. Click here to donate.
The crisis in Afghanistan is negatively impacting civilians around the country and the stories of violence following the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban are horrific. The violence is largely focused on women and ethnic, religious, and racial groups that have been historically marginalized. The Taliban lost no time in targeting human rights and civil society activists and journalists. In fact, this targeting started before they took over the country in the form of targeted killings of many who were working to build a better, more democratic Afghanistan. Now, the Taliban are going door to door looking for activists they plan to punish for daring to promote equality and social inclusion.
The targeting of women activists is part of a larger effort to pushback on the gains that women have made over the last two decades. Women human rights defenders, journalists and civil society activists are especially vulnerable because they are publicly known and have no place to hide in their own cities. Some have been forced to leave their homes and take refuge in other cities where they are not known and have some safety, where they wait for a reduction in violence or more durable and safer alternatives. We want to help these women and activists who have for years fought for equality, justice, and peace in Afghanistan, often at great cost to themselves and their loved ones.
We started this campaign to stand in solidarity with displaced women activists and their families and to help offset their cost of housing, including hotels and daily expenses. The Campaign will benefit the work of Free Women Writers, a registered non-profit 501(c)3, made up of writers, students, and activists who defend women’s rights in Afghanistan. Free women writers will work with FEMENA, also a non-profit organization, to identify women human rights defenders at risk for support, which may include some of the following efforts:
· Paying for the cost of their stays in hotels or guest houses in cities other than their own.
· Support to those who need to pay for daily expenses of food and other expenses while in hiding.
· Support for visa applications, we will pay visa costs and travel costs of activists who are seeking to leave the country
· Stay (hotel and daily expenses of activists and their families) in 3rd countries where they are awaiting relocations, this includes Turkey, India, Qatar, for example.
· Emergency support for evacuation from Afghanistan, medical expenses or relocation costs.
Let us collectively tell these women that their efforts over the years to bring about progress in Afghanistan is appreciated and we stand with them and their hopes and dreams during these unprecedented and difficult times.