22-10-2021
In a letter to United Nations (UN) agencies and member states, Feminist
Action for Afghanistan, a global coalition of feminist, women’s rights organizations, and Afghan
women condemns a growing pattern of exclusion of Afghan women from key mechanisms to
address Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis.
In advance of next week’s recognition of the
anniversary of the UN Security Council Resolution on Women, Peace and Security (UNSCR
1325), the coalition is calling for governments and UN agencies to ensure that Afghan women’s
representatives are involved at all stages of negotiations on economic support, trade, security and
governance in Afghanistan.
"We state in the clearest terms that exclusion of women in general, and Afghan women in
particular, from negotiations and all processes about the future of Afghanistan, constitutes defacto complicity with the Taliban’s agenda to eliminate women from public life and to reverse
commitments to the human rights of women and girls,” the letter states.
The letter is a response to the failure of the international community to meaningfully include
Afghan women in talks and negotiations, or to include them in discussions on conditions relating
to the establishment of trust funds and other financial mechanisms to address the humanitarian
crisis. It also comes as the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
has failed to make clear that it will include Afghan women’s representatives in a decision making capacity that will have meaningful impact on the design, implementation, and
monitoring of aid delivery.
The letter expresses the coalition’s readiness to partner with UN agencies and member states to
ensure meaningful Afghan women’s participation at all levels of decision-making in the
humanitarian response.
