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Donate to our Afghanistan Emergency Relief Fund
With a small group of NGOs, women peacebuilders, activists, women’s rights defenders, journalists, artists, and academics, including the London School of Economics (LSE) and University College London (UCL), we formed the Afghan Solidarity Coalition to facilitate safe houses in Afghanistan, provide livelihood support for partners, and, where possible, support evacuation and resettlement. We are raising funds to continue this work.
100% of funds raised will go towards these efforts.
All donations received are being managed and distributed by the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN). If you have any questions on the financial management of the Afghanistan Emergency Relief Fund please contact: info@icanpeacework.org.
Our Afghanistan Response
We have advocated for years for the inclusion of Afghan women peacebuilders in the Doha negotiations and other peace talks with the Taliban, the Afghan government, and international community. Our concern was always that the protection of civilians and the safeguarding of human rights, including the rights of women and minorities, would not be prioritized and that the implications would be devastating.
Based on our decades of experience and research, ICAN’s premise was that Afghan women peacebuilders’ presence in direct negotiations could mitigate these concerns. By August 2021, as NATO’s military withdrawal accelerated and the Taliban advanced, many of our greatest fears were realized. Despite many governments’ pledges of protection for women peacebuilders and their claims to support women in the security sectors, judiciary, and government, we found women peacebuilders abandoned and in fear for their lives.
In line with our mission, our three-part strategy is as follows:
- Advocacy to the international community on behalf of and alongside our Afghan partners;
- Direct support to Afghan partners and others at-risk seeking evacuation and resettlement; and
- Financial and practical assistance to organizations and individuals inside Afghanistan.
Advocacy: Taking the Lead from Afghan Women Peacebuilders
Our advocacy highlights the need for inclusivity and gender-responsiveness in the actions of the international community, including security interventions, diplomacy, and humanitarian response. We base our recommendations on communication with our Afghan partners inside and outside the country, and on our global experience. We tailor our guidance to the real-time events and issues that governments and the UN system are faced with.
Please Help Provide a Critical Lifeline to Afghan Women Peacebuilders this Spring
At ICAN, we rarely ask for individual donations but, these are unprecedented times. We need your help as we continue supporting our Afghan partners and their families.
Call for Female Heads of State to Protect our Afghan Colleagues and Sisters
The Women’s Alliance for Security Leadership (WASL) and Women Mediators Across the Commonwealth (WMC) authored this letter to female heads of state on behalf of Afghan colleagues and sisters. The letter requests meetings with political leaders to ensure the protection of Afghan women, specifically with regard to issuing visas for resettlement, safeguarding human rights within country, upholding measures against forced marriage, and the inclusion of Afghan women in dialogue with the Taliban and the delivery of gender-responsive humanitarian aid.
Urgent Demand to Donors from the Feminist Action for Afghanistan
The Feminist Action for Afghanistan (FAA) in which ICAN participates is sending this letter to States, the UN agencies, and INGOs to keep the focus on the priority needs for Afghanistan and to ensure that Afghan women are absolutely present and shaping policy in these critical areas of concern.
Giving Tuesday: Please Support our Afghanistan Emergency Relief Fund
Several months have passed since the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Though global media attention is dying down, the crisis continues and the risk faced by our partners increases with each passing day as the Taliban ramps up violence against Afghan civil society.
Following the fall of Kabul, we formed the Afghan Solidarity Coalition with a small band of NGOs, academics and others. Together, we are working to get our Afghan colleagues and families, around 2,000 in total, to safety.
On Giving Tuesday, please support our Afghanistan Emergency Relief Fund. See how your money can help save lives and futures and re-share to spread the word.
Sign-On: Action Points to Guarantee the Rights, Safety and Health of Women and Girls in Afghanistan
The international community needs to take urgent action to ensure Afghan women and girls across all ethnic and religious communities, in urban and rural areas, feel safe and have equal rights and opportunities to a life of dignity, peace, safety and justice.
To achieve this overarching goal, and to ensure that there is no regression in the context of the impending humanitarian crisis, we have stated four key outcomes and offered specific actions by international actors and specific actions by the Taliban.
Humanitarian Response to Afghanistan Must Not Do Harm
Given the gendered segregation of society that the Taliban has already instigated, the delivery of aid to women and girls will be even more highly dependent on female Afghan aid workers and local women-led civil society organizations (CSOs). Such organizations have traditionally been the key conduits to reaching the most needy and marginalized sectors of society. They are more essential now.
We have offered 10 practical steps that the UN and other international humanitarian actors can take in designing and implementing their humanitarian response.
International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) Statement on Afghanistan
We called for the international community to listen to Afghan women peacebuilders.
Our partners risked their own lives to speak at the United Nations, the European Union, the International Criminal Court, in the United States, and elsewhere. They warned of the reality in the Afghan forces, informed the world of needs on the ground, and offered recommendations and practical actions. They repeatedly asked for the chance to negotiate their own fate at the peace tables in Doha and elsewhere. They were never granted such an opportunity. Rather, they were willfully ignored and excluded.
An Open Letter to Friends of Afghanistan and Champions of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda
As the future of the Afghan peace process remains uncertain, we must ensure that power sharing based on violence does not become the basis for a political settlement. The inclusion of women must inform the substance of all future talks, as it will give negotiations legitimacy, and increase the chance of peace.
This open letter calls on Friends of Afghanistan and Champions of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda to take concrete action to ensure the systematic presence of the Afghan women peacebuilders in the peace process.
Afghan Women, Peace, and Security (The Iran Podcast)
Negar Mortazavi with Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini
May, 18 2022
Why Don’t Afghan Lives Matter? | Opinion – Sanam Naraghi Anderlini (Newsweek)
By Sanam Naraghi Anderlini
September, 3 2021
ICAN Program Officer Malalai Habibi on BBC Persian
Financial Support to Afghan Peacebuilders
In the wake of the Taliban takeover, the imposition of sanctions, and the freezing of bank accounts, we received desperate pleas for direct financial assistance from our Afghan partners. In response, we quickly developed two Rapid Response Windows (RRWs) specifically designed to enable organizations and individuals to receive funds.
The Afghan Institutional RRW enabled all seven of our WASL partner organizations to keep their doors open and provide support to staff and beneficiaries across the country. The goal has been to enable these organizations to continue their vital work, including care for victims of violence, psychosocial support to women and girls, and mitigating the extremist practices of the Taliban in various communities.
With our Afghan Individual RRW, we supported safe houses for those at great risk and provided funds to over a dozen families for food, rent, winter clothes, and heating bills. We also provided treatment and transportation for cancer patients. For those who received visas, we supported relocation and evacuation costs.
All funding was provided and transferred to beneficiaries in compliance with US sanctions and in a manner that ensured the safety of recipients.
Farsi Resources
10 Steps to Ensure a Gender-Responsive and Inclusive Constitution-Drafting Process
10 Steps to Ensure Gender Responsive Transitional Justice Processes
10 Steps to Ensure Gender Responsive Processes and Ceasefire Agreements