Afghan women: 350 call for ’emergency humanitarian admission program’

Journalists, academics, feminists, Afghan experts… More than 350 people have asked the authorities to create an “emergency humanitarian admission program” for Afghan women, according to an op-ed in Le Monde this Friday.

A call for an initiative of the France Terre d’Asile association, which calls in detail for the implementation of humanitarian assistance in countries bordering Afghanistan for women fleeing the Taliban regime, the acceleration of the issuance of visas to France and an enhanced reception system upon their arrival in French territory.

“After the fall of Kabul, France received on its territory several thousand Afghans, former employees of the French authorities or human rights activists. However, we note that this program is running out of steam today, and we cannot accept that France believes that it has fulfilled its role, ”they write.

The first call, dated 2021, went unanswered

“We call on France to put in place the feminist diplomacy it claims to be doing,” said France Terre d’Asile CEO Delphine Rouillot, adding that “introducing feminist diplomacy today means thinking about ways to protect girls and women fleeing from dictatorship.

Few Afghan women take the dangerous path to Europe while in their own country they are the target of repressive laws that prohibit them from working and studying, among other things. Since the defection of President Ashraf Ghani in August 2021, the Taliban have regained power and are pursuing a repressive policy against women.

In the country, girls over the age of 12 can no longer go to school, women do not have access to the university and most of them do not have the right to work, pushing too many families into poverty. During the evacuations carried out in the fall of 2021, “women, in particular single women who lack the necessary interpersonal skills, were largely ignored,” the text emphasizes, adding that the latter are “hunted down, beaten, with impunity. »

In September 2021, MEPs were already calling for a special visa program for Afghan women. A call that still goes unanswered.