Announcing the establishment of the “Afghanistan Women’s Freedom Network” with an emphasis on education, justice, and human rights

In a meeting attended by a number of women’s rights activists, justice seekers, and civil society activists, the “Afghanistan Women’s Freedom Network” announced the official start of its activities by issuing a resolution on its establishment and mission.

The resolution states that this network was formed with a belief in freedom, justice, equality, and human dignity and is based on the principle that sustainable peace, development, and social justice will only be achieved through the equal participation of women and men in all areas of life. According to the members of this network, no society can achieve prosperity, security, and progress by eliminating half of its population.

The Afghan Women’s Freedom Network has declared its mission to defend the fundamental rights of women and girls, strengthen social participation, support women’s education, employment, and economic empowerment, and use civil, legal, media, and international capacities to achieve these goals.

The resolution describes the exclusion of girls from education, the prevention of women from employment, and their exclusion from social and political arenas as a clear violation of human rights and a serious threat to the future of Afghanistan. The network warned that the exclusion of millions of girls from education has deprived the country of specialized and creative human resources, expanded poverty, and paved the way for the growth of extremism and backwardness.

According to the statement, the Afghan Women’s Freedom Network intends to work by creating alternative educational opportunities, online training, scientific, professional, and skill programs, supporting women’s employment and entrepreneurship, developing economic capacities, and creating support networks for affected women.

The network also announced that it will continuously document the situation of women’s rights in Afghanistan, record human rights violations, and report them to relevant international institutions for follow-up.

In another part of this resolution, concern was expressed about the spread of extremism and the limitation of the Afghan education system, and the replacement of scientific education with ideological education was considered a serious threat to the future of the country, sustainable peace and security of the region. For this reason, this network emphasized supporting programs that are based on critical thinking, peaceful coexistence, equality, respect for human rights and human development.

The Afghan Women's Freedom Network has also committed to stand by women who are victims of violence, discrimination, deprivation and threats and to work to expand legal, psychological and social counseling services and create support pathways for them.

The statement continued by stating that the systematic exclusion of women from various areas of life not only violates their fundamental rights, but also halts the development, stability and progress of Afghanistan. According to this network, a society whose women are deprived of the right to education, work and social participation will never achieve justice, prosperity and sustainable development.

In conclusion, the members of this network called on the United Nations, the Human Rights Council, UNAMA, regional and global governments, human rights organizations, and all civil society organizations to not remain silent in the face of widespread violations of Afghan women's rights, to condemn discriminatory policies against women, and to use all legal and diplomatic capacities to guarantee the fundamental rights of Afghan women and girls.

The Afghan Women's Freedom Network has emphasized that the future of Afghanistan is only possible with the equal participation of all citizens, without gender, ethnic, religious, and political discrimination, and this network will continue the civil, peaceful, and lawful struggle for freedom, equality, justice, and a bright future.