Dear John,

My name is Maryam Rahmani and I have joined Womankind Worldwide as an advisor/advocate on Afghanistan.  

Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, my country has been gripped by a critical human rights emergency. Decades of progress on gender equality and women’s rights have been wiped out in months.   

In an urgent response to this crisis, Womankind is restoring our Afghanistan programme with immediate effect.  

Womankind worked with women’s rights organisations in Afghanistan until 2017, when internal security concerns made running programmes there unsafe. As the director of the Afghan Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC), I worked with Womankind on programmes supporting women’s education, their participation in decision-making spaces and leadership. Those were brighter, more hopeful times for women and girls in Afghanistan.  

Today, women hold no cabinet positions under the Taliban regime. It has abolished the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. Women in Afghanistan are banned from attending university and girls’ from secondary school education. They are being denied the right to work, go to parks or even leave their homes without a male chaperone.  

Life is being drained from the women who have stayed, those who are trying to keep women-led organisations running and provide basic services and support for women. After relocating with my family to the UK, I have joined Womankind to support Afghan women human rights defenders’ in every way we can. 

Vital funds for Afghan women’s rights 

Womankind will work to distribute vital funds and set up new programmes alongside Afghan partners. Together, we are committed to challenging and countering the rollback on women’s rights and helping to sustain women’s movements and networks. 

As ever, Afghan women are defiant and are finding ways to be present, active and visible. Although late last year, a large number of women’s rights activists have been arrested in Kabul and their fate is unknown.  

We must stand with Afghan women and girls in their hour of need. We must not forget them. We must speak out and urge action for them and with them.  

I hope that you will join us in doing the same.  

With best wishes,  

Maryam Rahmani
Advisor/Advocate: Afghanistan 
Womankind Worldwide