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Truss and Sunak urged to help Afghan women as only 11 activists settle in the UK since Taliban takeover

MPs, activists and female Afghan leaders call for overhaul of system that gives vulnerable women and girls in Afghanistan no way to seek asylum in Britain

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are under pressure to open the UK’s borders to women and girls who are trapped in Afghanistan a year after the Taliban takeover of the country.

There is currently no way for women who are being oppressed by the Islamist regime to seek asylum in Britain, and only 11 women’s rights activists have been resettled in this country.

In a letter to the two leadership candidates, a cross-party group of MPs, as well as campaigners from Afghanistan, have called for an overhaul of the existing asylum scheme to give vulnerable women and girls more access.

Under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, launched at the start of this year, the UK has committed to take 20,000 refugees in the next few years.

It is not possible for individuals to apply for this scheme and most of those eligible are likely to be referred to the British Government by the United Nations, after fleeing Afghanistan and contacting UN workers.

In their letter, the MPs and activists said: “Under the Taliban, Afghan women and girls face draconian restrictions unlike anywhere else in the world. Many Afghan women now face a direct threat to their lives from the Taliban because of their profile or the jobs they once did.”

They added: “We ask that the new Prime Minister urgently consider the creation of an asylum and resettlement pathway for Afghan women-at-risk, setting out a timeline for 2024 and beyond.”

Refusing to help Afghan women “would be a moral indictment of UK leadership to abandon Afghan women now”, the group said, concluding: “We can enable these incredible women to continue their work on behalf of their homeland and the Afghan diaspora. We would benefit from their expert counsel.”

MPs signing the letter include Tories Caroline Nokes and Nus Ghani, Labour’s Debbie Abrahams and Rosie Duffield, and representatives of four other parties. Fifteen female leaders from Afghanistan have also signed the appeal, including Dr Sima Samar, the country’s former vice-pesident and minister of women affairs, and Fawzia Koofi, former deputy speaker of parliament.

Other signatories include activists such as Mumsnet chief Justine Roberts, and Boris Johnson’s former advisers Tim Montgomerie and Nikki da Costa.

Full text of the letter

British MPs are in the process of setting up an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Afghan Women and Girls to advocate for their rights. We want to raise awareness amongst parliamentary colleagues and help improve HMG’s policies in this regard. We hope that the APPG can provide a forum for Afghan women leaders to advise UK policymakers, and are delighted to have their support below for this letter.

Under the Taliban, Afghan women and girls face draconian restrictions unlike anywhere else in the world. Many Afghan women now face a direct threat to their lives from the Taliban because of their profile or the jobs they once did. According to the July 2022 Report by the Foreign Affairs Committee on Afghanistan, only 295 vulnerable people (plus dependents) were resettled out of 15,000 people in Operation Pitting. Whilst there is no gender breakdown provided for these figures, only 11 were women’s rights activists. The Government recently suggested that categories for the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) may be expanded in Year 2 of Pathway 3 in 2024.

Voluntary group Action for Afghanistan has a longstanding campaign for a specific ACRS category for Afghan women-at-risk that we fully support. This will give hope to women in Afghanistan and send out a clear message of the Government’s commitment to the women and girls agenda (stated priorities in the Foreign Office and Home Office). We ask that the new Prime Minister urgently consider the creation of an asylum and resettlement pathway for Afghan women-at-risk, setting out a timeline for 2024 and beyond. We request that the APPG can meet with you at the earliest opportunity.

Her Majesty’s Government invested in the women of Afghanistan over a twenty-year period. The UK can be proud of the impact that UK aid made on women’s rights and empowerment and girl’s education. It would be a moral indictment of UK leadership to abandon Afghan women now. We cannot lose this talent to the regime of terror inflicted by the Taliban. We can enable these incredible women to continue their work on behalf of their homeland and the Afghan diaspora. We would benefit from their expert counsel. More importantly, if one day the Taliban lose their pernicious grip on power, we will need these women to help rebuild their country again.

Providing a specialist asylum and resettlement route for Afghan women-at-risk is not just the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do.

Zehra Zaidi – Lawyer, Co-Founder of Action for Afghanistan

Katherine Mulhern – Co-Founder of Action for Afghanistan

APPG for Afghan Women & Girls (by political party)

Caroline Nokes MP (Conservative) – Chair of Women and Equalities Committee

Nus Ghani MP (Conservative)

Baroness Sugg (Conservative)

Rosie Duffield MP (Labour)

Debbie Abrahams MP (Labour) – Vice-Chair APPG on Afghanistan

Kirsten Oswald MP (SNP)

Joanna Cherry MP QC (SNP) – Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights

Anum Qaisar MP (SNP)

Baroness Smith of Newnham (Lib Dem)

Wendy Chamberlain MP (Lib Dem)

Liz Saville-Roberts MP (Plaid Cymru)

Caroline Lucas MP (Green Party)

Others

Sarah Champion MP (Labour) – Chair of the International Development Select Committee

Mohammad Yasin MP (Labour)

Dr Julian Huppert – former MP and Chair of the APPG for Refugees

Afghan Women Leaders

Fawzia Koofi – First Woman Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Peace Negotiator (one of the few Afghan women to have attended talks with the Taliban)

Nargis Nehan – Former Minister for Mines & Petroleum in Afghanistan Government, and Women’s Rights Advocate

Dr Sima Samar – Former Vice-Pesident and Minister of Women Affairs, former Chair of Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and member of the High Level Panel of UNSG on IDPs

Mary Akrami – Director of Afghan Women Network (AWN) and Chair of the Board for the Afghan Women’s Network (AWN)

Marzia Babakarkhail – Women’s rights activist and Afghan judge

Shukria Barakzai – Women’s rights activist and former Member of Parliament, Afghanistan

Benafsha Yaqoobi – Commissioner, Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission

Zahra Joya – Journalist and Founder of Rukhshana Media

Horia Mosadiq – Human rights activist, political analyst and journalist

Meena Lawar Hosham – Women’s right activist and former head of civilian protection and mitigation team, office of the National Security Council

Seema Ghani – human rights activist, Founder of Khorasan NGO, serving vulnerable women and children in Afghanistan and member of Afghan Women Coalition for Change (AWCC)

Nazifa Haqpal – women’s rights activist and former Afghan diplomat

Robina Hamdard – formerly UN Women Afghanistan

Qudsia Raheen – former Advocacy Manager of the Afghan Women Network (AWN)

Wida Yalaqi – Executive Director, Afghanistan Capacity Development and Educational Organisation (ACDEO)

Endorsement of Afghan women coalitions:

Stronger Together Group, Afghan Women Network

Afghan Women Coalition for Change (AWCC)

Afghan Women Advocacy Group

Action for Afghanistan coalition

Sophie Walker – former Reuters journalist and Women’s Equality Party (WEP) leader

Akeela Ahmed MBE – Founder of She Speaks We Hear platform for Muslim women and Chair of the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group

Dr Sunny Singh – Professor of Creative Writing and Inclusion in the Arts, London Metropolitan University

Dr Neelam Raina – Afghan Solidarity Coalition

Sam Smethers – former CEO of the Fawcett Society

Jemima Olchawski – CEO of Fawcett Society

Justine Roberts – Mumsnet founder and CEO

Tim Montgomerie – Founder of ConservativeHome, Former Social Justice Adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson & Senior Contributor to GBNEWS

Farzana Baduel – CEO of Curzon PR

Saba Shaukat – Director in Technology, Defence Sector

Julia Goldsworthy – CEO and Founder, The Depolarization Project

Dr Maryyum Mehmood – Founding Director of the SHIFT

Nikki Da Costa – Specialist Partner Flint Global and former Director of Legislative Affairs at No10

Sunder Katwala – Director of British Future

Annette Dhami – Dark Matter Labs

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