Advancing Afghan Women’s Rights: A Summary Report

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Advancing Afghan Women’s Rights: A Summary Report

25 Nov 2025

On Monday 25 November 2024, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, academics, practitioners and activists gathered at the Australian National University for a comprehensive event on Advancing Afghan Women’s Rights. Azadi-e Zan was the primary organizer of the event, in collaboration with the Gender Institute at the Australian National University. His Excellency Ambassador Wahidullah Waissi delivered opening remarks on the status of Afghan girls and women, the international response, and the need for further discussions on advancing Afghan women's rights.

Panel discussions

The day’s panels delved into five critical themes: gender apartheid and breaches of rights, education, humanitarian migration, income generation and humanitarian assistance, and women's health. Esteemed speakers, including Virginia Haussegger AM, Elizabeth Broderick AO, and representatives from organizations such as ActionAid Australia, UNICEF Australia, Afghan Women on the Move, and Massoud Foundation contributed their expertise and insights.

The day began with a panel discussion on gender apartheid and the increasing practices of gender inequality in Afghanistan, chaired by Liz Broderick with three Afghan women with extensive experience in human rights law and advocacy. When the Taliban came to power, they disestablished the existing legal system that gender equality advocates had relied on to protect women and children in need. Without that, they are seeing an increase in practices such as forced and early marriage and domestic violence. There is also an entire regime of edicts and decrees restricting the rights of women and girls that members of the panel are involved in holding the Taliban accountable for at the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and other fora.

The panel on girls’ education was chaired by UNICEF Australia and showcased the efforts of a range of Afghan and diaspora organisations who continue to deliver educational opportunities to Afghan girls, discussing how we can and must support these efforts. It is often these local, Afghan, diaspora and women led organisations that are able to best navigate around the Taliban to continue delivering accredited educational opportunities, but also hope to the girls of Afghanistan. Under the localisation agenda, these organisations cannot keep being excluded from funding opportunities.

The third panel, on humanitarian migration was chaired by the Refugee Council of Australia and featured three Australian panellists working to support various migration pathways for Afghans. They spoke about a range of pathways, but also the systematic barriers women face trying to access those pathways in a safe and timely fashion. Australia’s over reliance on UNHCR recognition is entirely unfair when the organisation is unreachable in both Iran and Pakistan. Home Affairs also has no means to functionally prioritise the highest risk cases for processing and has been asking for vulnerable Afghan women to be removed from the visa applications of their families.

A panel on income generation and humanitarian assistance covered the full breadth of issues affecting women’s wellbeing from access to income generation opportunities to humanitarian assistance. Discussions included high rates of malnutrition among Afghan women and the ever-present problem of the girls’ education ban. The session was chaired by the Australian Council for International Development and panellists included Australians and Afghans with international and localised experience in community development, humanitarian assistance and women’s philanthropy. There remains a dire need to fund women led organisations and develop creative ways to ensure Afghan women have access to both development and humanitarian funding in the country.

The women’s health panel was chaired by gender equality advocate Virginia Haussegger and featured an Afghan and an international speaker discussing a range of health issues affecting Afghan women both inside Afghanistan and in the diaspora. These issues included sexual and reproductive health, mental health, breast and other cancers. The lack of health education for women in Afghanistan means there is a significant pipeline problem for female health workers in the country and women are only allowed to see female health workers, further restricting their access to health services in the future.

Women’s market

Four groups participated in the Afghan women’s market during the lunch break and at parliament house in the evening. The market allowed event participants to feel positively connected to the culture of Afghanistan, including the handicrafts of Afghan women. But importantly, it opened market opportunities for those women here in Australia. The rug seller who attended recently changed their buying practices so that all wholesale prices go directly to the women weavers in Afghanistan. The jewellery and high-quality photographs on sale supported two different girls’ education organisations. Embroidered items that were sold are produced while girls pretend not to be learning English and maths in underground schools in the north of the country. Slippers and saffron that were on sale are produced by women in Herat and Bamiyan and support the work of a women’s rights organisation. Thousands of dollars were raised overall that will go directly into the pockets of women in Afghanistan.

Parliamentary reception

The parliamentary reception was co-hosted by the Parliamentary Friendship Groups for Afghanistan and Amnesty International. It was managed by the office of Andrew Charlton MP. Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts MP provided opening remarks ‘helping us to ensure an ongoing focus on the lives and welfare of Afghan women and girls under the repressive Taliban regime’ and reminding the group of the need for the Taliban to be held accountable for their crimes against women. Ambassador of Afghanistan to Australia, HE Wahidullah Waissi delivered his concluding remarks, emphasizing key areas of focus in transforming solidarity into meaningful change and tangible outcomes to support Afghan girls and women during these challenging times. The event was well attended including by Ministers/MPs/Senators: Anne Aly, Kate Thwaites, Julian Hill, Zali Stegall, and Senator Fatima Payman.

A report will be prepared compiling the recommendations developed during the small group discussions, for how the Australian Government can better support Afghan women’s rights in the current context, and moving forward. It is expected this report will be released on International Women’s Day 2025. While many of the recommendations will be directed at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Australian Aid program, some will be more internally focussed including for the States and Health Departments, and some will have a legal focus.

Interactive breakout sessions provided attendees with the opportunity to develop actionable recommendations for the Australian Government, which will be compiled into a report for publication. The event concluded with a strong sense of shared purpose, highlighting Australia’s crucial role in supporting Afghan women and advocating for their rights on the global stage.

This remarkable event underscored the power of unified advocacy and meaningful action in advancing gender equity and justice for Afghan women.

The event was gratefully held with the support of ANU Gender Institute; Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; and the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Canberra, Australia.

 

Last modified on Wednesday, 11/12/2024

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