UN Fund Launches #Afghangirlsvoices Campaign

Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the UN’s global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, launched on Tuesday the global #AfghanGirlsVoices campaign to raise awareness of Afghan girls’ education rights.

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The campaign, developed in collaboration with ECW world champion Somaya Faruqi, former captain of the Afghan girls’ robotics team, will include eye-catching illustrations by a young Afghan artist.

It will run for one month, covering testimonials from Afghan girls whose lives have been abruptly upended by the ban on girls’ access to secondary education imposed by the de facto Taliban authorities.

“The courage of the girls of Afghanistan gives me strength to use my own voice to amplify their voices to the world. It is more urgent than ever to act now, and I hope that next year we will celebrate their freedom instead of marking their oppression,” said Faruqi.  

According to the UN in a statement, #AfghanGirlsVoices comes “two years after the de facto Taliban authorities took control in Afghanistan and will continue until September 18, the date marking the start of their official ban on schooling for adolescent girls.”

The UN noted that the timing of the campaign will elevate the voices of Afghan girls to the world stage when world leaders gather at the UN General Assembly in New York for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Summit on September 18-19.

A recent UN expert report says the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan is the “worst globally” and that the systematic restrictions on their human rights and severe discrimination they face under the de facto rule of the Taliban authorities could amount to “gender apartheid” and “gender persecution.”

For his part, UN Special Envoy for Global Education and Chair of the ECW High-Level Steering Group, Gordon Brown, said that “the international community must hear this poignant call from the hearts of Afghan girls and young women and mobilize in greater numbers and with renewed strength of purpose to condemn the violation of their rights.”

Likewise, ECW Executive Director, Yasmine Sherif, said the UN Global Fund “will continue to advocate strongly for the full resumption of Afghan girls’ right to education, and to work with our partners to provide crucial learning opportunities for Afghan children through the community-based education programs we support.”

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