Education Isn’t Just a Human Right,
It’s What All Societies Need to Thrive.
In December 2022, the ruling Taliban authorities in Afghanistan issued a directive to public and private universities to ban all female students. Higher education institutions were forced to put the ban into effect immediately, putting an end to the education of tens of thousands of women across Afghanistan, and barring girls and young women who had been hopeful to soon start their university journey.
You can do something about it. Be part of the campaign to #LetHerLearn.
Whether you are one or many, you can raise your voice in defence of human rights, stand in solidarity with Afghan women and girls, and provide hope to an entire generation. Use our advocacy tools below to get you started.
Call for Solidarity & Action: Naming and Ending Gender Apartheid
Allied organizations and activists are calling for concerted action by the international community, through the UN system, to pursue justice and accountability for systemic, wide-scale and life-threatening discrimination and gender-based human rights abuses against women and girls in Afghanistan. Click here to read the joint statement and show solidarity by signing the call to action.
Are You Involved in Higher Education?
We are calling upon concerned citizens and higher education institutions to stand in solidarity with Afghan women, take concrete actions to uphold their right to education, and open up opportunities for affected women to find alternative access to higher education by mobilizing university resources and communities.
Advocate for Afghan Women’s Access to Higher Education
Advocate for systems-level change in support of Afghans’ right to education:
- Show Solidarity: Releasing a statement in solidarity with Afghan women on your institution’s homepage (see our template here)
- Get the Word Out: Read and share our factsheet on the Taliban’s war on women’s education
- Amplify: Share our social media posts to raise awareness, using the hashtags #EducationIsARight, #LetHerLearn, #AllOrNone and request our social media toolkit
- Welcome Student Refugees: Advocate for your university to expand its student refugee program to provide dedicated spaces for Afghan women, or to adopt a student refugee program if your institution doesn’t yet have one
- Advocate: Engage with existing networks and alliances focused on providing higher education for Afghan women and girls to amplify advocacy efforts and share best practices.
- Educate: Share information about what is happening in Afghanistan with your students and encourage them to organize their own actions in solidarity with students in Afghanistan
- Take Action: Support student-led advocacy for the gender equitable right to education
For more information contact: advocacy@cw4wafghan.ca
Advocating for Girls' Education in Afghanistan
Afghanistan is the only country in the world to officially bar girls from education. The Taliban’s system of gender apartheid is denying girls over the age of 12 the right to an education. This repression is causing serious harm to a generation of girls, exposing them to risk of early marriage, spiraling poverty, a rise in poor health outcomes, increased risk of gender-based violence, and much more.
We continue to advocate for Afghan girls to access the human right to education. We must continue to press the international community to act with urgency in defense of their rights.
