US Must Not Abandon Afghan Women & Girls
Co-signed by the Compton Foundation
August 19, 2021
U.S. MUST NOT ABANDON AFGHAN WOMEN & GIRLS
Joint Letter on Afghan Women to POTUS and VPOTUS
Dear President Biden and Vice President Harris,
We are heartbroken by the devastating news coming out of Afghanistan about Taliban’s advances and are writing to you with our plea for your administration to take actions to protect Afghan women and girls and to address this unfolding human rights and humanitarian catastrophe.
As you have stated, America went to Afghanistan 20 years ago to defeat the forces that attacked the U.S. on September 11th. But we also made commitments. Twenty years ago, the United States made promises to the women and girls of Afghanistan. The contributions of literally billions of dollars the U.S. and NATO countries in support of the work of Afghan women’s rights and human rights leaders led to increases in education and opportunities for Afghan women and girls, increases in representation of Afghan women in government and all sectors of society, improvements in civil liberties and civil rights, and decreases in maternal and infant mortality.
All of these gains – and the very lives and futures of Afghan women and girls – are now in grave jeopardy. As the Taliban has taken over territories, they have committed war crimes and engaged in the same brutal tactics that marked their rule before they were removed from power. We have heard reports in the media and directly from our colleagues in Afghanistan that women’s rights and human rights activists and journalists have been assassinated; girls’ schools have been closed; women and girls are being forced to marry Taliban soldiers in what amounts to sexual slavery; and women and girls are being forced to stay in their homes and punished even for using cell phones. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans have been internally displaced and are attempting to flee to Kabul and neighboring countries in the midst of an historic drought, raging coronavirus pandemic and widespread hunger. The situation of internally displaced women who are fleeing with their children, who comprise 80% of IDPs, is especially dire.
This is why we implore your administration not to agree to a deal that includes recognition and support of a Taliban regime. The U.S. and U.N. previously refused to recognize the Taliban based on their brutal disregard of human rights, especially of women and girls. Any deal by the United States that would include recognition and support of the Taliban regime would be a reversal of U.S. commitments that were made to the Afghan people, especially women and girls, and would undermine commitments by the U.S and your administration to human rights globally and the Women, Peace and Security Act of 2017.
Further, we implore you to take immediate action to save the lives of Afghan women’s rights and human rights leaders and advocates who have selflessly and courageously worked at great risk to advance the rights of women and girls and are now being targeted by the Taliban. We ask for the evacuation of these leaders and Afghan women students who have secured commitments at universities here to pursue their education. Safe passage to the United States must be provided immediately.
Your administration, President Biden, has accomplished much for women and girls in the United States over the past seven months, and you have achieved an extraordinary record in the Senate and as Vice President in combating violence against women. And Vice President Kamala Harris has worked over many years for women’s rights, especially women of color. That is why we are appealing to you to fulfill the promises made to protect human rights globally, especially Afghan women and girls whose lives and futures are now in peril.
We respectfully await your response to our urgent requests.
Eleanor Smeal, President Feminist Majority Foundation
Dolores Huerta, President Dolores Huerta Foundation
Cecile Richards, Co-founder Supermajority
Carol Jenkins, President and CEO ERA Coalition
Russ Feingold, former US Senator, Wisconsin
Stephanie Sinclair, Founding Executive Director
Too Young to Wed
Mavis Nicholson Leno
Ambassador Melanne Verveer,
Former U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues and Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace & Security Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security
Gloria Steinem, Founder Women’s Media Center
Christian Nunes, President National Organization for Women
Deborah Rosenbloom,
Chief Program Officer Jewish Women International
Debra Ness, President National Partnership for Women & Families
Susan O’Malley, UN Representative International Federation of Business and Professional Women
Joi Chaney, Executive Director, Washington Bureau & SVP for Policy and Advocacy
National Urban League
Donna Norton, Executive Vice President MomsRising
Marcela Howell, President & CEO
In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda
Barbara Arnwine, president Transformative Justice Coalition
Monica Ramirez, Founder & President
Justice for Migrant Women
Leng Leng Chancey,
Executive Director 9to5
Marissa Conway, Co-Founder & UK Executive Director Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy
Houry Geudelekian, Chair NGO Committee on the Status of Women
Elsa Marie DSilva, Founder Red Dot Foundation
Gillian D’Souza Nazareth,
Director Global Partnerships Red Dot Foundation
Tim Isgitt, Managing Director Humanity United
Jordan Brooks, Executive Director
United State of Women
Donna Lentz, president National Women’s Political Caucus
E. Faye Williams, PhD, president
National Congress of Black Women
Jody Rabhan, Chief Policy Officer National Council of Jewish Women
Stacey Schamber, Senior Program Officer
International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN)
Ellen Friedman, Executive Director
Compton Foundation
Emilie Cortes, Treasurer Compton Foundation
Susan Saltz, Board Member Jewish World Watch
Saru Jayaraman, President One Fair Wage
Rebecca Dennis, Sr. Legislative Policy Analyst PAI
Johna Hoey, Interim Executive Director
Peace is Loud
Paige Logan, Policy Advisor Ipas
Shaunna Thomas, Executive Director
UltraViolet
Erin Vilardi, CEO Vote Run Lead
Maria Fornella, UN Representative, NY Soroptimist International
Katherine Spillar, Executive Director
Feminist Majority Foundation
Kathy Bonk, Strategic Consultant
Feminist Majority Foundation
Ashley Steimer-King, Program Director
Girls Learn International
Patricia Cooper, Founder Womens Regional Network: Afghanistan, Pakistan and India
Farah Tanis, Co-Executive Director
Black Women’s Blueprint
Stacie Murphy, Director of Congressional Relations Population Connection Action Fund
Rebecca Obrock, Director of Program Development & Policy Advocacy
Heartland Alliance International
Shenee Simon, Founder S.H.E. Collective, LLC
Carol Cohn, Director Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights
Catherine Bosshart
BPW International
Olivia Garcia, Public Policy Manager
Esperanza United (formerly Casa de Esperanza: National Latina Network)
Jin In, Founder
4Girls GLocal Leadership (4GGL)
Joanne Smith, CEO Girls for Gender Equity
RoseMarie FitzSimons,
Founder Anam Films
Vanessa Hope, Filmmaker Double Hope Films
Gini Reticker,
Director/Producer Independent Films
Dani Ayers, CEO MeToo International
Lauren Strogoff, Journalist Chivo, Inc
Julie Grau, CO-CEO Spiegel & Grau Publishers
Laura Dawn Murphy, Founder & Chief Creative
ART NOT WAR
Ernestine LALAO, Advocacy Congrégation of Our Lady of Charity of Good Shepherd
Alexis Schutz, Assistant NGO Representative to the United Nations
Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd
Winifred Doherty,
Good Shepherd International Justice Peace Office
Alice Marie Giordano, JPIC Coordinator
Ursulines of the Roman Union – Eastern Province
Bonnie Abaunza, Founder Abaunza Group
Annemarie O’Connor, UN Representative Passionists International
Beatriz Vieira, Interim CEO Women’s Foundation California
Shirley Graham, PhD,
Gender Equality Initiative Elliott School of International Affairs
Valerie Hudson, PhD,
The WomanStats Project
Robert Nagel, PhD,
The WomanStats Project
Michele Goodwin, Chancellor’s Professor
University of California, Irvine
Kimberly S. Adams, PhD,
Professor of Political Science East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania
Jennifer Haythe, Associate Professor of Medicine Columbia Univeristy
Mary Caprioli,
University of Minnesota Duluth
Alison Brysk, Mellichamp Professor of Global Governance University of California Santa Barbara
Donna Lee Bowen, Professor Emerita, Department of Political Science Brigham Young Universityi
Emily Bent, Associate Professor Women’s & Gender Studies, Pace University
Rose McDermott, University Professor
Brown University
Lynne Nielsen, Professor Brigham Young University
Natalie Romeri-Lewis,
International Consultant Ohio State University
Valentine Moghadam, Professor of Sociology and International Affiars Northeastern University
Arie Thompson, President Sunlion Performance LLC
Jill Goldman Larissa Peltola Caroline Themm Gina Goldman
