2022.03.08 如何改变阿富汗妇女的生活

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By Invitation | International Women’s Day
Freshta Karim on how to change the lives of Afghanistan’s women
The children’s rights activist writes at the invitation of Malala Yousafzai

Mar 8th 2022 (Updated Mar 10th 2022)


THIS IS THE first International Women’s Day in years that I will not be home in Afghanistan. I am writing to mark it instead from the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. I am here not as a scholar, but as an exiled alumna, exhausted by conflict and violence, seeking solace. It reminds me of the chain of mobile libraries named “Charmaghz”' which I run in Kabul. Charmaghz means walnut in Farsi; it represents the brain and the importance of fostering critical thinking. Children visit our libraries with excitement, eager to dive into new stories and imagine a world beyond war. There is not a day when I don’t fear for their future.

In Afghanistan, 97% of the population is at risk of dropping below the poverty line according to the United Nations Development Programme. Our institutions and systems—from education to health care to banking—are on the verge of collapse, after two decades of progress. There is still a de facto ban on girls’ secondary education; women’s right to work in public office as civil servants or politicians has been suspended. The world paid attention to the immediate details of the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan. But there is too little discussion about what happened afterwards. We need political stability, economic recovery and respect for human rights.


Afghan women are making brave decisions every day. They are leading a non-violent movement and at protests shout: “Education, work, freedom!” Some have been detained; others are now missing. Yet the protests continue. Other young women are sharing their stories anonymously in news outlets and online, as Malala Yousafzai did many years ago.

Realising every girl’s right to education is vital to the future of Afghanistan. Without it the country will dive deeper into poverty and a never-ending cycle of war and oppression. If we want a better future, we must advocate for education for girls and women’s right to work. Banning them is not only a violation of their Islamic and human rights, it also has huge economic and developmental costs. Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. We need educated women to contribute if we hope to thrive. To guarantee these rights and ensure they are upheld in the long term, requires securing peace and obtaining better political representation and greater political stability. Four actions are critical if we are to secure Afghanistan’s future.



First, the Taliban must make good on their promises. On August 17th 2021, the group announced a commitment to women’s right to work, study and participate as active members of society. They should honour this by reopening secondary schools unconditionally to girls, as they have promised, in time for the start of the new school year on March 21st.

If girls’ schools do reopen, the international community should help ensure that education is adequately financed. An estimated $900m is needed to prevent the Afghan education system from collapsing, according to the UN’s Transitional Engagement Framework for Afghanistan. The framework outlines critical tools including community-based education, teacher stipends and cash transfers. Afghanistan’s education system has depended on aid for so long that it cannot be expected to sustain itself during a crisis of this magnitude. And investment in it is worthwhile. Over the past 20 years, aid has supported a ten-fold increase in school enrolments and contributed to a doubling of the female literacy rate between 2011 and 2018. It also facilitated the recruitment and training of over 80,000 new female teachers.


Second, Afghanistan’s economy needs immediate assistance. Afghans don’t want to live on aid for ever. The country’s assets held in foreign banks should be unfrozen and donor governments should find ways to return them to the Afghan people, supporting the economy and the central bank. On February 11th, President Biden’s administration announced an executive order to facilitate access to $3.5bn in Afghan funds for humanitarian aid, but the reminder of the $7bn fund could be awarded to 9/11 victims’ families pending judicial review. But the reserves belong to the Afghan people, not the Taliban or the foreign countries where they are held. International Crisis Group, a global think-tank focused on preventing conflict, has identified a number of ways to ease Afghanistan’s liquidity crisis while keeping reserves out of the hands of the Taliban. These include: releasing and monitoring small amounts of funds to independent technocrats at the central bank; to facilitate auctioning of US dollars and strengthening the Afghan currency; and currency swaps managed by an international entity such as the World Bank or a UN agency. Unfreezing and redirecting Afghanistan’s assets to support the economy and Afghan livelihoods is not only the right move for longer-term recovery—it is also just.

Third, the United Nations needs to create space for dialogue between the Taliban and other political stakeholders. The current political set-up is highly centralised. It favours the Taliban, who represent a narrow section of a single ethnic group. This leaves no space for other ethnic communities, women and former political parties to speak out or influence the country’s politics through non-violent means. To address this, Afghanistan must have a decentralised administrative and political structure. Parts of the Taliban recognise that listening to other voices has advantages for them: it would help them earn greater national legitimacy and international recognition and pave the way for sanctions to be lifted. The UN could therefore use its financial and moral influence to facilitate talks. As a finalist for the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, I recently joined fellow female Afghan activists in urging the international community not to recognise the Taliban. But this does not mean that we should not engage with them in the interests of promoting human rights and pursuing peace. All stakeholders inside and outside Afghanistan should engage in dialogue and other non-violent paths to end conflict.

Fourth, global leaders should support a process of transitional justice to deal with past atrocities. Since 2001, almost 150,000 Afghans have been killed, including many civilians. Many more Afghan lives were lost in the two decades before that, during the Soviet occupation, civil war and the first Taliban government. Without justice, Afghan people will continue to suffer under a culture of impunity. Afghans see justice as a prerequisite for building a more stable and peaceful society. Mechanisms to encourage it would constitute crucial steps in securing Afghanistan’s future and in breaking the cycle of violence. But they have not yet been taken—and perpetrators have yet to be held to account. All parties should therefore support the establishment of public forums in which victims’ voices can be heard and survivors of the war compensated through projects designed with their input, as we have seen in places such as Guinea. The International Criminal Court investigation is one step in the right direction.


The current dialogue on Afghanistan is focused on providing immediate humanitarian aid and basic rights. But the international community must think long-term and address broader issues of justice, political stability and economic recovery if it is to secure the rights of Afghanistan’s women and girls. How much humanitarian aid can be given, if the country’s economy does not recover? How will girls’ education be sustained if girls’ schools are open but there is no stable political system in place and a continued threat of internal conflict?

It’s time for the international community to be brave if it is to help secure Afghanistan’s future. It holds the diplomatic power to apply pressure, advocate the reopening of schools, finance education and support the recovery of Afghanistan’s economy. Each one of us has the chance to make a difference, too. Amplify the calls of Afghan activists and help us push for an end to this crisis—call for peace, education and equality for women’s rights. It is in our darkest times that we must make the bravest decisions.
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Freshta Karim is a children’s rights activist, adviser to Malala Fund and the founder of Charmaghz, a chain of mobile libraries for children in Afghanistan.

Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel peace-prize laureate, has invited Freshta Karim, Vanessa Nakate, Kiara Nirghin and Tigidankay “TK” Saccoh to write essays for International Women’s Day. Visit our hub to read more.

This article appeared in the By Invitation section of the print edition under the headline "Freshta Karim on how to change the lives of Afghanistan’s women"



应邀参加｜国际妇女节
弗雷斯塔-卡里姆谈如何改变阿富汗妇女的生活
这位儿童权利活动家应马拉拉-尤萨夫扎伊的邀请发表文章

2022年3月8日 (2022年3月10日更新)


这是多年来第一个我不在阿富汗家中的国际妇女节。我在牛津大学的博德莱恩图书馆写信纪念这个节日。我不是作为一个学者，而是作为一个被流放的校友来到这里，在冲突和暴力中疲惫不堪，寻求慰藉。这让我想起了我在喀布尔经营的名为 "Charmaghz "的连锁流动图书馆。Charmaghz在波斯语中意为核桃；它代表着大脑和培养批判性思维的重要性。孩子们怀着兴奋的心情参观我们的图书馆，渴望深入了解新的故事，想象一个超越战争的世界。我没有一天不为他们的未来担忧。

在阿富汗，根据联合国开发计划署的数据，97%的人口有可能降到贫困线以下。我们的机构和系统--从教育到医疗保健到银行--在经过20年的进步后，正处于崩溃的边缘。事实上仍然禁止女孩接受中学教育；妇女作为公务员或政治家担任公职的权利被中止。世界注意到了塔利班在阿富汗取得胜利的直接细节。但对之后发生的事情讨论得太少。我们需要政治稳定、经济复苏和对人权的尊重。


阿富汗妇女每天都在做出勇敢的决定。她们正在领导一场非暴力运动，并在抗议活动中高呼 "教育、工作、自由！" 一些人被拘留了；其他人现在失踪了。然而，抗议活动仍在继续。其他年轻女性在新闻媒体和网上匿名分享她们的故事，就像多年前的马拉拉-尤萨夫扎伊一样。

实现每个女孩的教育权对阿富汗的未来至关重要。没有它，这个国家将更深地陷入贫困和永无止境的战争与压迫的循环。如果我们想要一个更好的未来，我们必须倡导女孩的教育和妇女的工作权利。禁止她们不仅是对她们的伊斯兰和人权的侵犯，也会带来巨大的经济和发展成本。阿富汗是世界上最贫穷的国家之一。如果我们希望茁壮成长，我们需要受过教育的妇女来做出贡献。为了保障这些权利并确保它们得到长期维护，需要确保和平，获得更好的政治代表权和更大的政治稳定。如果我们要确保阿富汗的未来，有四项行动至关重要。



首先，塔利班必须兑现他们的承诺。2021年8月17日，该组织宣布了对妇女工作、学习和作为社会积极成员参与的权利的承诺。他们应该兑现这一承诺，按照他们的承诺，在3月21日新学年开始前，无条件地向女孩重新开放中学。

如果女校真的重新开放，国际社会应该帮助确保教育得到充分的资金支持。根据联合国的《阿富汗过渡时期参与框架》，估计需要9亿美元来防止阿富汗教育系统的崩溃。该框架概述了关键工具，包括基于社区的教育、教师津贴和现金转移。阿富汗的教育系统长期以来一直依赖援助，不能指望它在如此严重的危机中自我维持。而对它的投资是值得的。在过去的20年里，援助支持了学校入学率的10倍增长，并促使女性识字率在2011至2018年间翻了一番。它还促进了80,000多名新女教师的招聘和培训。


第二，阿富汗的经济需要立即援助。阿富汗人不希望永远依靠援助生活。该国在外国银行的资产应该被解冻，捐助国政府应该想办法把这些资产还给阿富汗人民，支持经济和中央银行。2月11日，拜登总统的政府宣布了一项行政命令，以促进获得35亿美元的阿富汗资金用于人道主义援助，但在司法审查之前，70亿美元的基金的提醒可能会被授予9/11受害者的家属。但这些储备属于阿富汗人民，而不是塔利班或关押它们的外国。国际危机组织是一个专注于预防冲突的全球智囊团，它确定了一些缓解阿富汗流动性危机的方法，同时使储备金不落入塔利班手中。这些方法包括：向中央银行的独立技术专家释放并监督少量资金；促进美元的拍卖并加强阿富汗货币；以及由世界银行或联合国机构等国际实体管理的货币互换。解冻阿富汗的资产并将其转用于支持经济和阿富汗的生计，这不仅是长期恢复的正确举措，也是公正的。

第三，联合国需要为塔利班和其他政治利益相关者之间的对话创造空间。目前的政治设置是高度集中的。它有利于塔利班，而塔利班只代表一个民族的一小部分。这使得其他民族社区、妇女和前政党没有空间通过非暴力手段发表意见或影响国家政治。为了解决这个问题，阿富汗必须有一个分散的行政和政治结构。塔利班的部分成员认识到，倾听其他声音对他们有好处：这将帮助他们赢得更大的国家合法性和国际认可，并为解除制裁铺平道路。因此，联合国可以利用其财政和道义上的影响力来促进会谈。作为欧洲议会萨哈罗夫思想自由奖的入围者，我最近与其他阿富汗女性活动家一起，敦促国际社会不要承认塔利班。但这并不意味着我们不应该为了促进人权和追求和平而与他们接触。阿富汗境内外的所有利益相关者都应该参与对话和其他非暴力的途径来结束冲突。

第四，全球领导人应该支持过渡性司法进程，以处理过去的暴行。自2001年以来，几乎有15万阿富汗人被杀害，包括许多平民。在这之前的20年里，在苏联占领、内战和第一届塔利班政府期间，有更多的阿富汗人丧生。没有正义，阿富汗人民将继续在有罪不罚的文化下受苦。阿富汗人认为正义是建立一个更加稳定和和平的社会的先决条件。鼓励正义的机制将成为确保阿富汗的未来和打破暴力循环的关键步骤。但是，这些措施还没有被采取--肇事者还没有被追究责任。因此，所有各方都应支持建立公共论坛，使受害者的声音能够被听到，并通过有他们参与设计的项目对战争的幸存者进行补偿，正如我们在几内亚等地看到的那样。国际刑事法院的调查是朝着正确方向迈出的一步。


目前关于阿富汗的对话侧重于提供即时的人道主义援助和基本权利。但是，国际社会必须从长远考虑，解决更广泛的正义、政治稳定和经济复苏问题，才能确保阿富汗妇女和女童的权利。如果国家的经济不能恢复，可以提供多少人道主义援助？如果女童学校开放了，但没有稳定的政治制度，而且持续存在内部冲突的威胁，那么女童教育将如何持续？

如果要帮助确保阿富汗的未来，现在是国际社会勇敢起来的时候了。它拥有施加压力、倡导重新开放学校、资助教育和支持阿富汗经济复苏的外交力量。我们每个人也有机会做出改变。放大阿富汗活动家的呼吁，帮助我们推动结束这场危机--呼吁和平、教育和妇女权利的平等。正是在我们最黑暗的时候，我们必须做出最勇敢的决定。
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弗雷斯塔-卡里姆是一名儿童权利活动家，马拉拉基金顾问，也是阿富汗儿童流动图书馆连锁店Charmaghz的创始人。

诺贝尔和平奖得主马拉拉-尤萨夫扎伊邀请弗雷斯塔-卡里姆、瓦妮莎-纳凯特、基拉-尼尔金和蒂吉丹凯-萨科为国际妇女节写文章。请访问我们的中心，阅读更多内容。

这篇文章出现在印刷版的 "应邀 "部分，标题为 "弗雷斯塔-卡里姆谈如何改变阿富汗妇女的生活"