Parliamentarians urged to support Afghan MPs at risk

Afghanistan, July 2019. In a primary school supported by UNHCR, twelve-year-old Mursal sits beneath the shade of mulberry trees in the village of Qarabagh, some 200 kilometres south-west of the capital Kabul.

© UNHCR/Claire Thomas

Like the whole world, we have watched in horror as the tragic scenes in Afghanistan have unfolded in recent weeks. 

Our immediate priority has been to ensure at-risk Afghan citizens receive urgent assistance and access to safe and legal routes to safety. Amongst those that face an immediate and grave risk are the 316 members of the Afghan National Assembly, their families and their parliamentary staff. We have serious concerns for their safety and wellbeing.

Particular concern for women MPs

“Having taken the courageous step to participate in Afghan democracy and represent their communities, women made up over a quarter of the Afghan parliament. They have been at the forefront of the hard-won gains Afghanistan has achieved over the past two decades, especially advances in the rights of women and girls, including to education” said Harriett Baldwin MP, global Co-Chair of the International Parliamentary Network for Education (IPNEd). 

“Many of these women at first chose to stay in Afghanistan to defend their rights and those of their constituents, but recent pronouncements and actions by the Taliban have made it clear that they are not safe. 

“There is mounting evidence of the targeting and intimidation of individuals who served in the National Assembly including searches of their homes and the appropriation of their private property. Most are now in hiding, and face an uncertain fate,” concluded Ms Baldwin.

“We will continue to maintain a channel of communication with MPs in Afghanistan, doing all that we can to support them and to secure their right and ability to leave the country. The international community must now do the same to ensure their protection and facilitate their safe passage and resettlement” said IPNEd’s Executive Director, Joseph Nhan-O’Reilly.

IPNEd strongly urges parliamentarians to consider what actions they and their parliaments can take to support their parliamentary colleagues from Afghanistan. 

We particularly encourage members of parliament to ask your governments to:

• Call on those in power and authority in Afghanistan to protect the lives and fundamental rights and freedoms of parliamentarians and parliamentary staff, including as a condition of any working relationship with the regime;

• Provide assistance to Afghan parliamentarians and parliamentary staff who are seeking asylum by supporting their urgent evacuation from Afghanistan and/or by ensuring that they receive humanitarian visas and relocation in your country;

• Encourage your government to support the speedy development and implementation of a common approach to asylum claims from Afghanistan.

Now is the time for more and not less support to Afghanistan and its people  

As a humanitarian catastrophe engulfs the country, those remaining in Afghanistan or now refugees in neighbouring countries are in need of urgent assistance. This includes 18 million people currently in Afghanistan, over half of the population. 

Despite the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis, Afghanistan’s Humanitarian Response Plan remains woefully underfunded at less than 40 per cent of the $1.3 billion required. 

In neighbouring countries Pakistan and Iran, who already host almost 2.5 million Afghan refugees, UNHCR’s financial appeal also remains acutely underfunded at only 43 per cent of a total $337 million required. 

“Ensuring the humanitarian response being implemented by the UN and frontline NGOs has all the resources required must be an utmost priority for the international community. The needs of Afghans, displaced in their own country along with those that have sought refuge in other countries, must be supported by the international community.” said MNA Mehnaz Akber Aziz, a Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan and IPNEd’s Regional Representative for Asia.

“We welcome the proposal from Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi for an extraordinary G20 summit on Afghanistan in order to consolidate a common international strategy in response to the crisis. We also call on G20 leaders to ensure that support to education inside Afghanistan as well as for Afghan refugees is a key pillar of the strategy.

“The people of Afghanistan are not responsible for the crisis and tragedy that they are living through. More than ever, they deserve our unwavering solidarity, support and assistance.” concluded Ms Akber Aziz.