Thank you, dear parliamentarians and members of the subcommittee.
Thank you, Mr. Chairperson and honourable members of Parliament, for inviting me to appear before this subcommittee.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to start by saying, as a Canadian woman of Iranian descent who was born and raised in Saudi Arabia, where my family continues to reside, and who is currently speaking to you from within the region, there is simply no women's rights emergency in the world like that which is occurring in Afghanistan at the moment.
It is a fact that no country in the world—Canada included—has achieved complete equality. There is much work to be done globally in the fight for women's equal rights. Different countries and cultures are on their own paths along this continuum toward the common goal that benefits not only women and girls but whole societies.
The loss of rights and freedoms for women and girls in Afghanistan, however, is a dire crisis unlike anywhere else in the world. Afghanistan is suffering a dire humanitarian emergency alongside an incomparable human rights disaster. Even when girls are finding ways to continue their learning, they are doing so while hungry. This is the only country in the world to officially bar women from learning and from the workplace—a path that has plunged Afghans into ever deepening poverty, famine, political instability and gender-based violence.
It is no coincidence that the hunger crisis in Afghanistan, with a staggering 95% of households not getting enough to eat, is one of the most acute in the world, and at the same time there has been a brutal crackdown on human rights and basic freedoms. The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is caused by the human rights crisis.
Canada’s response is needed urgently and should be suited to the magnitude of the crisis. The actions needed must go beyond statements of condemnation. There is a growing perception that the governments of the G8 are inert and undecided in their response to what should properly be treated as a grave human rights crisis demanding immediate bold action.
We are calling for a foreign policy that puts human rights at its centre and prioritizes reversing the wrongs that commenced when Afghanistan was so brutally handed over to the Taliban in August 2021 under the nose of the international community.
Canada can fund and support the expansion of alternative, independent education systems, such as the virtual schools that have emerged since the Taliban’s ban on girls' education, as well as the technological infrastructure to support it. There is also an emerging network of independent schools working in exile. Canada can support efforts to scale and enhance exiled and virtual education for Afghans so that Afghans have access to education credentials that will be recognized internationally.
Canada can also support Canadian institutions of higher education to accept transfer students in Afghanistan to participate virtually, and help students access programs and courses that make them more eligible for international study opportunities. A wide variety of scholarship programs can be supported, including helping Afghan women pay for education and living expenses at universities outside of Afghanistan in their own region. We are already seeing announcements of significant responses from other countries, but not yet from Canada.
Canada can also support Afghan women and girls to access study opportunities in Canada by ensuring that Afghan nationals can obtain student visas. Currently, most student visa applications from Afghan nationals are rejected on the grounds of suspicion of dual purpose.
While equitable access to quality education is imperative, so is access to work. In December, the Taliban announced a ban on women working in NGOs, which was a devastating blow to both women’s ability to earn—in an already perilous economic crisis—and the ability of NGOs to provide life-saving aid to a population at risk of famine.
The Taliban’s policies and behaviour have driven out investment and trade, and thus job creation, making the country a pariah of the global economy. The Taliban should indeed be isolated, but the very opposite should be done for the people of Afghanistan. Give them access to the global economy.
This can be done in many ways. Governments can support Canadian employers to hire residents of Afghanistan for remote work opportunities, with incentives like job vouchers or stipends.
The dignity and security of a job will feed families more reliably than erratic access to aid. Access to a real education will prove to be post-Taliban Afghanistan’s greatest asset down the road.
Finally, we call for Canada to ensure that private sponsorship, skilled refugee programs and other pathways are available to as many Afghans as possible to come to Canada.
In closing, I want to mention that we hear reports of girls being turned away from some schools at gunpoint. This cannot happen on our watch. We must show with our actions, at least as much as with our words, that Canada does not accept denying the right to education and work to half a country’s population. We must show that we will not stand for gender apartheid; that when we say we have a feminist foreign policy, we truly mean it; and that we will back that policy with courage, creativity, risk and resoluteness.
I look forward to answering any questions.
Thank you.