Thursday 29 September 2022 | 09.:00 CET
European Parliament Brussels
room ASP1-G2 (M. Glezos) & online

One year ago, on 15 August 2021, the Taliban stormed the Afghan capital, Kabul and seized control of the country.  The fundamentalist group returned to power after waging a 20 yearlong insurgency against the U.S.-backed government in Kabul. Over these past 12 months, human rights violations against women and girls have mounted steadily. The Taliban have systematically excluded women and girls from public life. They have also banned girls from attending school past the sixth grade and barred women from working most jobs outside the home. Restrictions on women’s bodies and movement continue to intensify. Afghan women and girls have been abandoned to fight the most difficult feminist fight imaginable: the simple right to exist as a female.

The Left in the European Parliament has always stood by the Afghan people and the women & girls of Afghanistan. This conference “Feminist Voices of Afghanistan” to give our Afghan sisters the opportunity to discuss their experiences and raise their voices inside the European Parliament.

Video recording of the conference (OV): HERE

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PROGRAMME

8.00 – 8.30 Arrival and Security checks

9.00 – 9.10 Opening by Member of European Parliament (MEP) Cornelia Ernst

9.10 – 9.50  From Kabul to Brussels
Live testimonies from women leading the daily protests (REMOTE)

Moderation: MEP Marisa Matias

9.50 – 10.20 Q&A

10.20 – 11.00  Vulnerable groups & media freedom: women’s rights activists & journalists.
Shukria Barakzai, Afghan journalist & politician, Former Member of Wolesi Jirga, Former Ambassador of Afghanistan to Norway
Sonita Sorosh, Journalist Arina Television
Liv von Boetticher, Journalist & documentarian

Moderation: MEP Anne-Sophie Pelletier

11.00 – 11.20 Q&A

11.20 – 12.00 European Union & Afghan women: sisterhood beyond borders
Stella Ronner-Grubačić, EU Ambassador for Gender and Diversity
Narges Hafedzada, Judge at Supreme Court of Afghanistan (REMOTE)
Mursal Sayas, Human rights activist

Moderation: MEP Sira Rego

12.00 – 12.20 Q&A

12.20 – 12.30 Concluding remarks by MEP Clare Daly