Reporter: Liza Gupta
On, the auspicious day of Raksha Bandhan, where brothers and sisters pledge protection and support to each other, the second advocacy call of the campaign 'Youth For Afghanistan' was introduced featuring Miss Sohini Jana (Director, JKPI) and Miss Maheen Amjad (Founder and President, Women Ascension) wherein both pledged to look at Afghanistan where the brothers and sisters need protection and support from them. The discussion was part of the one month campaign where they are exploring compassionate approach to policy intervention and aid support towards advocacy in order to bring to light the importance of treating Afghans with dignity. Both advocates addressed issues pertaining to the plight of women of Afghanistan, the role of youth in supporting women’s rights and the how international community can ensure women’s rights.
How Women Ascension fits in this advocacy campaign?
Miss Maheen addressed that the Idea of bringing peace and harmony among states is the primary reason for this campaign. She pointed out that Women Ascension has come up with the idea of bringing women from different countries with unique characteristics under one umbrella to help each other. She further said that it was a needed movement as the whole world is worried about the human rights violations in Afghanistan.
Role of youth in supporting women’s rights particularly in Afghanistan?
Miss Maheen advocated that youth must understand their power and not underestimate their capacity. They need to understand their history and present and how they can contrast between past and present to build on their future. She further advocated that if there are some issues, then it the youth who should take the step towards right direction to practice negotiations. She pointed out that youth from the beginning have supported, engaged and played a positive role in bringing the end results. Both Miss Jana and Miss Maheen encouraged the youth to highlight the truth and be vocal about the issues and to use the campaign as a platform to ensure dignity of women and youth in Afghanistan.
How can international community ensure women’s Rights to education and employment?
Miss Maheen addressed this question by saying that women all around the world face difficulty in exercising their rights. In a war torn country like Afghanistan where people are not having trust in the government, exercising the rights would be much more difficult. The policy makers all around the world should join their hands and bring a platform that would provide a place for peoples voice to act for rights and negotiations towards state policy without their interests.
Message for young women who are struggling to understand their position in Afghanistan?
The session ended by both Miss Jana and Miss Maheen encouraging the women to understand and reflect on their situation and to communicate and bring their voices to their platform wherein they will hear their voice and find a possible solution to practicing their rights.