Members of Afghanistan's Powerful Women Movement, take part in a protest in Kabul on May 10, 2022. - About a dozen women chanting "burqa is not my hijab" protested in the Afghan capital on May 10 against the Taliban's order for women to cover fully in public, including their faces.

The Afghanistan Human Rights Coordination Mechanism

The mechanism seeks to assess the needs of Afghan human rights defenders and channel support to them, coordinate and share information among those responding to the crisis, and bring together Afghan and international voices to advocate for full respect for the human rights of all in Afghanistan.

In January 2022, Freedom House played a leading role as one of the founders of the Afghanistan Human Rights Coordination Mechanism.

The other founders include: the Afghan Civil Society Forum (ACSF), the Safety and Risk Mitigation Organization (SRMO), MADRE, and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom’s Afghanistan Chapter (WILPF-Afghanistan) serves in an advisory role.

With initial financial support from the Open Society Foundations, the mechanism seeks to:

Share information with human rights defenders (HRDs) that will help them adjust to the post-2021 security environment in Afghanistan and stay safe;
Assess the needs of HRDs in Afghanistan and the region, coordinate responses to shared problems and, whenever possible, match activists in need with potential sources of support;
Bring together Afghan and international voices to advocate for full respect for the human rights of all in Afghanistan.
We also support the continuation of programs to get Afghan HRDs to safety.

For more information, please contact: [email protected] .

Media inquiries, please contact:  [email protected]