Following the Taliban's return to power, women are again excluded from government and education and their rights and freedoms are threatened. To honour the Afghan women for their brave fight for equality, the European Parliament is hosting the "Afghan Women Days" on Tuesday and Wednesday. This event gathers MEPs, prominent Afghan women who were finalists for Parliament’s 2021 Sakharov Prize, Commission and United Nations representatives as well as representatives of other international organisations. Extracts from several workshops organised to discuss specific issues related to Afghanistan, such as future perspectives for women in the country and a youth seminar. Statements of Heidi HAUTALA (Greens/EFA, FI), Vice President in charge of the Sakharov Prize Community and Maria ARENA (S&D, BE), Chair of the Sub-committee on Human Rights.

Brussels

conference

statement

EU - Afghanistan (T)

ARENA, Maria (S&D, BE)

HAUTALA, Heidi (Greens/EFA, FI)

Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought 2021 (T)

Afghan Women Days - extracts from workshops and statements of Heidi HAUTALA (Greens/EFA, FI) and Maria ARENA (S&D, BE)

Cutaways : Welcome of the Afghan Women Sakharov Prize finalists 2021 by Heidi HAUTALA (Greens/EFA, FI) (15 shots)

SOUNDBITE (English), Heidi HAUTALA (Greens/EFA, FI), This is a great opportunity to learn from women who are very close to their sisters and brothers in Afghanistan. And we have to really get the message from inside the country as well.

SOUNDBITE (English), Heidi HAUTALA (Greens/EFA, FI), We need to be very careful so that we don't end up in a situation where important countries, including the European Union, member states and the EU as such, will give a recognition to the Taliban and then things just continue as they are today: millions and millions of women are kept inside their homes and houses, they cannot go to work and girls above 13 years old are not able to go to school.

Cutaways of the conference "Protecting human rights in the humanitarian crisis" moderated by Maria ARENA (S&amp;D, BE), chair of the Sub-committee on Human Rights. Guests include : Janez Lenarčič, EUCommissioner for Crisis Management, in charge of European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid; Shaharzad Akbar, Sakharov Prize finalists 2021, chair of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC); David Beasley, Executive Director, World Food Programme; Anisa Shaheed, Sakharov Prize finalists 2021, journalist (remotely) (9 shots)

SOUNDBITE (French), Maria ARENA (S&amp;D, BE), It is important to listen to these women because they know the situation in their country better than anyone else. These are women in exile who left because they were threatened, threatened with death or threatened with torture. Therefore, it is important to understand what actions can be taken on the ground. You know that one of the first questions that arise is the humanitarian issue. Today, thousands of people are dying of hunger in the country and so it is important to ensure that humanitarian aid goes directly to the people and not to the populations chosen by the Taliban.

SOUNDBITE (French), Maria ARENA (S&amp;D, BE), There are young Afghans who had to flee their country and who are somewhat scattered around the world. And so, it seems important to us to be able to network these people and ensure that their integration is done as well as possible with language learning, with protection in relation to their status at the European level. Today, there is still a young Afghan woman who risks not having a status because the administrations do not take into consideration the situations of what is really happening for these young people.

Cutaways: Sakharov Youth Seminar with Afghan women (at the VoxBox) moderated by Maria ARENA (S&amp;D, BE), chair of the Sub-committee on Human Rights (8 shots)