This is the second report issued that synthesizes the priorities and recommendations of Afghan women from consultations undertaken by UN Women, UNAMA and IOM. The aim of the consultations is to bring in the voices of a diverse cross-section of Afghan women on policy and programming challenges facing Afghanistan, to ensure that their perspectives inform decision-making.

The purpose of this Gender Alert is to document and analyze the impact of the rapidly evolving Afghan context on women’s rights and gender equality. This Alert focuses on developments since the Taliban take-over of Kabul on 15 August 2021, shedding light on the impact of the current contextual dynamics on the rights of women and girls.

The current conflict and political uncertainty in Afghanistan has clear gendered impacts. Restrictive gender norms and harmful practices are being exacerbated. Women and girls are at risk of further marginalization and being left behind. It is critical that women’s voices continue to be consulted, amplified and inform humanitarian decision-making through their participation in humanitarian assessments. Given the current circumstances.

This second edition of the newsletter, covering August - October, reflects our transit from an immediate rapid response to COVID-19, to a longer-term programmatic focus operating in the peace-development-humanitarian nexus. At this critical time, we worked with the Ministry of Public Health to ensure all COVID-19 hospitals and quarantine centers now have a separate room for women survivors of violence. We listened to our women’s rights activists on the ground and our call for ideas.

UN Women and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), with contributions from Human Rights Watch (HRW), jointly issue this tenth alert to continue to highlight the gender specific impacts of COVID-19 in Afghanistan. This alert focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on women and girls with disabilities in Afghanistan.

The Gender Alerts series highlights the disproportionate gender specific impacts of COVID-19 in Afghanistan, from the lack of services for survivors of violence to the challenges of building peace during a health crisis and a fast-paced rise in the burden of unpaid care work.

This alert provides guidance for service providers operating during the COVID-19 pandemic to continue to safely provide critical services to survivors of violence against women and girls. It highlights the need for service providers to implement strict measures to prevent and mitigate COVID-19 spreading to be able to continue to operate safely and maintain services that are essential for survivors of violence.

Women Protection Centers must take special precautions to protect their residents, employees, and visitors from COVID-19 to mitigate the risks to contract and spread the virus. The purpose of this guidance note is to guide Women Protection Centers (WPC) (shelters) to provide services during the COVID-19 crisis.

The purpose of this guidance note is to provide practical to guide Family Guidance Centers (FGCs), Family Protection Centers (FPCs) and Women and Girl Safe Spaces (WGSS) on how to adapt service provision during the COVID-19 crisis.

This second alert focuses on the trends and implications for the provision of services (health, police and justice, social services and coordination of these services) during the COVID-19 pandemic for women and girls who experience violence. It highlights the need to prioritize access to quality and coordinated services for survivors of violence. This alert concludes with a set of preliminary recommendations for consideration by national and international stakeholders to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls (VAWG).

16 things you can do to help end violence against women and girls

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) has been clearly established as a serious issue facing the majority of women and girls in Afghanistan with deadly, disabling, and long term consequences; not only for women, but for children, families, future generations, communities and society as a whole. VAWG deprives families and communities of peace and limits nearly half the population from fully participating in the betterment of society. Eliminating VAWG is a critical part of the development...

The full gender analysis of the humanitarian response to 2015’s Kunduz crisis in Afghanistan. The analysis was led by UN Women and the Norwegian Refugee Council, with support from IASC GenCap senior gender advisor and provides an evidence base for future advocacy to ensure women and girls are better integrated into humanitarian action.

This study covered seven provinces in Afghanistan asking women and men about their understanding of women’s economic rights in theory and practice, as well as gender-based violence. The results will help form baseline information that can help shape future programming in these areas.

Part of UN Women’s Stories of Change series, this publication tells the story of Atefe Mansoori, an entrepreneur in Afghanistan who has defied her family and conservative factions to start her own saffron export business and provides training and employment opportunities to other women in Afghanistan.

Part of UN Women’s Stories of Change series, Ryahem Alem tells her story of going through UN Women’s intern programme. The 22-year-old from Badakhshan is a trainee midwife who was placed at Ali Seena Hospital in Kabul.

Part of UN Women’s Stories of Change series, this publication tells the story of Najiba and Lalbibi, two survivors of violence who sought help at a UN Women-funded Women’s Protection Centre, help that likely saved their lives.

Part of UN Women’s Stories of Change series, this publication tells the story of Zarmeena, a survivor of violence who sought help at a UN Women-funded Women’s Protection Centre. The support services, legal support and vocational training has helped her return to school and escape violence.

An overview of the level of violence that women and girls face in Afghanistan, including local context, statistics and recommendations for work that needs to take place to end such violence.

An introduction to UN Women’s Survivors Empowerment Journey programme, which takes a holistic approach to empowering women survivors of violence through survivor-centric protection services and economic empowerment, while also fostering an enabling environment for community-level prevention and legal reform.