The Afghan Women's Network (AWN) is a
non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
(NGO) which was created in 1996 by
Afghan
Afghan or Afgan may refer to:
Related to Afghanistan
*Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...
women following the
World Conference on Women in
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
and works to "empower women and ensure their equal participation in Afghan society."
About
The AWN sustains the vision of an Afghanistan in which women & men live in a justice and discrimination free society. AWN's axis of focus are:
* Women, peace and security
* Women's political participation and leadership
* Women's social and legal protection
The AWN acts as a foundation supporting other
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...
-oriented NGO in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The AWN receives funding from donor agencies such as the
French Embassy,
ActionAid,
UNHCR
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and Humanitarian protection, protect refugees, Internally displaced person, forcibly displaced communities, and Statelessness, s ...
, and Roland Berger Foundation. It operates from Kabul, Heart, Balkh, Kandahar, Bamyan, Paktia, Nangarhar, and Kunduz, ... It has more than 3,500 individual members (exclusively women) and 125 women's organizations with memberships.
Executive board members have included
Manizha Wafeq and the current executive director is Hassina Safi.
History
The Afghan Women's Network was established in 1995. Women who had participated in the United Nation Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China decided that they wanted to create a network for Afghan women.
In 2013, The AWN played an active role in the curation of the exhibit ''Women Between Peace and War: Afghanistan'' by Leslie Thomas from ArtWORKS Projects for Human Rights.
In March 2014, the AWN launched the ''Afghan Women Vision 2024'', the ONG's official newspaper supported by the
Heinrich Boell Foundation. In 2014, the ONG stated that 150
honor killings affected Afghan women each year. Upon the progressive withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, the AWN brought its focus on maintaining the women's rights benefits gained during the presence of the US troops.
In February 2015, the AWN took part to the marches asking the president
Ashraf Ghani
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (born 19 May 1949) is an Afghan former politician and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was 2021 Taliban offensive, overthrown by the Ta ...
to respect his word and name 4 women ministries in his government for fair gender representation. In 2016, the ONG spoke out about the revival of public executions of women in Afghanistan following the new peak of influence from the
Taliban
, leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders
, leader1_name = {{indented plainlist,
* Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013)
* Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016)
* Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...
.
See also
*
Jamila Afghani
*
Farida Azizi
*
Taliban treatment of women
*
Asila Wardak
Reference List
External links
Official website
{{Authority control
Women's organisations based in Afghanistan
Organizations established in 1996
1996 establishments in Afghanistan