The words of Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford at an event organised by Rukhshana Media in the UK parliament to put the spotlight on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan.
Hosted by Labour MP Alex Sobel, the discussion also featured Rukhshana Media founder Zahra Joya and Baroness Fiona Hodgson.
The event, which aimed to highlight the work of Rukhshana Media and others in surfacing the stories of women and girls, was chaired by Rukhshana Media trustee Peymana Assad.
Alex Sobel, who represents the northern seat of Leeds and central Headingly, described his involvement with the ‘vibrant Afghan community’ in his constituency, many of whom he has supported to resettle.
He said the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan had deteriorated since 2021. But he also emphasised how difficult it was to access reliable information on the situation given the lack of press freedom, pointing out that freedom of expression in Afghanistan had fallen by 56 points to 178 out of 180 countries in that period.
He praised Rukhshana Media for finding a way to share women’s stories, and the bravery of those women.
The panel agreed that it was much harder for the international community to see what was happening to women and girls in Afghanistan given the restrictions on reporting.
Alex Crawford explained the difficulties of reporting from the ground, with 90 percent of journalist visa applications being refused by the Taliban over the last four years. She said this was particularly the case where journalists stated they wanted to cover women’s stories.
The panel agreed that, in that context, the work done by Rukhshana Media in highlighting stories from the country is vitally important.
Baroness Hodgson pointed out the human and economic cost to Afghanistan of the systematic erasure of women and girls. From medicine to education, she said a generation of women will disappear from the economic life of the country with predictable social and humanitarian consequences that would undermine development.
Alex Crawford from Sky News was adamant that western governments should do more to hold the Afghan authorities to account over their treatment of women and girls.
She criticised the current trend of bloggers and social media influencers sending ‘reports’ from Afghanistan that normalise the situation and downplay the systematic erasure of women and girls.
All panellists agreed the situation in Afghanistan was an intolerable abuse of human rights.
