24 Feb 2026 | Afghanistan, Asia and Pacific, Campaigns, Features, Letters from Afghan Women
Farah, 25, based in Parwan province, supported her family as a civil servant and for UN agencies before the Taliban took over. Then, like so many other women, she lost her job. She did not take that sitting down and instead became involved in a centre to directly help women. But it was soon shut. Today she has no job and an increasingly unwell mother. She writes poignantly here about her life and how she continues to foster hope for herself, her family and all Afghan women despite the many challenges.
I am an Afghan woman, born in the spring of 2000 into a family where education was not merely a choice – it was the cornerstone of life itself. In our home, books were sacred, and the pen symbolised a future brighter than circumstance. My father was a doctor, a man who believed profoundly that knowledge could reshape not only an individual’s life but the destiny of an entire nation. My mother, patient, resilient, and steadfast, was a homemaker whose serene presence masked a boundless inner strength. We were eleven children, a large family with even larger dreams.
My childhood was still imbued with innocence and play when tragedy struck. I lost my father to a heart attack. The warmth and security of our home evaporated overnight. The man who had been our protector, guide, and provider was suddenly gone. From that moment, my mother assumed every role – mother, father, guardian, and pillar of strength. She began sewing clothes by hand late into the night under dim light, her hands moving tirelessly so that we could study by day. Poverty never deterred her. She would say, “Your true wealth is your knowledge. No one can ever take that from you.”
In the spring of 2019, a life-changing opportunity emerged. Dunya University, one of the most reputable institutions in central Afghanistan, announced 600 full scholarships. Its curriculum was entirely in English and aligned with international academic standards. Professors from its main branch in Switzerland taught both online and in person. For a girl from a large, resource-constrained family like mine, this was more than a chance – it was a beacon of hope.
My mother saw the announcement on television. Despite financial hardships, she borrowed money from my aunt to cover the registration fee and brought me to the entrance exam the very next day. Candidates from all 34 provinces of Afghanistan competed. When I received the call informing me that I had been accepted into the Faculty of Economics, it was as if a light had pierced through years of uncertainty. For the first time, I saw pride and relief illuminate my mother’s eyes.
University life was far from easy. In the first two years, I neither owned a smartphone nor had stable internet access. There were times when I walked long distances merely to find a spot with brief connectivity to submit my assignments. Simultaneously, I worked six hours a day at a private school as an administrative assistant. The salary was modest, yet it contributed to our household needs. Exhausted yet determined, I would return home each night to continue studying, convinced that education was the only path to secure both my future and my family’s well-being.
In late December 2020, I took the competitive examination for a governmental post at the National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA) and was appointed to the civil service position responsible for ID distribution. My proficiency in computer skills and English enabled me to receive promotions relatively quickly. The salary I earned provided me with my first true taste of financial independence, and I remember handing the first paycheck to my mother with tears of joy in my eyes. It was a moment of triumph—proof that perseverance and education could transform one’s life.
Yet, following the political upheaval in Afghanistan, everything changed. Work conditions, regulations, and security were drastically altered. My office was relocated to the remote district of Estalf, two hours away from the city centre. New restrictions on women travelling without a male guardian rendered commuting nearly impossible. Hours were spent waiting for transportation that often refused to carry unaccompanied women. Many times, I walked long distances to reach my workplace. My feet would ache, yet the deepest pain was in my heart – knowing that I was penalised merely for being a woman.
For two months, I persisted despite immense pressure. One day, when my mother was ill, I had to traverse the two-hour journey alone on foot. Upon reaching the office, I received a message requesting that I nominate a male family member to assume my responsibilities. At that moment, my identity, competence, and hard work were dismissed. My father had passed years ago, and my brothers were still children. Reluctantly, I had to relinquish my post.
Refusing to succumb to despair, I dedicated myself to humanitarian projects. I became a community outreach officer in Parwan province, volunteering in remote villages where women had never had access to education. I encountered girls who had been forced into child marriages as early as thirteen or fourteen, and many had no basic knowledge of menstrual hygiene. I distributed sanitary pads to adolescent girls and women, often explaining proper usage, as some had never seen such resources. Witnessing their lack of awareness and vulnerability was profoundly heart-wrenching. These were lives that should have been nurtured with opportunities, not constrained by societal neglect.
During a visit to the village of Ustama, women looked at us in disbelief. They confessed that they had long been told that women should not speak, should not study, and should remain silent. Seeing us, providing education and guidance, was nearly incomprehensible for them. That moment underscored the reality that deprivation in Afghanistan is not solely economic; it is the denial of knowledge, awareness, and self-agency – a far more insidious form of oppression.
Later, I joined a project under UN Women as a Safe Space Officer. The centre became a sanctuary for women and girls. Hundreds attended daily, participating in digital literacy classes, life skills training, sewing, embroidery, painting, and small business workshops. We provided the necessary materials to enable participants to create products and link them to markets, thereby earning their own income. Witnessing the first earnings of these women – their proud smiles and newfound confidence – was profoundly inspiring. I documented their successes, recording the moments of triumph with my camera. Every snapshot was a testament to resilience and hope. The centre was not just a place of learning; it was a beacon of empowerment.
However, in late August 2024, the centre was abruptly closed by government authorities. We were expelled under accusations of teaching a “foreign language” and allegedly encouraging women to oppose the government. The office was sealed and locked. Once again, I found myself unemployed, silenced, and stripped of the opportunity to teach.
Days later, a young participant called me, eager to know when classes would resume. I had to convey the bitter truth: the programme had been terminated. I could hear her sobs through the phone. A few days later, her mother informed me that the girl had taken her own life. The news shattered me. I wrestled with guilt and depression for months, haunted by nightmares of those I could not protect.
Although I understood that systemic oppression, not personal failure, was the cause, the grief was almost unbearable.
Today, my mother lives with chronic heart disease and diabetes, with three stents in her heart. At times, being unable to procure her essential medication brings me to the brink of despair. Yet, despite all hardships, my hope persists.
I share this story not to elicit pity, but because the voices of Afghan women deserve to be heard. My goal is to reclaim the right to education, to work with dignity, and to empower other women to realize their potential. Wherever I am, I strive to contribute to a future in which no girl must bury her dreams because opportunities were denied to her.
Though doors may be closed today, hope remains alive. As long as hope endures, the struggle for dignity, justice, and equality will persist.
Farah
8 Aug 2025 | Africa, Americas, El Salvador, Europe and Central Asia, Georgia, News, St. Lucia, Turkey, Uganda
Bombarded with news from all angles every day, important stories can easily pass us by. To help you cut through the noise, every Friday Index publishes a weekly news roundup of some of the key stories covering censorship and free expression. This week, we look at the imprisonment of a prominent Georgian journalist, and a blow to democracy in El Salvador.
A slap in the face: Georgian journalist is the country’s “first female prisoner of conscience”
Following a detention that lasted over 200 days, prominent Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli has been sentenced to two years in prison in a case described by human rights groups as “disproportionate and politicised”.
Amaglobeli, founder of independent news websites Batumelebi and Netgazeti, was taking part in national protests against the disputed national election that took place in October 2024 when she was twice arrested by Georgian police – first for placing a sticker on a building, and then for allegedly assaulting a police officer. A recording of the altercation showed that Amaglobeli lightly slapped the officer before being forcefully arrested, and her lawyers have stated that she was verbally abused and denied access to water following her arrest.
She has been recognised as the first female prisoner of conscience in a country where democracy and free speech have rapidly crumbled. While her initial charge of assault was downgraded to “resisting or using violence against a law enforcement officer”, her two-year sentence has been condemned by the EU, with a spokesperson denouncing the “instrumentalisation of the justice system as a tool of repression against independent voices”. Numerous rights groups have called for her release, with the Committee to Protect Journalists describing the sentence as “outrageous” and “emblematic of Georgia’s increasing use of authoritarian tactics” against independent media in the country.
President Nayib Bukele here to stay: El Salvador abolishes presidential term limits
On Friday 1 August, El Salvadoran Congress voted 57-3 to abolish presidential term limits, allowing President Nayib Bukele to potentially serve for life. Following the announcement, opposition congresswoman Marcela Villatoro announced that “democracy in El Salvador has died”.
Bukele, who has described himself as the “world’s coolest dictator”, has garnered significant popular support since coming to power in 2019, with an approval rating of over 80%. This is largely due to his intense crackdown on the gang violence that has plagued the Central American nation. In 2022 he announced a “state of exception” allowing the government to arrest tens of thousands without due process. This practice has led to close to 2% of the nation’s population being incarcerated.
There may, however, be another side to the crackdown. In May, Independent Salvadoran news site El Faro released an interview with a gang leader who reportedly struck deals with Bukele to help the 44-year-old rise to power. Shortly after, numerous journalists at El Faro were forced to flee the country under threat of arrest. They are far from the only targets of Bukele’s administration; at least 40 journalists have been forced to flee El Salvador since May because of threats from the government. The country’s leading human rights group Cristosal decided in July to completely relocate following the arrest of Ruth López, Cristosal’s chief legal anti-corruption officer.
Human rights groups are alarmed about the swift deterioration of press freedom in El Salvador – but with Bukele’s popularity still sky-high and his party controlling 90% of seats in congress, he appears unassailable.
The crime of speaking up: Turkish youth activist detained over Council of Europe speech
On 5 August, Turkish youth and LGBTQ+ activist Enes Hocaoğulları was detained upon arrival at Ankara’s Esenboğa Airport over a speech he gave at a Council of Europe (COE) meeting in Strasbourg.
Hocaoğulları, who is Turkey’s youth delegate to the COE’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, gave a speech in March titled “Young people in Turkey say ‘Enough’” in which he railed against police brutality, crackdowns on dissent, and the imprisonment of opposition politicians such as Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was arrested earlier that month. Following his address, Hocaoğulları was subject to a targeted smear campaign branding him as a “traitor” who seeks to “spread LGBTI+ ideology”.
Hocaoğulları faces charges of “publicly disseminating misleading information” and “inciting hatred and enmity”, charges that “flout the fundamental right to free expression”, according to COE’s congress president Marc Cools. The COE previously expressed concern over the Turkish Government’s attacks on democracy after the arrest of İmamoğlu, who intends to challenge Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the 2028 elections. The COE have called for Hocaoğulları’s immediate release, describing his arrest as “scandalous and unacceptable”.
A step in the right direction: St Lucia strikes down colonial-era anti-LGBTQ+ law
In a landmark judgement, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court has ruled that St. Lucia’s colonial-era “buggery”and “gross indecency” laws outlawing consensual same-sex relations are unconstitutional.
Previously, engaging in intercourse with a member of the same sex was punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Although the law was rarely enforced, Human Rights Watch have detailed how such laws imposed under British colonial rule allow for discrimination in employment and healthcare, creating a “climate of fear” for LGBTQ+ communities who felt they could not report homophobic abuse to the authorities. The court held that criminalisation of homosexual conduct results in “public humiliation, vilification and even physical attacks” on LGBTQ+ individuals.
St. Lucia is the latest Caribbean nation to repeal colonial-era anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, following in the footsteps of Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, and Barbados, among others. However, many of its neighbours still hold on to these laws, with Trinidad and Tobago & St. Vincent and the Grenadines recently voting to uphold repressive legislation targeting LGBTQ+ people.
Jailed for a TikTok: Ugandan university student imprisoned for posting TikTok critical of the president
Ugandan university student Elson Tumwine, who went missing for over a month after posting a TikTok criticising Ugandan President Yowerei Museveni, has been sentenced to two months imprisonment.
Tumwine, a third-year student at Makerere University in Uganda’s capital Kampala, posted a video accusing Museveni of being responsible for the 1989 Mukura massacre, allegedly doctoring a clip of parliamentary speaker Anita Among to make these claims. He was working as an agricultural intern in Hoima, western Uganda, when he disappeared, causing Makerere University to issue an urgent appeal for his whereabouts. Secretary-general of opposition NUP party David Lewis Rubongoya claimed to have information that Tumwine was dumped at a police station on 13 July after being subjected to “incredible torture” by military intelligence units.
The prosecution stated that the TikTok was intended “to ridicule, demean and incite hostility” against Museveni and Among, and charged Tumwine with offensive communication and computer misuse. In court he swiftly pled guilty, resulting in a more lenient sentence than expected. although local reports allege that he may have done so under pressure from security operatives.
Tumwine is the latest Ugandan to face charges over videos critical of the government on social media, with the Ugandan e-paper Monitor stating he is the sixth TikToker to be imprisoned in the country for “offensive communication”. Emmanuel Nabugodi, was jailed for 32 months in November 2024 for “insulting” Museveni in a TikTok, while Edward Awebwa faced 24 months on similar charges in July 2024.
29 Nov 2024 | Azerbaijan, News
The protester had only been shouting for a few seconds before he was grabbed by a man in black and dragged to the ground. Determined, he got back up and continued.
If you paid enough attention at COP29, you could see these black-suited men carefully patrolling the corridors of Baku’s Olympic Stadium. Like me, many activists covering the United Nations’ flagship environment conference in Azerbaijan, believed them to be state security services. The altercation happened in COP’s “Blue Zone”, which is under the authority of the United Nations and used for networking, private meetings, side events and press conferences of accredited participants.
Shouting at the top of his lungs, the protester criticised untenable working conditions and low pay for service workers at COP29. A crowd quickly gathered, phones and cameras in the air, filming the tussle. From behind their screens, many journalists urged the man in black to let go of the protester, and demanded to see this shadowy figure’s identification. The man in black refused and pushed his way through the cameras to rejoin a group of men talking into earpieces. The protester, who later identified himself as Ismail Jafarsoy, was eventually escorted out by UN security. His fate now that COP has finished is uncertain.
The incident confirmed the uneasy mood of the UN’s flagship climate conference. In Azerbaijan, speaking out of turn, whether on environmental or labour issues, is frowned upon at best and met with jail time for some.
Azerbaijani economist Gubad Ibadoghlu, a professor at the London School of Economics, was detained on 23 July 2023 on fabricated charges during a visit to the country to see his family. He is currently in the Kurdakhani detention centre and Amnesty International has raised concerns over his deteriorating health since his arrest.
In April this year, human rights and climate activist Anar Mammadli was arrested by the Azerbaijani authorities on bogus charges of conspiracy to unlawfully bring money into the country. Critics of the government say he was arrested for setting up the Climate of Justice Initiative in February, which used Azerbaijan’s hosting of COP to draw attention to the climate crisis. Mammadli faces eight years in jail.
Civil society groups and youth activists arriving at COP were given extensive security briefings. Those who attended these briefings told me that they lasted about an hour and they had to put their phones in another room and on airplane mode. They were told that their phones could be listening to them, and that they should never utter the word “Azerbaijan” or the name of its president Ilham Aliyev within the venue. Activists became used to having photos of them or their phone screens taken by people in the venue for no legitimate reason. Unsettled by this, they started to take photos of these surreptitious photographers in return, circulating them within their group chats like “wanted” posters.
The atmosphere created self-censorship among activists, who feared endangering their colleagues and friends if they spoke out against the Azerbaijani government. Despite the blatant abuses of power on behalf of the COP presidency, such as withholding key drafts during the negotiation process, activists preferred to target the Global North instead, for their equally dangerous lack of ambition in climate finance negotiation. But Azerbaijan meanwhile, was to be kept off lips.
One of the best publicity stunts at COP, hosted by a coalition of climate organisations, is “fossil of the day”, a satirical prize which rewards countries who are the best at doing the least on climate change, and who generally block or hinder negotiations. Azerbaijan was a clear contender and yet, the prize’s judges told me, their nomination was withheld until the very last day in fear of retaliation.
In the busy corridors of COP, I met Javid Gara, one of the few Azerbaijani activists present at the conference. We sat by one of the many pre-approved protests going on until Gara pointed at some men in black and said “let’s move”.
Gara is a climate activist from Azerbaijan, based in the UK. He campaigns against deforestation in the country, which lost 447 hectares of natural forest in 2023. Javid talked about the suspicion and paranoia in his homeland, where the crackdown on journalists drastically intensified after Azerbaijan was announced as the host of COP29. He told me that the regime has since become unpredictable, arresting people you would never expect. “We’ve got to the point where people are suspicious if you haven’t been arrested,” he said.
Azerbaijani President Aliyev has two weapons: activists, journalists and politicians are either arbitrarily arrested on trumped-up charges of money laundering or drug trafficking, or are tied down with an oppressive and restrictive law that regulates non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Under this law, organisations are unable to receive foreign funding, and instead have to rely on government funds which limit their activities. In response, NGOs must either risk operating independently under immense budgetary pressure, or are forced to adapt their activities away from political or human rights based activism and toward less “provocative” topics such as environmental or agricultural issues. Many have been forced to flee and live in exile.
Emin Huseynov is one of many Azerbaijani human rights activists living in exile. After almost a year of hiding in the Swiss embassy in Baku, Huseynov managed to escape to Switzerland aboard a diplomatic jet. Shortly after reaching Switzerland, where he now lives and is in the process of seeking political asylum, he was stripped of his Azerbaijani citizenship. In July 2023, the European Court of Human Rights found the Azerbaijani government in violation of his rights and ordered them to reinstate his citizenship. He remains stateless to this day.
Huseynov continues to raise awareness of the blatant abuses of Aliyev’s regime, and to highlight the persistent attempts to whitewash his government through international cultural and political events, such as the Eurovision song contest or COP29. For his Climate Observers Partnership campaign, Huseynov bought the domain name COP29.host and made a website highlighting the repression of Aliyev’s regime. Access to the website was soon blocked by the Azerbaijani authorities.
As Huseynov told me, if the world needs finance to save a dying planet, so too do activists for Azerbaijan’s dying civil society. According to him, the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East have made it harder to find funding from abroad. Both exiled and domestic activists are finding themselves financially forced out of their advocacy. “We have funds to keep us going until the end of November, after that, I don’t know what will happen,” he said.
In the halls of the Baku Olympic stadium, Javid Gara explained how he is determined to keep fighting for his country’s biodiversity despite the restrictions he faces. Refusing to risk government control, Gara’s organisation Ecofront has no funds, no offices, and no staff. “Our operational capacities are so restricted, we don’t have a choice, we have to stay voluntary,” he said.
Today, there are 319 political prisoners in Azerbaijan. Activists both inside and outside of the country are exposed to surveillance, intimidation, imprisonment and even assassination. In the weeks preceding COP29, a political opponent of the regime, Vidadi Isgandarli, was stabbed to death in his home in France. He was believed to be the fourth Azerbaijani activist in exile to have been murdered since 2021, according to Le Monde. Countries with such abhorrent human rights records should not be the hosts of climate conferences when so much is at stake.
Whether it be through the song and dance of Eurovision or the tense COP29 negotiations, Aliyev’s regime is desperate to cover up its abuses in glam and glitter. But attention should bring accountability, and the international community must make sure that while the president basks in the spotlight, he does not extend his dangerous grip in the shadows.
11 Sep 2024 | Afghanistan, Albania, Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, News
A summit on Afghan women’s rights is taking place in the Albanian capital Tirana this week. The gathering comes just two weeks after the Taliban’s “vice and virtue” laws banned women in Afghanistan speaking in public.
The All-Afghan Women’s Summit is in stark contrast to a United Nations meeting in Doha, Qatar at the end of June on the future of Afghanistan which excluded women at the insistence of the Taliban.
Over 100 Afghan women are taking part in the summit in Tirana, which is co-hosted by the governments of Albania and Spain and co-sponsored by the government of Switzerland.
The event is organised by Women for Afghanistan and chaired by Afghan campaigner and former politician Fawzia Koofi. The summit is designed to give a voice to Afghan women and work towards a manifesto for the future of Afghanistan.
Koofi said: “Whilst my sisters have suffered the most under the Taliban, they have also been the strongest voices standing up against oppression. This Summit will bring us together, consolidate our positions, and build unity and purpose towards a common vision for our country. We urge the international community to listen to our recommendations on a unified platform. There is simply no time to lose”.
The occasion was marked by the release of an anthem by the UK-based Aghan singer Elaha Soroor celebrating the strength and resilience of Afghan women. The song is sung to the words of a poem in Farsi based on the rallying cry of the women’s protest movement in Afghanistan: “Bread, Work, Freedom! Education, Work, Freedom!”
“This poem is an expression of a woman’s struggle for autonomy, identity, and liberation from the constraints imposed by tradition and patriarchal authority,” Soror explained. “As the poem progresses, she reclaims her power, embracing her own identity and rejecting patience as a virtue that no longer serves her.”
Index has consistently campaigned for women’s rights in Afghanistan. Since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, the organisation has put pressure on the British government to honour its promises to Afghan journalists and women.
Three years ago, we helped organise an open letter to The Times calling on the UK government to intervene on behalf of Afghan actors, writers, musicians and film makers targeted by the Taliban. Since then, we have run a series of articles about life under the Taliban regime.
This article from February 2023 was written anonymously about one female journalist who suffered assault and starvation during her escape from Afghanistan. Thankfully, the writer concerned, Spozhmai Maani, is now safely in France, thanks to the support of Index and other international organisations. We were delighted to announce in January 2024 that Spozhmai had won our Moments of Freedom award. Others have not been so fortunate, The crackdown on journalists continues and the latest laws effectively criminalise free expression for women.
