Members of Afghanistan's Powerful Women Movement, take part in a protest in Kabul on May 10, 2022. - About a dozen women chanting "burqa is not my hijab" protested in the Afghan capital on May 10 against the Taliban's order for women to cover fully in public, including their faces.

The Afghanistan Human Rights Coordination Mechanism

The mechanism seeks to assess the needs of Afghan human rights defenders and channel support to them, coordinate and share information among those responding to the crisis, and bring together Afghan and international voices to advocate for full respect for the human rights of all in Afghanistan.

In January 2022, Freedom House played a leading role as one of the founders of the Afghanistan Human Rights Coordination Mechanism.

The other founders include: the Afghan Civil Society Forum (ACSF), the Safety and Risk Mitigation Organization (SRMO), MADRE, and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom’s Afghanistan Chapter (WILPF-Afghanistan) serves in an advisory role.

With initial financial support from the Open Society Foundations, the mechanism seeks to:

Bring together Afghan and international voices to advocate jointly for full respect for the human rights of all in Afghanistan.
Share crucial information with human rights defenders (HRDs) that will help them adjust to the post-2021 security environment in Afghanistan and stay safe. Provide safety and protection training, digital security training, documentation of human rights violations, and psychosocial support.
Assess the needs of HRDs in Afghanistan and the region, coordinate responses to shared problems and, whenever possible, match activists in need with potential sources of support–including the Safeguarding Afghan Democratic Actors (SADA) program at Freedom House.
Advocate for continuing and scaling-up programs to get Afghan HRDs to safety, including through refugee resettlement programs.
Join with other coalitions to help and support Afghan human rights defenders, women’s rights defenders, and civil society activists, expanding their documentation of human rights abuses in Afghanistan.

Explore the Program Website

For more information, please contact: [email protected]

Media inquiries, please contact:  [email protected]

Experts

Anne C. Richard

Senior Adviser on Afghanistan Coordination /Distinguished Fellow

Farishta Sakhi

Project Director

@farishtasakhi

Mahdi Surosh

Program Officer

@MahdiSurosh

A Needs Assessment of Afghan Human Rights Defenders

The Afghanistan Human Rights Coordination Mechanism (AHRCM) in collaboration with the Afghanistan Civil Society Forum (ACSFo) are debuting a new report: “Needs Assessment Report of Afghan Human Rights Defenders.” This report is based on surveys, in-depth interviews, and focus groups of Afghan human rights defenders carried out in 2022.

Read the Report