Afghanistan: "We need reception certificates to get our colleagues out"

A Taliban fighter holds his gun under Taliban flags hung in a street in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, August 30, 2021. Many Afghans are worried about the Taliban regime and are looking for ways out of Afghanistan.

AP - Khwaja Tawfiq Sediqi

Text by: Marie Normand Follow

6 mins

Guissou Jahangiri, vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and executive director of Armanshahr, is fighting to get the local collaborators of his NGO and their families out of Afghanistan.

She calls on the French authorities for help. 

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RFI

: Who are these Afghans that you are trying to get out of the country

?

Guissou Jahangiri

:

These are eleven employees of my human rights organization, as well as their dependents, or 56 people in all.

These people have been associated with a series of programs carried out with France, in particular at the French Cultural Center, where we have led more than a hundred debates on the question of human rights.

We have also been in close contact with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to promote a process of transitional justice in Afghanistan.

We have helped create forums for victims to have their voices heard.

These people who worked with me are known.

They are the visible heads of the FIDH network in Afghanistan and they are in danger.

In addition, I also try to bring out activists who have been active for several years in the defense of human rights.

These women are scattered around the country and have not yet been able to be evacuated.

What are you asking from the French authorities

?

We have repeatedly asked the French authorities to certify their willingness to welcome them.

These welcome papers would at least allow them to leave the territory, via Pakistan, which is a dangerous road.

Without these papers, we will not be able to get our colleagues out in danger.

France offers to go to Tehran or Delhi to report to the consular services.

But it is impossible for the people who are stuck in Kabul.  

► To read also: After the departure of the Americans, the Afghans go into exile towards Pakistan, the first destination of the refugees

How do you explain that France has not, for the moment, acceded to your request? 

First, I think the French authorities have done their best.

Other people were able to leave the country: artists, intellectuals, journalists.

It should be understood that the country is facing chaos, that the requests were perhaps numerous and that all these operations were carried out under the threat of the Taliban.

I understand that the French crisis center was in great demand. 

But I understand things a little less today, because the reliability of our request does not have to be proven.

We are begging, when these people are in danger.

Some of our colleagues left their homes after receiving "visits", others moved to another city.

We are very worried about them and we don't know what to do to help them.

France can play a decisive role for us. 

To read also: "I live in hiding, I no longer go out": the fear of the Afghans after the end of the evacuations

On Monday, US forces withdrew completely from the country.

What does this change for those waiting for an evacuation

France with its European allies, with its NATO allies and the Americans, can create a security corridor by negotiating with the Taliban.

We must continue the fight and find a safe exit for those who are in danger in Afghanistan.  

What is the state of mind of the people you are trying to get out of the country?    

We are terrified by the possibility that the Internet will be cut and that we can no longer communicate. These people recall that they had no intention of leaving their country, but that today they are no longer safe. These people are afraid and they are waiting. 

Afghan civil society played the game they were asked to play to imagine a different future for Afghanistan.

The younger generation got involved in a lot of sectors: women became journalists, teachers taught, human rights activists did an impeccable job.

Those who were 20 when the Taliban fell and are 40 today did not imagine having to find a refugee camp again so that their children could live in safety and their daughters could go to school.

There is a disappointment and a question: "What, ultimately, have the last 20 years been used for?"

► To read also: Afghanistan: "I feel a prisoner in my own country"

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