MEETING WITH THE UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL’S ENVOY ON YOUTH

ADVOCACY GROUP FOR AFGHANISTAN:A Meeting with the Afghan University Students

Since the collapse of the previous Afghan government and the return of the Taliban to power, 32 of the country’s public universities remain closed to date. According to estimates, nearly half of the country’s professors have left their jobs, and the return of the Taliban has created an extremely fearful environment for young students, who are hit hard by the brain drain in the educational sector. Tens of thousands of students have been driven out of education. The official reason for this is “the challenge of accommodating gender segregation policy,” which is a major setback to gender equality in the country itself. On the news, we often hear about Afghan girls being unable to attend school, but the problem of university students has been left out of the media spotlight. 

In August of 2021, the Network of Former Youth Delegates to the United Nations created the Advocacy Group for Afghanistan. An informal group of Afghan young leaders who have left the country due to fear of the Taliban, friends of Afghanistan, and young human rights activists from across the world. In the month of July, we sent an Open Letter to the United Nations Secretary-General regarding the humanitarian crisis in the country – endorsed by 20 organizations and 150 human rights activists from 39 countries. 

In order to build on our advocacy efforts for Afghanistan and help the United Nations listen to the youth of Afghanistan, we are organizing a meeting of Afghan university students with the United Nations officials working on humanitarian response and the protection of youth in Afghanistan. The purpose of the meeting is to create a platform where students will share their stories and their hopes for a better future and offer potential solutions on how to make education more accessible for young Afghans.  

Objectives and Outcomes:

• CREATE A SPACE WHERE YOUNG AFGHAN STUDENTS CAN HAVE A VOICE TO SHARE THEIR STORIES AND PRESENT PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS.

• DISCUSS THE POSSIBILITY OF PROVIDING ONLINE EDUCATION TO AFGHAN YOUTH.

• INFORM MEMBERS OF OUR NETWORK AND POTENTIAL STAKEHOLDERS ABOUT THE CURRENT SITUATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN AFGHANISTAN TO HELP SHAPE FUTURE INTERVENTIONS.