23 August 2021
The Linda Norgrove Foundation is campaigning to try and get our staff evacuated from Kabul, where we fear for their safety. And we urgently need your help, as time is running out.
Our two Afghan staff members, who are sisters, have carried out valuable work for the Foundation and are in a vulnerable position simply by working for a UK charity whose main purpose is to both support and empower women in Afghanistan.
Their situation is even more precarious because they are Hazara, an ethnic community that is often the target of attacks by the Taliban.
They have bravely given interviews to the media as the situation deteriorated and this will also make them a target.
Let your MP know
Please urgently contact your MP as soon as possible and urge them to support our campaign to have our staff evacuated. Find your MP’s contact details
Emphasise that our staff are at risk because they are women who work for a charity that supports and empowers women, and are members of the Hazara community.
We have enlisted the help of MPs from the Conservative, Labour and SNP parties, including current government ministers, but we don’t seem to be getting any further forward.
There are seven categories eligible for evacuation. Afghan employees of charities like ours, rather predictably, come bottom of the list below, for instance, Afghan government officials.
Where are the women?
We see photographs of planes full of evacuees and almost all of them are men. And we have to ask – where are the women in all this?
We challenge the government to tell us what proportion of the evacuees are employees of NGOs and charities, and what proportion of the evacuees, excluding wives and dependants, are women.
It’s women who are going to suffer most under the Taliban, and Hazaras who are at risk of persecution. But it looks like our two female employees, who have been so committed to helping young Afghan women make a life of their own, are going to be left behind while officials from one of the most corrupt governments in the world get airlifted to safety.
Our Afghan staff are an important and valued part of our team, and we desperately want to ensure they are safe.
Thanks for your support.