ICRC, Afghanistan: A changed perspective to disability helps her inspire others, 3 August 2022
“The ICRC's physical rehabilitation programme, which was one of our first activities in the country, began in Kabul“Even before the latest political instability, UNICEF’s partners registered 183 child marriages and 10 cases of selling almost 35 years ago. Now, there are a total of seven ICRC-run physical rehabilitation centres – in Kabul, Gulbahar, Herat, Jalalabad, Mazar-i-Sharif, Faizabad and Lashkar Gah.”
Tolo News, Ministry: Payments for Disabled People Will Resume in 2 Months, 27 July 2022
“The Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs said monthly support payments for disabled people and families of martyrs will resume following a recheck in two months. "Our main problem is that the majority of orphans and disabled people do not have electronic identity cards and bank accounts, but despite this, our colleagues are working to finish this process as soon as possible," said Mufti Faisal, head of the press department of the Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs. Meanwhile, some disabled people and their families in Kabul said that they are facing economic challenges and asked the Islamic Emirate to pay their monthly support payments. “We filled the form in the winter, but still there is no news of the salary,” Saleh Mohammad, a disabled person, told TOLOnews. “We are facing economic challenges, every day I have to collect 100 Afs for my house rent,” Zabiullah, a disabled person, told TOLOnews. “They should pay our salaries, eight orphans have been left to me,” said a family member of a disabled person. Previously, the families of disabled people have complained about not receiving their monthly support payments, but the Ministry of Martyrs and the Disabled said that the recheck of the disabled and the families of the martyrs is one of the main reasons for the delay in paying their salaries.”
AVA, People with Disabilities Overlooked in the Response to Quake-Hit Afghanistan: Human Rights Watch, 12 July 2022
"According to the Human Rights Watch report, there is a paucity of post-earthquake statistics on the needs of disabled persons in Afghanistan, and many of them have been forgotten about when relief was being distributed. Despite frequently being mentioned as a population at risk, people with disabilities frequently encounter impediments to receiving humanitarian aid such as food, sanitation, and medical help""[…] individuals with disabilities continue to be underrepresented and disadvantaged in general."
"Human Rights Watch stated that people with disabilities had been overlooked in humanitarian relief to the earthquake victims in a report about the recent earthquake in southern Afghanistan.
According to the Human Rights Watch report, there is a paucity of post-earthquake statistics on the needs of disabled persons in Afghanistan, and many of them have been forgotten about when relief was being distributed. Despite frequently being mentioned as a population at risk, people with disabilities frequently encounter impediments to receiving humanitarian aid such as food, sanitation, and medical help.
Given the Taliban government’s egregious breaches of human rights, particularly against women and girls, since
the Taliban took power, governments have struggled to provide funds for humanitarian relief to Afghanistan.
In the report, Human Rights Watch makes the observation that meeting humanitarian needs should be maintained separately from the politics of Taliban legitimacy and recognition. If not, the crisis will mostly affect people with disability and other vulnerable groups.
According to an Afghan woman who cofounded a group run by people with disabilities but was forced to leave Afghanistan after the Taliban took control in August 2021, “I think people with disabilities have been left behind during the help and rescue programs because nobody tried to distinguish people with disabilities among all people harmed.”
She summed up the humanitarian assistance distribution for the quake-hit disabled people as “a raindrop for a thirsty person.”
Following an earthquake that occurred in eastern Afghanistan on June 22 and left at least 1,000 people dead, individuals with disabilities continue to be underrepresented and disadvantaged in general."
Tolo News, Afghans Complain About Lack of Disability Payments, 3 June 2022
"Some disabled individuals in Kabul are complaining about not receiving their monthly support payments. Despite the budget for this year being approved, their salaries have not yet been paid. Abdul Wasi is a disabled person who was injured disabled 30 years ago as a result of a mine explosion in Kabul's Paghman area. He said that not getting
paid has compelled him to work in order to support his family."
UNFPA, UNFPA Afghanistan Humanitarian Updates - First Quarter 2022, 29 May 2022
“The situation of women and girls continues to be negatively affected by increasing restrictions on their rights and systematic discrimination which exacerbates long-standing inequalities particularly for those living with disabilities and in remote rural areas.”
US DOS, 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Afghanistan, 12 April 2022
“Status and Treatment of Internally Displaced Persons […] Protection concerns were increasingly reported to humanitarian partners, with growing protection needs for persons with disabilities, the elderly, female-headed households, and sexual and gender minorities. […] Persons with disabilities could not access education, health services, public buildings, and transportation on an equal basis with others. Persons with disabilities faced barriers such as limited access to educational opportunities, inability to access government buildings, difficulty in acquiring government identification required for many government services and voting, lack of economic opportunities, and social exclusion due to stigma. […] The World Institute on Disability (WID) estimated that 90 percent of persons with disabilities were unemployed as a result of entrenched social biases and faced barriers to accessing public services including health and education. According to WID, persons with disabilities also faced barriers to accessing education, transportation, and health care. Lack of security remained a problem for disability programs throughout the year. Insecurity in remote areas, where a disproportionate number of persons with disabilities lived, precluded delivery of assistance in some cases. Most buildings remained inaccessible to persons with disabilities, prohibiting many from benefitting from education, health care, and other services.
Before the August takeover, the Taliban attacked the Special Olympics headquarters in Kabul with at least two separate bombing attempts. On August 15, Taliban gunmen entered the headquarters and seized the office
director’s laptop and credentials, prompting the director to flee the country due to repression.”
OWP, Humanitarian crisis and neglect in Afghanistan puts people with disabilities at risk, 19 January 2022 “Disabled Afghans are arguably the country’s most vulnerable cohort and suffer from ongoing neglect, stigmatization and discrimination. Disabled people are often excluded from participation in education and social life, and disabled women and children suffer from exploitation, violence, and physical, sexual, and emotional
abuse. Afghanistan has one of the highest rates of disability in the world, with Human Rights Watch reporting that at least one in five households has member with a serious disability. The Asia Foundation’s 2020 study found that 80% of adults live with some form of disability (24.6% mild, 40.4% moderate and 13.9% severe), as do 17.3% of children aged between 2 and 17. Severe disabilities are more prevalent amongst females, leaving women and girls more vulnerable. Over 40 years of continuous conflict has also meant that approximately 1 million Afghans have amputated limbs or other mobility, visual, or hearing disabilities, and many Afghans also suffer from mental health conditions.
[...] The re-emergence of the Taliban and the withdrawal of foreign aid, upon which the country is extremely reliant, have reduced both the funds to implement these programs and international commitments and the Afghan leadership’s interest in carrying them out. Thus, these vital policies, including opportunities in employment and education and programs to improve healthcare, accessibly, and inclusion, have been virtually abandoned. For example, the international community froze the funds of the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, whose Rural Access Project completes road rehabilitation projects to help disabled students travel to school. The freeze in funding and policy inaction by the Taliban has seen projects like this cease, leaving people with disabilities neglected and unable to participate in society. This neglect represents a huge step back in disability rights, as well as disabled people’s dignity. There are also fears that the Taliban is not only neglecting but actively discriminating against the disabled. “There are millions of people with disabilities there without any support, without food, without clothes, without education, without any basic human rights,” says Benafsha Yaqoobi, a prominent blind activist at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. “We must raise their voices.” Yaqoobi says the Taliban believes that disability is God’s way of punishing parents’ sins, leading them to discriminate against people with disabilities.”
OCHA (Disability Inclusion Working Group – Afghanistan), Afghanistan: International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), 3 December 2021
“The emergency situation in Afghanistan often disproportionately impacts persons with disabilities and their households and the COVID-19 pandemic, has been no exception. People with disabilities have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to intensify the existing inequalities and vulnerabilities as people with disabilities encompass a variety of conditions and impairments and have faced many barriers throughout the pandemic. The collapse of the government and international sanctions have further
exacerbated the situation.”
Human Rights Watch, Afghanistan: Taliban blocking female aid workers, 4 November 2021
“[...] women with disabilities, whether married or single, are often seen as a burden on their families and are at increased risk of violence both inside and outside the home. [...]”
The lack of women aid workers also means that women with disabilities have less access to rehabilitative services.
International Disability Alliance (IDA), IDA Statement on the Situation in Afghanistan, September 2021 [exact date unknown]
“Due to communication barriers and security concerns, adequate information on the situation of Afghans with disabilities during the current crisis is not available. It is evident however that due to the unsafe situation, many Afghans have been forced to leave their homes in search of safety and dignity. Persons with disabilities face additional risks during the displacement journey including being left behind in the first place or being forced to withdraw from the journey due to a lack of assistive devices or disruption of support networks. When reaching displacement or refugee camps, or other temporary residence, persons with disabilities face additional barriers accessing the very basic rights such as water, sanitation, hygiene, food or shelter.
Those left behind are at risk of violence and abuse, disruption of support services and isolation. In case the situation turns to internal armed conflict, persons with disabilities are more likely to lose their lives than others, and face risk of being abused as human shields, sexual slaves or trafficking.”
Business Insider, An advocate for disabled Afghans on her harrowing escape and her concern for disabled Afghans under Taliban rule, 6 September 2021
“[...] Benasfha Yaqubi, a blind commissioner with the Afghanistan Human Rights Commission (AHRC) [...] Afghanistan has one of the highest rates of disability in the world, according to Human Rights Watch—including more than a million people with physical injuries from decades of conflict, including the two-decade-long U.S. war. Countless others have mental health conditions, like post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety. [...]
The proportion of Afghans with severe disabilities increased from 2.7% in 2005 to 13.9% in 2019, the European Parliament reported last year. [...]
Vulnerable adults and children are often deeply reliant on the assistance of family members, and she worries that desperate families might leave behind more vulnerable, and less able, family members. [...]
Another group she is thinking about is disabled widows as well as widows who do not live with an adult male and therefore, under Taliban rules where women are expected to move around with a male escort, might become "functionally disabled" and unable to earn money.
"The women don't have husbands. They have small children. They don't have a man. They don't have anyone to follow them outside. So what can they do? They are functionally disabled. They can't go to work. They'll miss their income," said Yaqubi.”
The Guardian, Disabled Afghans in special jeopardy, warns exiled campaigner, 6 September 2021
“Benafsha Yaqoobi, a commissioner at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), said she fears the Taliban will neglect and discriminate against people with disabilities due to the belief, held by many in the country, that disability is a punishment from God for the sins of parents.”
The Nation, The Taliban Is Targeting Disability Rights Activists, 2 September 2021
“With the fall of the Ashraf Ghani–led government, the provision of these services is almost certain to become more difficult. According to the Asia Foundation, Afghanistan has one of the highest rates of disability per capita in the world, with nearly 80 percent of Afghan adults disabled, mostly because of more than 40 years of war. Despite this staggering number, that disabled Afghans are largely left behind is the result of a lack of accessible infrastructure and systemic ableism. This problem especially impacts women and girls; according to a 2020 report by Human Rights Watch, 80 percent of Afghan girls with disabilities aren’t enrolled in school. [...]
She and M are also concerned that disabled victims of war will lose their monthly stipend provided by the administration under former President Ghani, which helps them pay for food and other necessities, and that rehabilitation centers will shut down, withdrawing critical medical support for Afghans with disabilities. Small businesses owned by people with disabilities are also shutting down, making them extra vulnerable in an economy already in free fall.”