During the event, the speakers highlighted the unacceptable treatment of women and girls by the Taliban including their denial of basic human rights such as access to education, work and free movement. It was emphasised that many professional and activist women in Afghanistan remain under a great risk and are in hiding since August 2021. Violence against women is rising rapidly: women are being persecuted in the name of tradition and religion, including corporal punishment and torture, while young girls are being sold into slavery by the families facing poverty and starvation.

The speakers pleaded to the Spanish government to continue issuing visas/travel permissions to Afghan women and children at risk, including those who had already received the Spanish Certificates in August but were unable to travel to Spain. Many of them are stranded in the third countries such as Pakistan, Iran, Emirates (Abu Dhabi), as well as inside Afghanistan. Concerning the Afghan women and children who have been or are in the process of being resettled in Spain, the European Network of Migrant Women and the Spanish Women’s Lobby urged the Spanish government to exercise the fair treatment of all refugees regardless of their ethnic origin or religion, and, to review and harmonise its integration policies with the EU and International human rights law and to uphold its commitment to the fundamental rights: to privacy & family life, freedom of movement, right to a life free from all kinds of violence.

Find the conclusions of the event, in English and Spanish, circulated to the members of the Spanish Parliament and relevant representatives of the Spanish Government.