Azadi Zan

06/04/2026

https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/women-in-afghanistan-arent-waiting-for-the-system.-theyre-building-their-own?fbclid=IwdGRzaARAh-xleHRuA2FlbQEwAGFkaWQAAAZJ6XqDaXNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHnvaFmfKScwYn2ghCD6qQYq7g8LNTuGdnPXlNHtrElULHy-7WrLlpuxNtYeP_aem_ajTaTjYJCXMBRSE012gL_g&utm_medium=paid&utm_source=fb&utm_id=6875607189025&utm_content=6914509881225&utm_term=6914509881025&utm_campaign=6875607189025

Despite severe restrictions, Afghan women continue to carve their own pathways to education and opportunity, says University of Melbourne experts

20/03/2026

19/09/2025

Australian youth news program BTN, ran a story on the ethical issues of tourism to Afghanistan, especially in the face of the Taliban's gender apartheid. They interviewed our Executive Director for the story.

Travel influencers have been promoting tours of Afghanistan, despite government warnings not to travel there. We look at how the country has changed under Taliban rule and why visiting is controversial.

18/09/2025

https://8am.media/eng/afghanistans-path-toward-1990s-isolation-talibans-internet-ban-a-self-inflicted-wound-to-society-and-the-economy/

On September 16, the Taliban in Balkh province ordered the complete shutdown of fiber-optic services under the pretext of “preventing immorality,” immediately cutting Afghan Telecom’s services in Kandahar as well. Reports suggest similar restrictions have begun in Helmand, Herat, Uruzgan, and ...

02/09/2025

It was wonderful to talk with Australia's Minister for Gender Equality and Finance about the structural issues facing Afghan women needing asylum in Australia. Our delegation included women from AFGHAN WOMEN ON THE MOVE, and Rural Australians for Refugees, as well as Gillian Triggs and Liz Broderick

Australia has a strong commitment to gender equality & ending violence against women and home and abroad.

The unprecedented events after the fall of Afghanistan has reduced the rights of women and girls drastically.

Australia, alongside Canada, Germany and the Netherlands, has taken unprecedented legal action under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to hold Afghanistan to account for the Taliban’s egregious treatment of women and girls.

Australia continues to call out injustice and partner with international organisations, NGOs and experts to address the situation impacting the rights of girls and women in Afghanistan.

Thank you, Gillian Triggs, Marie Sellstrom, Susan Hutchinson, Fatima Mohseni and Maryam Popal Zahid, for sharing their experiences and ideas for supporting Afghan women to settle in Australia and contribute to our community as so many Afghan women have already done, including here in Canberra.

02/09/2025

- Sarah Adams, a former officer of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has responded to the removal of Afghan women’s photos from national ID cards by publishing images of the wives of several Taliban officials on social media.

On Sunday (August 31) Adams posted the photos of at least eight Taliban members’ wives and warned that if the restriction is not lifted, she will release more such images. On her X page, under the title “Housewives of the Taliban,” she shared these photos, which were taken from diplomatic passports.
This move comes after Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, recently issued a verbal order banning the inclusion of women’s photos on Afghan ID cards. Days later, the Taliban’s Statistics Department announced that adding women’s photos to IDs would be “optional.”

Criticizing the Taliban’s policy, Adams wrote: “The wives of the Taliban travel abroad with their diplomatic photos, while the photos of Afghan girls are being erased from their ID cards.”

01/09/2025

This week at Parliament, we came together in a powerful act of collective advocacy with Azadi Zan Australians for Refugees, and colleagues across refugee and rural networks to raise the urgent issues facing Afghan women.

Together with an inspiring ministerial delegation, we highlighted systemic barriers in visa processing, high-risk cases, and the need to strengthen regular pathways to safety and dignity.

On behalf of Afghan women, we are deeply grateful to all who continue to use their voices and influence to push for real change.

We were proud to join an incredible ministerial delegation that included:

• Gillian Triggs AC
• Liz Broderick AO
• Marie Sellstrom AM (Rural Australians for Refugees)
• Susan Hutchinson (Azadi-e Zan)
• Fatima Mohseni (Azadi-e Zan)

29/08/2025

Australia has a strong commitment to gender equality & ending violence against women and home and abroad.

The unprecedented events after the fall of Afghanistan has reduced the rights of women and girls drastically.

Australia, alongside Canada, Germany and the Netherlands, has taken unprecedented legal action under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to hold Afghanistan to account for the Taliban’s egregious treatment of women and girls.

Australia continues to call out injustice and partner with international organisations, NGOs and experts to address the situation impacting the rights of girls and women in Afghanistan.

Thank you, Gillian Triggs, Marie Sellstrom, Susan Hutchinson, Fatima Mohseni and Maryam Popal Zahid, for sharing their experiences and ideas for supporting Afghan women to settle in Australia and contribute to our community as so many Afghan women have already done, including here in Canberra.

25/08/2025

Sometimes history writes itself not with the sound of cannons and rifles, but with the broken breaths of women who raise their voices loud amid imprisonment, chains, and exile to claim their rights and those of others. Sometimes the fate of a land is determined not by the powerful, but by women who....

18/08/2025

Azadi-e Zan was glad to attend this excellent conference in Melbourne on 15 August

17/08/2025

I still remember exactly where I was on 15 August 2021. It was late afternoon in Canberra. I was sitting at my desk at the Afghan Embassy and my phone wouldn’t stop ringing. But after ...