The Wire
Amnesty International
Voice of Afghan Women Fatana Gailani, head of the Afghanistan Women's Council, spoke to the Wire in January while she was visiting Ireland and the United Kingdom on behalf of her organization. 

Fatana Gailani grew up in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. She married there and had a daughter. After the Soviet army entered Afghanistan in 1979, she fled to the city of Peshawar in neighbouring Pakistan, where she had a second daughter.

"I was a very young woman and didn't have any experience of the horrible things in life. I learned a lot and studied for two years. Lots of refugee women came to me asking for help with their children and families. I realised that the women there had no voice and no one was caring about them."

In response, Fatana opened a medical clinic for women and then a school for the refugees. The school catered for 1,000 children, 400 of them orphans. She also took up work for human rights, "because the women had no voice, no rights, no normal life".

In 1992, after a brief break in Europe, she returned to Peshawar to work with Afghan refugees. The following year she set up the Afghanistan Women's Council and began working with AI.

"We set up a health department with a mother and child clinic in Peshawar, a mobile clinic and a school for refugees, and a human rights department. There are a hundred women in our organization. We opened an office in Kabul two weeks ago. We tried to support women there before, but it was in secret. My life and my husband's life were in a lot of danger in the Taleban time."

Fatana spoke of the human rights problems currently facing women in Afghanistan: "Women have no power, no salary, no jobs. The important thing is that women have lost their dignity during 23 years of war... In the camps they don't have any shelter, they don't have any water or medical treatment or school for the children. Life is very difficult for them."

When asked about the peace process and the role of the international community, Fatana said: "The women don't trust the leaders in power. The peace process needs to be strong. The international community should stop the war and the bombing and see how much has been destroyed in the country and ask who did it. The people need economic and political support and security."

Fatana appealed for support from AI and the human rights movement. "AI members are my colleagues and friends. They must understand the difficulties of our situation... We need to be very honest with each other. Our work is very important for people, especially the women. There should be serious work done, not just fine speeches and letters."

"We still have hope for the future. If we lose that we lose everything."

Read a letter from Amnesty International to General Musharaf

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