Voices for Creative Nonviolence – Written evidence (AFG0016)
Submission to the Inquiry on The UK and Afghanistan
Summary
- Afghan Peace Volunteers say no to war and “Enough” to military intervention in their country.
- Grassroots peacebuilding is a vibrant part of Afghan culture. Peacebuilders should be heard in the peace process.
- Women and youth must also be part of the national and international peace process.
- Violence, insecurity and the resulting traumas continue in 2020 unabated.
- The UK and other nations have contributed to insecurity and suffering for Afghans, and should now undertake reparations channelled through non-state actors that are Afghan led or willing to submit to Afghan leadership
- UK deportation of Afghan refugees and asylum seekers are unsafe and must be suspended.
- Covid-19 has compounded the vulnerabilities experienced by Afghans
About Afghan Peace Volunteers
This report is a collation of views and statements from the Afghan Peace Volunteers, young people dedicated to justice and nonviolence. The information has been collated by Voices for Creative Nonviolence UK, which provides solidarity support.
Afghan Peace Volunteers (APV) is a civil society organisation based in Kabul, but its members are active elsewhere, especially Bamiyan. APV run a number of projects based on nonviolence, equality and the environment.
Afghan Peace Volunteers work in partnership with Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a civil society peace group working in the United Kingdom and United States of America.
A recommendation for the committee’s enquiries:
Afghan Peace Volunteers have been educating people from other nations about life and peace work in Afghanistan for years through the “Global Days of listening programme,” providing translation and facilitated discussion. We recommend the committee arrange an online discussion with the members of the APV to hear directly from them. Committee members could then ask direct questions.
Even if the committee cannot schedule this, individual members may wish to hear more from Afghan young people.
Contact VCNV for more information. vcnvuk@gmail.com
Book a slot on Global Days of Listening: GlobalDaysOfListening@gmail.com
Geopolitical environment
In December 2019, the Afghan Peace Volunteers released this statement:
To the elite of Afghanistan and the world, we’ve had #Enough! of being much less than the human beings we can be. “The Afghanistan Papers,” published by the Washington Post, are further evidence that 99% of Afghans and all human beings face an unjust and corrupt you. We detest your corruption, lies, deceptions, theft, the killing and the war as revealed by “The Afghanistan Papers”. Five hundred and seventeen thousand human beings, more than 90% of them Afghans, shouldn’t have been victims at all, much less pawns for money and power which you’ve not been held accountable for.