Sharing this piece I wrote for @time in honor of Afghan women, one year after the fall of the Afghan government. It cannot end here. #afghanistan
Zahara with her Spelman sisters! Congratulations to all new students starting this year. A very special place and an honor to have a family member as a new Spelman girl.
#spelman #spelmancollege #spelmansisters #HBCU
On this year’s World Refugee Day I celebrated dinner with new friends from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Congo, Egypt, Kurdistan, Nigeria, and Gambia. I’m grateful that among so much heaviness in the world, these brave people shared their time and stories with me. Family, friends, and food bring people together and I was honored to be joined by new friends to eat, share, and learn.
@refugees @savethechildrenitalia @joel_nafuma_refugee_center
#worldrefugeeday #withrefugees #respectrefugees
Children bear the greatest consequences from war. Globally, children account for 30% of the population but represent 41% of all forcibly displaced people. A collective effort to address the physical and emotional manifestations from trauma must meet not only the needs of children in Ukraine but also Afghanistan, Yemen and so many other often forgotten conflicts that are funded far below levels adequate to meet children’s needs. Local and community-led organizations are innovating new ways to connect children with tools to learn, and nutrition to grow, to help protect them from the worst outcomes of this war, but the global humanitarian response can and must be stronger to ensure this generation of kids have the resources they need to begin healing.
#ForcedToFlee #ChildrensRights #LaStradaInternational @savethechildren @UNICEF @dzherelo.centre @refugees
Five years after five-year-old Piqui was murdered, his mother Ana Estevez is working with California legislators to prioritize children’s safety in judicial training, custody evaluation, and legal standards. This law is needed so those in power do not neglect and ignore the signs of abuse that lead to harm and death of so many children in our country.
I've come to know Ana, and am in awe of her courageous advocacy in her son’s memory. Please join me in supporting Piqui’s Law, which is modeled after Kayden’s Law in the Violence Against Women Act.
#PiquisLaw and #SB616
On World Bee Day, I am happy to support the Women For Bees initiative, to promote sustainable beekeeping practices and female entrepreneurship.
Since 2010 the MJP Foundation in Cambodia has worked with local women in Samlout to generate income and employment using sustainable wild honey-harvesting techniques. However, recurring forest fires and increases in pesticide use nearby destroyed wild honey sites, dropping production dramatically. Now, alongside UNESCO and Guerlain, the MJP Foundation trains local communities on farming and raising bees to produce honey.
#MJP #WomenForBees #UNESCO #WorldBeeDay #GuerlainforBees
📷 @DanWintersPhoto
While I was in Lviv a few days ago, I was shown a “special stone” found by a little girl. The little girl who found it didn't realize the stone she was playing with was in fact a piece of shrapnel from a bomb. Sitting in the palm of your hand, it’s jagged and heavier than you would expect. Its shine and unusual nature must have caught the child’s eye.
When a bomb or shell explodes, sharp fragments of heavy metal tear into the bodies of those near the point of impact. Many of the children I met from the Kramatorsk train station bombing had pieces of shrapnel recently removed - a difficult and painful process. Fragments close to vital organs were too dangerous to remove, and remained inside some of the children’s bodies.
There is no sense to be made from such harm to children, that goes beyond physical injury to the emotional and mental manifestations of trauma.
The fight to end a war, like the one being suffered in Ukraine, is a race to limit the number of casualties killed, injured, displaced and traumatized every day.
#ukraine #childreninconflict
I was honored to speak with Nadia Murad, Nobel Laureate, advocate for gender equality and survivors of sexual violence, and founder of Nadia's Initiative and Murad Code, who has been a powerful voice on conflict-based sexual violence. This conversation deeply inspired me and I am grateful to share her words with all of you. Please follow her work @nadia_murad and @nadiasinitiative
Over the past 60 years, civilians have been the main victims of war. Thousands of civilians have been killed. Others don’t have food, water, heat or shelter. Millions have been forced to flee their homes.
Both soldiers and civilians are protected under the Geneva Conventions. An attempt to limit the damage done by war, and reduce suffering.
The 4 Geneva Conventions:
• Protects the sick, wounded, medical and religious personnel during conflict
• Care for the wounded, sick and shipwrecked during war at sea
• Treat prisoners of war with humanity
• Protect all civilians, including those in occupied territory
From these conventions come the rule of war. They are universal. All sides in conflicts have to follow them.
The basic rules:
• Civilians can never be targeted
• The sick and wounded have a right to be cared for - no matter whose side they are on
• Medics and aid workers should be protected
• The things civilians need for survival - like food and water - should not be denied or destroyed
• Prisoners deserve fair treatment. They must not be tortured or abused
• Weapons which cause excessive or untargeted damage should be limited
• Rape and other forms of sexual violence are expressly forbidden
BREAKING THESE RULES IS A WAR CRIME
I received this letter from an Afghan girl, one of millions affected by the Taliban’s closure of girls’ high schools in Afghanistan - on the first day of the school year. Millions of Afghan girls who have already missed 8 months of education don’t know if and when they will ever set foot in a classroom again. I share it in the hope that you will continue to join me in listening to voices like hers, and continue to support and fight for women’s education and rights in Afghanistan.
#afghanwomen
#afghanistan
#letafghangirlslearn
As well as the millions who’ve fled over Ukraine’s borders, nearly 2 million people are displaced inside their country, many trapped by fighting, denied access to aid, and in direct physical danger. Without an end to the war children will pay the highest price – in trauma, lost childhoods and shattered lives.
Learn more at UNHCR @refugees
#ukraine
Photo credits @gettyimages
1: Diego Herrera / Europa Press
2: Wolfgang Schwan / Anadolu Agcy
3: Aris Messinis / AFP
Story: Aris Messinis / AFP
