Nove Onlus in Kabul strengthens activities for Afghan women

(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 10 - Nove Onlus, one of the few Italian NGOs that continues to have a presence in Afghanistan by the Taliban, is strengthening its activities for women in Kabul.

It is the response of the association, which has never stopped working to address the humanitarian crisis and contribute to the struggle for human rights, to the new rules for which women only have their eyes as a glimpse of the world: no activity in contact with the public, body and face buried in a hijab, banned from secondary school and banned from driving unless accompanied by a mahram, a male guardian.

New obstacles for millions of women left widows and without male-adult family members to access health care and supplies, escape situations of domestic violence, look for work, survive.

    "We respond to the new restrictions by intensifying women's support projects - says Susanna Fioretti, president of Nove Onlus - we have started a project run by women, which will offer professional training and mentorship to 150 women in Kabul and we have enhanced female literacy courses. Thanks to the support of Otb Foundation, 8x1000 ChiesaValdese and Trust nel Nome della Donna, Nove also continues its emergency activities. After distributing basic necessities to over 3 thousand people in Kabul, it is activating the second distribution for women heads of household and their children (over 1,000 people) in the province of Kapisa where he also supports the public orphanage ".

In collaboration with the NGO Afga, Nove provides health services, including sexual and reproductive health services a1.

    Fioretti met with representatives of the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs yesterday to finalize the agreement that provides for courses in English, computers and tailoring for women in Kabul, in a government center.

In the next few days, the Nove team will meet the authorities in charge of women's mobility to discuss the possibility of resuming the Pink Shuttle service.

An in-depth meeting is also planned with the Afghan activist MahboubaSeraj, director of the Afghan Women Skills Development Center, to evaluate new support interventions for women in a state of extreme vulnerability.

    "The practice of early marriages is on a worrying increase, and also exposes very young girls to the risk of being sold in exchange for money in order to feed the rest of the family - concludes the president of Nove - for this reason we have also expanded the Dignity project, which guarantees direct support to children and families in serious need ".

   (HANDLE).