Afghan women in Pakistan and Afghanistan are living under relentless pressure.

Those who speak up have been targeted for speaking up, teaching, organizing, or defending the rights of women and girls. Some have faced threats, arrest, torture, forced displacement, and the daily fear that their lives can shrink even further at any moment.

Their legal protection in Afghanistan has been weakened to the extent that men are legally allowed to beat women as long as they don't break the skin or bones.

And those who escaped to Pakistan are now living with another fear: arrest and deportation.

Raids and deportations continue. Some Afghan families are so frightened that they barely leave their homes, even to buy food or medicine.

What we have done

This petition began in 2025 with an urgent mission: to protect a group of Afghan women human rights defenders and their families from deportation in Pakistan and help as many as possible reach safety.

What began as a tiny grassroots effort grew into a movement supported by nearly half a million people. HeartWork worked with several organisations at different stages. Together, we helped women and families find pathways out. We supported relocations, medical care, legal cases and resettlement efforts.

Some reached Brazil.

Others reached Europe.

When working directly in Pakistan became too dangerous, we stopped our operations there rather than put the people helping us at further risk. We continued supporting women in Pakistan and Afghanistan through online trauma resilience and personal leadership training.

But over time, the work changed. Because reaching another country did not mean their struggle was over. 

Safety is not the same as having a life

One of the women we supported fled Afghanistan with her two daughters.

She had been married to a Taliban member who beat her and stabbed her with a knife. The wound never healed properly and still causes serious health problems.

When she escaped Afghanistan, she disguised her daughters as boys.

In Pakistan, she was stalked. The man stalking her sexually assaulted her nine-year-old daughter.

Eventually, she and her daughters reached France. She has now been granted asylum.

You might think that this is where the story becomes easier.

It hasn't.

She is raising two children while carrying years of trauma and ongoing health problems. She struggles with the French administrative system. A mistake in her surname delayed her CAF benefits for months. She survives on around €400 a month. When she needs medical care, she has to wait three or four months for an appointment.

And recently she was appointed an accommodation for herself and her two daughters in a room of 10 square metres.

One room of 10 sqm.

Three people.

For potentially nine months or longer.

A shared kitchen several floors away. Dangerous stairs. No lift. Almost no space even for their belongings. She was told she would also have to contribute €150 a month.

She called me frightened and confused. She asked me: What should I do, sister?

This is what life after "rescue" can look like.

She is no longer hiding from the Taliban. She is no longer hiding her daughters under boys' clothing. But she is still fighting every day to create something that resembles a normal life: a home, healthcare, financial stability, a future for her children.

She is safer. But she has not yet arrived.

This is what HeartWork does now

Our work today is smaller in scale, but much more personal. We stay connected with people we previously helped relocate and women who participated in our programmes.

We help where we realistically can with:

• finding legal or asylum advice
• supporting family reunification, current efforts include helping one woman we relocated to Brazil explore how her mother and sisters can safely join her
• helping someone access urgent medical treatment
• navigating unfamiliar government systems
• connecting someone with the right organisation
• providing emergency assistance when a situation becomes critical

There is no single programme anymore.

There are people.

People we came to know over the last year and a half. People whose lives became connected with ours. People who crossed borders but have not yet found a home. We do not want to disappear from their lives simply because the evacuation phase is over.

And others are still trapped

We have also not forgotten those still living in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

One man in our network has diabetes and six daughters. His family fled Afghanistan after one of his daughters was threatened with forced marriage to a Taliban member. He used to walk every day to manage his diabetes.

Now, in Pakistan, he is afraid to leave the house. His health is deteriorating. He cannot safely return to Afghanistan. And he cannot build a secure future in Pakistan.

His family is one among many.

We cannot solve this enormous crisis. But we can continue to stand beside the people whose journeys we became part of.

You can help

Your support helps Afghan women and families continue rebuilding their lives after displacement.

Donations may support:

• legal and asylum assistance
• family reunification
• urgent medical treatment
• emergency living costs
• professional legal or specialist advice
• practical support after relocation

Donate here: https://heartwork.earth/peacework/

And please share this petition.

Almost half a million people stood with these women when they were in immediate danger.

They still need us.

The emergency has changed, but it has not ended.

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How this petition has evolved

This petition originally called for urgent action to protect 60 Afghan women human rights defenders and their families from deportation and persecution.

Several organisations were involved at different stages, including HeartWork, Food for Thought Afghanistan, Udhara, Avaaz, Panahgah and others. Responsibilities changed as circumstances changed.

HeartWork later supported relocation, medical assistance and online trauma resilience and personal leadership training when direct operations became too dangerous. That training is currently paused.

Our focus now is practical support for people we previously helped relocate or who participated in our programmes, including legal and asylum navigation, family reunification, medical support and assistance after relocation.

Donations made through this petition support HeartWork's current work. They do not fund programmes run independently by other organisations.