Statements, publications and reports
Find out regularly about news from Hami and statements from our members here
September 15, 2024: Interview with Basira Akbarzada and Saina Himidi – both on the Hami board
Basira Akbarzada Hami, a board member, says:
“When we came to Germany, we all suffered severe psychological and emotional damage and lost all our achievements, including our jobs, friends, and home. However, we and some of our family members were brought to safety, and for that, we are extremely grateful and appreciate the efforts of the German government and our colleagues at Medica Mondiale.
As women’s rights activists, though, we deeply felt that there are still thousands of Afghan women and girls in Afghanistan whom we once stood by to help enforce their rights and return to a life free from violence. For those to whom we were like a balm for the wounds of their hearts, for those whose stories of cruelty and injustice we listened to, we opened our arms to sympathize with them, and we raised our voices to protect their human rights.
With the help of Medica Mondiale, we were able to settle in Hessen and Cologne, and we were connected with programs that Medica Mondiale, in cooperation with the boards of Medica Afghanistan, as well as experienced and former colleagues who had worked with them, had organized for us. Once we regained our footing and recognized the needs, we decided to found Hami. As a professional team with experienced psychosocial counselors and lawyers, we feel very strong and are confident that we will be back on our feet and stronger as soon as possible.
Of course, Medica Mondiale has been very supportive in helping us establish Hami, and we greatly value their assistance.”
She added:
“In Germany, Afghan women and their families are experiencing a new culture, a new language, and new challenges that psychologically affect them. However, due to language barriers, they are often unable to express their problems. This is why we want to provide them with counseling in their own language and inform them about their rights.
This is very helpful for women in achieving stability, continuing their education or work, and supporting their children and families. When we had a few cases involving Afghan immigrants who came here after the evacuation, our psychological counselors helped them. At the same time, the psychological issues faced by women or their family members often lead to family conflicts, and we want to offer mediation services so that they can live peacefully, ensure their children’s education, and secure educational opportunities and jobs.
Here, women also suffer from various psychological issues such as stress, trauma, anxiety, insomnia, and homesickness, and they need professional support, which we aim to provide through Hami.”
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Saina Hamidi, another board member of Hami, clarified the following:
“The idea to establish Hami first came to us in December 2022. Naturally, when we arrived in Germany, initially, with the traumatic experiences we had gone through, along with the challenges of life, sudden changes, language barriers, and the fear that all our educational and professional achievements would amount to nothing, each of us was under significant stress. As a result, Medica Mondiale organized stress management workshops for us to improve our mental and emotional state.
After the Taliban’s takeover, as employees of Medica Afghanistan, our lives were in danger, which was a traumatic experience. Yet, we were evacuated and were able to make a fresh start in Germany. Did we immediately think of continuing our work for women here?
At the first workshop organized by Medica Mondiale in December 2022 in Frankfurt, where all our colleagues came together, we felt empowered again, and we decided that we wanted to start over and keep going. We were determined to continue our mission, especially when we spoke about Afghan women and remembered their dire situation. It was difficult for us, and at the end of the program, we suggested to Ms. Monica Hauser and Ms. Karen that we wanted to re-establish our organization here and continue our work. They truly encouraged us and promised to collaborate with us. They have stood by us ever since and have been strong partners.
We are deeply grateful to Medica Mondiale for their continued support!”
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As they mentioned:
“We have less contact with our previous clients due to limited internet access and security threats, but we are seeking more ways to communicate with them. Moreover, most of our clients lost access to phones and the internet after the Taliban’s invasion, and we could not continue to reach out to them for safety reasons. However, this does not mean we have forgotten them; we have always remembered them from the depths of our hearts.
Some cases have been referred to us by institutions that previously had professional relationships with us. With the passing of new laws by the Taliban, we fear that Afghan women and girls will need even more psychosocial services, and we aim to provide that. Therefore, institutions should offer joint services for women and find ways to stay in contact with them, as women are truly living in despair. We will do our best to keep them strong until the sun rises again for the women of Afghanistan, and they can return to their normal lives.
We encourage Afghan women and girls to keep hoping for a bright future.”
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In conclusion, both Ms. Basira Akbarzada and Saina Hamidi spoke about the award:
“This award is an honor for us, and it gives us strength and positive energy to move forward with a stronger will to support women.
This award shows the solidarity among human rights defenders and signifies that we are not alone in our mission.
This award holds special value because it is given to a group of women who, despite their displacement, still wish to continue working with energy and strength for other women.
This award motivates us to be the voice of the women who are trapped in Afghanistan, whose voices are silenced, and whose faces and voices have even been banned.
Receiving this award signifies a new beginning for us, a more difficult beginning with greater responsibility because we aim to continue supporting women and girls whose dignity and rights have been taken away.
This award recognizes the efforts and commitment of women whose work is valuable, strengthens cohesion within the organization, and encourages other immigrant women to engage in human rights activities, while also encouraging others to follow similar paths and support women in the integration process.
Overall, this award is not only recognition for the work we’ve done but also an incentive for future projects and a symbol of hope and progress for the entire community.”
Laudation on the occasion of the Gerhard and Renate Baum award ceremony
Human Rights Prize to HAMI e.V. on September 15, 2024 in Cologne
Sybille Fezer und Dr. Monika Hauser, medica mondiale e.V.
It is almost a miracle that we are standing here today, three years later. Please remember the days around August 15, 2021! We were deeply concerned that our colleagues in Kabul, Herat, and Mazar-i-Sharif would be targeted by the invading Taliban. They were at risk because, for 20 years, they had been doing work that contradicted everything the Taliban proclaimed as their worldview.
These were professional women who, from their very first day at Medica Afghanistan, knew that they would face verbal attacks from a hostile environment because of their commitment. They knew these attacks could come from their immediate surroundings, and they would be slandered and accused of wanting to “break up families.”
Dear audience, I want to emphasize that there were also repeated allegations that the work of these employees was “un-Islamic.” This meant they were confronted with the extremely dangerous accusation of blasphemy! Yes, these colleagues knew that their fight for the dignity of women and girls could expose them to hatred and abuse, and in the worst case, even cost them their lives.
You, dear colleagues, stood and still stand for the fight for human rights par excellence. You did what committed women around the world do—united and supported other women in need.
Human rights work requires courage every single day, especially because many others prefer to look the other way, which is unfortunately a reality even here in Germany. In such a misogynistic context, the fight against discrimination and the degradation of women and girls requires even more strength! Degradation and violence, including femicide, are serious human rights crimes that we sadly see worldwide. But Afghan women in particular have lived for decades in an extremely misogynistic environment, which the Taliban have now taken to extremes with their perverse exclusion of women.
After the first fall of the Taliban—and it is truly painful to put it this way—we pushed forward the development of Medica Afghanistan from Cologne. Then, dear colleagues, you improved the lives of tens of thousands of women and their families from four locations: Kabul, Mazar-i-Sharif, Herat, and initially also from Kandahar. You were role models for a new generation of women and girls—and certainly also young men—in Afghanistan who wanted to shape their own lives.
You established a completely innovative legal counseling service—there were hardly any female lawyers who stood by women before. You were the first to offer legal counseling to women imprisoned for so-called “moral crimes.” You stood by their side the entire time, from the moment they were arrested by the police to the court proceedings. You spoke to their families, examined their whole environment, and tirelessly raised awareness of the injustices they faced. You were so successful that many thousands of women were released from prison or did not even have to stand trial because they were not to blame for the violence they experienced.
Together with psychosocial counselors, you learned and practiced completely new trauma-sensitive approaches. On the political level, you helped initiate laws, especially the EVAW Law, which aimed to end violence and criminalize violence against women for the first time. You worked to criminalize rape, domestic violence, and the forced marriage of children. You organized conferences on these issues and tirelessly united civil society in the fight against the horrific so-called “virginity tests.”
After eight years of development, our local colleagues took over the management of Medica Afghanistan in 2010, vigorously developing this successful organization. These colleagues continuously asserted themselves with strength against new resistance every day, in courtrooms, ministries, hospitals, prisons, and often in their own homes.
I remember attending a conference in Kabul in 2014 entitled “Transformation is Possible in Solidarity”—no one else dared to do something like that. I still vividly recall how you brought together leaders from the police, ministries, hospitals, civil society, and even progressive clerics, all of whom wanted to bring about change for women. It was truly impressive!
But that was and still is the idea that unites you, that unites us: change is possible with feminist solidarity. You have proven that under the most difficult conditions!
August 2021, however, marked the beginning of the next traumatic chapter in Afghanistan’s sad history. The many mistakes of international politics, which for 20 years looked primarily at their own interests and hardly at those of the Afghan population, ultimately handed the Afghan people over to the Taliban. What followed were nerve-wracking weeks, as it became clear that your consistent human rights work meant that you could not come into contact with these terrorists under any circumstances and had to leave the country as quickly as possible. My colleague on the Executive Board, Sybille Fezer, will now describe this chapter.
Dear colleagues at Hami, two things are especially important to you in your new organization: strengthening solidarity between women and reinforcing the resilience of activists on the ground, as well as of refugee women here.
Living solidarity and fostering resilience have inspired you at Medica Afghanistan for many years, as Monika has just mentioned, particularly during those dark hours after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.
I want to share an example that especially touched me during this time—and which has everything to do with solidarity and resilience:
As you know, a team of 15 people in Cologne worked around the clock—initially day and night, and later always on standby—to help you escape. This was only possible thanks to incredible civil society “swarm intelligence.” Some of those who helped us back then are sitting in the audience today: activists from the Kabul Airlift, Joshua Hofert from Terre des Hommes, and colleagues from our crisis team.
During these weeks, while we were doing everything we could to ensure that you and your families could be granted asylum and escape, there were many setbacks and moments when we didn’t know how things would proceed. For example, when you were standing in buses outside the gates of Kabul airport, and the soldiers shot at your feet to make you turn back.
We thought that with the final withdrawal of U.S. troops and their planes, you had lost your chance of escape and felt almost hopeless. But we had this chat group with all of you, where everyone supported each other around the clock. You remember: messages of solidarity came in from all over the world—breathing exercises from Haneen, our trauma specialist colleague from northern Iraq, fairy tales and stories from colleagues in Cologne to distract your children who could no longer go outside and were sitting with you in hiding places, and videos of solidarity from activists in Liberia, Uganda, Rwanda, and Bosnia.
After everyone had to return to hiding from the airport, one of you posted a song you sang to the group. We hadn’t known you had such a beautiful voice—it moved us all and gave us the strength to continue searching for new escape routes. You, all of you, were an incredible example of perseverance, hope, and resistance. Being part of this, being in solidarity with each other, is what strengthens us; it is what you are now passing on through your new association.
We are very happy that we managed to support the majority of the Medica Afghanistan team in their evacuation to Germany between September 2021 and March 2022.
It is also thanks to the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences that you are now able to be effective in your strength and with your diverse competences. They launched a groundbreaking programme, which will hopefully inspire other universities as a pilot project. The “Steps A” programme is such an encouraging example of how migration policy can work—especially considering the ongoing debate on asylum rights.
In this program, students were assigned to each of your families to help navigate the jungle of offices and the new environment in those critical first weeks. You didn’t have much time to dwell on despair. Instead, you were immediately integrated into a university programme and able to attend legal seminars, German courses, and later even courses on family mediation, NGO management, and social work. You were supported in finding internships, and some of you secured your first jobs.
You were not reduced to being “refugees” but were recognized, supported, and—yes—challenged in your professional skills. We can only imagine how much strength this must have taken, knowing you had left family members behind and that women’s rights were being increasingly stripped away in your home country—rights that, today, practically no longer exist.
Now, you have taken the bold step of founding an association, Hami e.V., to help those who have come to Germany after you and those who are still arriving. With your expertise and experience, you offer advice, support, and empowerment. You also raise your voices publicly and in politics to draw attention to the abuses and crimes happening in your country of origin. At the same time, you continue to support women’s rights activists in Afghanistan online with self-care and collective care—and in the long term, through future projects.
We often hear about the so-called shortage of skilled workers in Germany. You bring not only high levels of professional expertise but also other vital skills for this time: resilience, an immense ability to adapt to difficult conditions, and the courage to start completely afresh in a new country and a new life. Despite it all, you have maintained your humor, your political determination, and your loving solidarity with one another.
Dear Renate and Gerhard Baum, how wonderful that you have chosen to honor these very qualities in a world that seems to be drifting further apart.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, the drastic restrictions on women’s rights in Afghanistan today show us how right the courageous fight of the women of Medica Afghanistan was. They knew how high the price would be if they lost this fight!
Dear colleagues, congratulations on this well-deserved tribute to your work and your incredible courage!
15.09.2024: Hami receives important human rights award
A memorable day in the history of Hami
Today “Hami, Women’s Empowerment Organization e.V.” received the 2024 Gerhart and Renate Baum Foundation Human Rights Prize for our great and tireless work. (Gerhart Baum, a German politician and lawyer and former Federal Minister of the Interior, and his wife Renate Baum, who has run a foundation with the aim of democratic governance and social studies since 2007.)
The awards ceremony took place on September 15, 2024 at the Comedia Theater in Cologne, Germany and was hosted by television presenter Bettina Böttinger. The event began with an opening speech by Mr. and Mrs. Baum, followed by a sofa interview with Ms. Monika Hauser, the founder and managing director of medica mondiale, as well as the two board members of Hami, Ms. Basira Akbarzada and Ms. Saina Hamidi.
“This award has a special value because it is given to a group of women who, despite their displacement, want to continue to work for other women with energy and strength.”Said Basira Akbarzada.
The award was presented to the Hami activists by Gerhart Baum and his wife Renate Baum on stage. Masiha Fayez said on behalf of Hami: “Today is a special day for us. We are grateful for the recognition of our women’s rights work by the Baum Foundation. It is an honor for us to accept the Human Rights Award for 2024 from Mr. and Mrs. Baum. This award means we are not alone in our mission and fight for women’s rights.”
Wahida Mohammad Zai and Vida Faizi from Hami then thanked Hami with deep respect and, as a token of gratitude, presented a beautiful drawing showing the strength and pure Afghan culture, as well as a bouquet of flowers to the Baum Foundation.
Hami’s representative added: “In this special moment, we will never forget medica mondiale, the board members of medica Afghanistan and the colleagues who are still in Afghanistan or in other countries and are part of this success.”
The women of Hami presented flowers to Ms. Monika Hauser on behalf of medica mondiale and to Ms. Bele Grau and Ms. Sajia Behgam on behalf of the board members of medica Afghanistan, who are supporting us on this journey.
The entire Hami team celebrated the award together on stage. The event was accompanied by live music from Afghanistan and ended with a shared lunch.
This is a new beginning for Hami, and with a group of 30 legal and psychosocial experts, we continue our efforts for a better life for women, especially Afghan women, with even more strength.
We stand for equal rights based on social justice!
We fight for the implementation of women’s rights and the participation of women in all areas of life!
The members of Hami
Since her escape, Masiha Fayez has continued to work with the “Hami” association from Germany. Who is now receiving an important prize for human rights.
Three years ago, Masiha Fayez fled her country for a second time. The Afghan woman now lives in Rüsselsheim, thousands of kilometers away from her hometown of Kabul. But the women’s rights activist continues her mission here.
Last year she co-founded the association “Hami – Women Empowerment”, which also supports women with a migration background in Germany
in Afghanistan and in crisis areas.
Hami means support and protection. Good for women here, but even more important in Afghanistan, where Fayez has connections. Among the women who are losing one right after another under the Taliban regime, who are no longer allowed to work, who are forbidden from attending secondary schools and universities. Even her voice should no longer be heard in public. “These are things that drive us crazy,” says Fayez on the phone: “It’s getting harder for them every day
Women.” Your club tries to at least offer stress management online.
It is a commitment that is seen in Germany. The Gerhart and Renate Baum Foundation honored Hami with the Human Rights Prize on Sunday in Cologne. It is endowed with 10,000 euros, money that the club can probably put to good use.
Fayez knows only too well that women are at particular risk. She was born in Kabul in 1972. When the Mujahideen came to power in 1992 and Afghanistan collapsed into a brutal civil war, she was a young woman. “There were rapes, there were forced marriages, there was so much violence by the Mujahideen,” says Fayez. She fled her homeland for the first time; together with her mother, her two sisters and
She sought refuge with her brother in neighboring Pakistan, like millions of Afghans. She worked as a teacher and attended law courses. When the family returned in 2002, things didn’t get much easier. Fayez and her sisters had to wear a burqa; one sister often stumbled because she couldn’t cope with the garment that covered her body and face: “My mother and my grandmother had never worn a burqa, that’s why
We couldn’t handle it.”
According to the courts, domestic violence did not exist
Fayez continued on her way anyway. In 2003 she completed her studies in law and political science in Kabul, and in 2020 the mother of three children also completed a master’s degree in public administration there. A good basis for advancing women’s rights.
Even if the men were initially surprised when a woman represented other women in rape trials in court: “They didn’t believe that a woman could be raped.” When women in Afghanistan fled domestic violence, they were often thrown into custody
She was put in prison, reports Fayez, because you weren’t a good woman if you ran away from your own house.
Fayez worked for many years with the feminist women’s rights organization Medica Mondiale, at the time the only organization that employed women lawyers; she worked for the UN as a consultant on legislative and women’s issues; she was involved in the International Development Law Organization (IDLO). Step by step, Fayez and her fellow campaigners succeeded in asserting women’s rights. Lawyers were trained, rape cases were tried in court – not just through mediation: “I was very active.”
“Widows can’t even go to the doctor when they’re sick.”
When the Taliban invaded Kabul again in August 2021, this commitment became dangerous. The Taliban released all the prisoners, “they were marching around in the streets, that was a big risk for me. I was an activist.” And the regime is now undoing what Fayez fought for. The Ministry of Women – gone. Female judges lost their jobs because they allegedly did not know Sharia law. Women are only allowed to wear suitable clothes
traveling with a male companion. “Widows can’t even go to the doctor when they’re sick,” says Fayez. She fled a second time with her family, supported by Medica Mondiale:
“So I can continue my work.”
To do this, she continues her education and learns German.
15.08.2024: You are not alone – a dark day in the history of Afghanistan
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A gate of hope in the darkness
August 15th, 2021, a deeply painful and tragedy date for Afghans. Life in Afghanistan has gotten deteriorated for Afghans living under Taliban rule for the last three years, mostly for women, as rights for women have all vanished, the humanitarian crisis continues to increase, the ream of the girls for education and basic rights have been buried and Afghanistan remains essentially shut off from the international community. The current context caused profoundly changed the lives of many people in Afghanistan, and it is heartbreaking to know that thousands professionals and their families had to leave their homes and their loved ones behind.
Masiha Fayez, Hami Chairwoman says;” our 90 former colleagues with their families (286 in total) were evacuated to Germany by support of medica mondiale and start their life in a new environment which was not easy at all but with support of medica mondiale and obviously, was not easy for medica team as well and put great effort by working 24hrs to make it possible (Thank you so much medica mondiale). medica as a women rights organization has never left us alone in Germany and by their support 50 of us could completed a one year education program on family mediation, Social Work and Non- Profit Organization in Frankfurt Applied Science University. As a part of integration, we completed German language courses at different levels of B1, B2 and C1, our children including our daughters go to school and our family members who completed the criteria benefited from the education programs as well. For continuation of our women’s rights activities, we have established Hami, Women Empowerment Organization in Frankfurt am Main. Hami professional team is motivated to continue to their voluntary work and provide online psyche- social counseling, mediation and legal advice to Afghan women survivors of “S”GBV in Afghanistan and support women migrant and their families in Germany and advocating for women’s rights although having no fund and project.”
“After I came to Deutschland, I had many problems to adapt to the new environment, but gradually, life became easier. The thing that helped me the most was, i start think positively about the future, and I focus in learning the German language, my daughter goes to school and can make a good future for herself.
Although the pain of being away from my homeland and my loved ones is very hard for me, but now I think that if I were in Afghanistan, both I and my daughter would be deprived of our basic rights like thousands of Afghan girls and women.
Hami, Women empowerment Organization, established by the technical support of medica mondiale, it became like a hope and positive energy not only for me but for our group of 30 brave and professional Afghan women for a new life in exile. I see this organization as a great tool for empowering of Afghan women and girls. “Said Wahida Mohammadzai, Hami Chairwoman
Despite the exclusion of women from participating in political, social and economic activities and the ban for girls’ education, Afghan women have tried both inside and outside of Afghanistan and have never given in to despair.
“I currently live in Germany, although we lost our 20 years effort for women in Afghanistan , but here I was able to stand on my feet. Currently, I completed Family Mediation education program and learn German language, I live with my loved family in a separate apartment, my children go to school and my husband was a doctor and now works in hospital. I am committed to being the voice of Afghan women and girls who are deprived of education. ” Said Mariam Zalmai Hanafi Lawyer and Hami board member
The situation in Afghanistan remains uncertain and worrying for many people, especially women and girls, who have to live under extreme restrictions. We hope that the situation in Afghanistan will improve one day. With Solidarity!
“During this difficult time, we (Hami team) want to let you know that you are not alone. We are thinking of you every day, every moment and carry you in our heart. We know that circumstances may seem difficult and often hopeless, but please remember that you are strong. Your strength and courage carry hope for a better future. No matter how dark the days are, you are not forgotten. The world sees your fight and we stand with you, even when the distance is great. Stay strong and never give up. Your dreams, your rights and your dignity are inviolable, and no one can take away what shines in your hearts. We wish you peace, courage and the strength to carry on. You are valuable, you are important, and you are the true heroes of this time.” We proud of you, Afghan women. Hami board member
08.04.2024 Solidarity among women on International Women’s Day
Hami board members (Masiha Fayez, Wahida Mohammadzai and Vida Faizi) and Dr.Monika Hauser (Founder of Medica Mondiale) met Mr.Gerhart Baum a German politician and lawyer and former Federal Minister of the interior and his wife Mrs.Renate Baum, who run a foundation since 2007 with the purpose of Democratic Governance and social studies, on 2nd of march 2024 for future cooperation and support of Hami.
On 8th March 2024 Hami members attended to the events on “The invisible struggle of the women in Afghanistan” organized in the occasion of Women International Day by Pro Asyl (Der Einzelfall Zählt), Hesischer Früchtingsrat (hfr) and Amnesty International in Frankfurt University of Applied Science.
The Program focused on:-
- Afghan women situation in Afghanistan and ongoing gender apartheid.
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German Federal Admission programs für Afghans Human Rights Defenders.
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Challenges of Pakistan’s Visa and security check by German Embassy inn Islamabad for those who have got admission by Federal Government in Pakistan and Iran.
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The request of Afghan girls to have the chance to transfer them to Germany so that they can continue their education.
The program was followed by showing a film about Afghan women struggling for their rights under de facto in Afghanistan and arts form 10 strong women who played active role in the Afghan society, but all were killed by suicide attacks after August 2021.
Hami – Frauen Empowerment Organisation