We would like to invite you to a virtual event VOICE is hosting on January 31st at 11am EST | 8am PST, where we'll be discussing our work from the last year and the WHY that guides everything we do. Please register below to let us know you can come.
2022 was a year of great upheaval in the lives of women and girls, as extreme world events displaced women and girls by the millions, putting them directly into harm’s way, increasing their risk for gender-based violence and intensifying the need for global support.
After the sudden Russian invasion of Ukraine, VOICE, in conjunction with HIAS, urgently conducted a seven-part regional assessment of the global humanitarian response to the crisis, which identified the most serious failures of the humanitarian response, and the most pressing needs of women and girls inside and outside the country. Details of this report can be found here. The outcome of this assessment continues to guide our work in the region. We have full-time response teams in Ukraine, Romania, Poland, Moldova, Hungary, and Slovakia.
Before the Ukraine invasion, VOICE actively provided emergency crisis response in Afghanistan (along with our many other countries around the world). We worked to secure safe passage for Afghan women and girls who were known human rights defenders, including some of our own team members. We conducted safety workshops, created and disseminated safety protocols – including digital safety – for women- and girl-led organizations who remained in the country, and partnered with numerous NGOs to publish multiple policy statements pressuring world governments and the United Nations to address the dire and unmet safety needs of Afghan women and girls. This work continues.
In November we released a groundbreaking report, “Taking Myself out of the Darkness: Afghan Women Human Rights Defenders’ (WHRD) Fight for Recognition,” documenting the lived experiences and continued activism of Afghan WHRDs, highlighting their many unmet needs in the time since the Taliban's takeover. We also launched our first feminist art exhibition featuring collage work from Afghan women refugees in transit which was displayed on the streets of Albania, the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and at the high-level ministerial preventing sexual violence in conflict conference in the United Kingdom.
These are just a few of the highlights of a tumultuous year in the fight to protect vulnerable women and girls against gender-based violence, including the LBGTQIA+ community, in disaster and crisis settings around the globe.
Please join us on Tuesday, January 31 at 11am EST | 8am PST for our virtual event to learn more about our organization’s work, history, leadership, mission, global impact, and future goals.
We hope to see you there.