Over a year ago on July 20, 2010 world leaders met to discuss the future of Afghanistan at the Kabul Conference. Oxfam International asked ordinary Afghans what they want to come out of the talks. In spite of intense lobbying, women were largely excluded from the conference. “…only two women beside government ministers took part in the Kabul Conference. 

Sima Samar, represented the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), a national human rights monitoring body, and Palwasha Hassan, an AWN member and former candidate for Minister of Women’s Affairs, represented women’s voice from Afghanistan’s slowly budding civil society,” said Ms. Zarin Hamid, Kabul-born Peace Fellow working with in Kabul, Afghanistan during the summer of 2010. “We do not want our presence to serve purely as a symbol,” said Ms. Suraya Pakzad, founder of Voice of Women of Afghanistan () in Herat, and a member of Afghanistan Women’s Network (AWN).

 

 

This 4:53 min June 19, 2010 video has been produced by .