Refugees that are working in the United States have the same rights that other workers do. Legal status doesn’t matter when it comes to workplace protections for workers. All workers have the right to work in an environment where they are safe and not subjected to discrimination or harassment. Title VII of the Federal Civil Rights Act guarantees workers the right to work without being discriminated against by an employer because of their race, religion, sex, gender, or where they are from. Any refugees who experience workplace discrimination have the right to file a complaint against that employer with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC is a federal agency so they can investigate any employer in any state. And in 44 states the EEOC shares information with the state labor authorities. That means the employer may have also have to face a state investigation based on what the EEOC finds in its investigation. Examples Of Workplace Discrimination Refugees working …
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American Dream
Many Afghans looked to the United States as a haven. After twenty years of serving alongside Americans, from the military to businesses, non-government organizations and educational institutions, expectations after Afghanistan’s regime change ran high. Surely the people with whom they worked would offer immigration opportunities in the land of the free. 88,500 Afghan citizens were fortunate to be airlifted out of the country, arriving in America with humanitarian parole benefits and a safe, secure chance to rebuild their lives. Others were not. Afghan refugees travel up to 16,000 miles, mostly by foot, to the United States because they are desperate. They have no choice. Fleeing one’s home is not a decision taken lightly. It means leaving behind everything familiar, everyone you once knew, often including your family. The route is perilous. According to the United Nations, 1,250 Afghan migrants have died trying to make the journey to freedom since 2021. Countries such as …
For Daily Bread
After the Taliban takeover on August 15, 2021, Afghanistan has deteriorated into a state of humanitarian crisis. International donors have all but disappeared. The country's economy and infrastructure has collapsed. Women and girls are barred from education, work, and most forms of participation in society. A massive exodus of educators, doctors, and professionals from the country has gutted the public, health, and private sectors. Afghans are unable to meet their every day needs to survive, much less weather the impact of natural disasters or any other form of emergency in their lives. Women for Afghan Women (WAW) recognized this dire situation and stepped in to make a difference. After the Taliban closed much of WAW’s operations, including all of its family guidance and women’s protection centers, it has regrouped its resources, reassigned staff able to work, and quickly pivoted to providing emergency and humanitarian aid. After only 18 months since the fall of Kabul WAW’s …
Women for Afghan Women Continues the Struggle for Afghan Women’s Rights
In April of 2001, a few women living in New York—appalled by the terrible state of Afghan women then living under Taliban rule—gathered together with the aim of responding to this travesty. This small network of volunteers rolled up their sleeves and, as a first step towards their goal, founded Women for Afghan Women (WAW) to advocate for global support for Afghan women’s rights. After the attacks on the US on September 11th that same year, life for Afghan women would change. With the ousting from power of the Taliban by coalition forces late in 2001, WAW committed to its mission to elevate and empower Afghan women’s rights in Afghanistan and in the US. We were determined then, as we are determined now, to help Afghan women and girls exercise their rights to pursue their individual potential, to self-determination, and to their representation in all areas of life. We vowed to become relentless advocates for women’s rights and to challenge the gender-based violence that so many …
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WAW Launches New Program with the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women
In 2020, WAW is proud to have launched the Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence in Internally-Displaced Persons and Returnees’ Communities Project in partnership with the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women. Despite the ongoing conflict and instability in Afghanistan, and the overwhelming challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Women for Afghan Women (WAW) has successfully expanded its programmatic reach in 2020 to serve yet another group of vulnerable and at-risk Afghan women and girls. In partnership with the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, WAW launched a project entitled Prevention and Response to Gender-Based Violence in Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) and Returnees’ Communities (PARGIRC) specifically aimed at improving overall access to essential, safe, and adequate multi-sectoral services and to address gender-based violence (GBV) in the context of the forced displacement and refugee returnee crisis in Afghanistan. WAW has set-up mobile …
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How Lal Bibi Walked Again
Lal Bibi is only 17 years old. She was forced into marriage with someone from her village in an exchange arranged by her parents. After she was married, her husband and in-laws banned her from visiting or communicating with her parents. Soon thereafter, they began to inflict the most horrific abuse on the child. At one point, Lal Bibi was in such a terrible state that her in-laws contacted her father and told him that she had been diagnosed with cancer. They asked him to come to their house to take her back. When her father arrived, they handed Lal Bibi to him at their doorstep without letting him into the house. Once they got home, Lal Bibi’s father realized that she had suffered the most severe physical abuse, amounting to torture. Muscles in her leg had been severed, her nails were extracted, and she had very bad burns all over her body. She told her parents that in addition to the torture she suffered, her in-laws had locked her up in a well in their yard for an extended period …