On the UN International Day of Education, ISC Governing Board Members, ISC Members and Fellows call attention to suspension of women’s education in Afghanistan
The ISC’s Committee for Freedom and Responsibility in Science (CFRS) is actively monitoring the state of science and research in Afghanistan.
In December 2022, the Afghanistan authorities decreed that higher education for women in Afghanistan would be suspended until further notice. As highlighted in the ISC’s recent Statement urging a reversal of the ban, education is a human right and a fundamental prerequisite for peace and sustainable development. The Council notes with deep concern that this recent escalation in the Afghanistan’s approach to education effectively prevents half the country’s population from learning and participating in science. This represents a severe violation of the ISC’s Principle of Freedom and Responsibility in Science and presents an existential threat to the integrity of Afghanistan’s science systems and culture. Unable to conduct their research in the face of such overwhelmingly regressive and misogynistic restrictions, and for fear of persecution, many academics and scientists are forced to flee resulting in a loss of research and education. The global scientific community must act to preserve the talent and expertise held by displaced Afghan researchers.
Please sign and share the Science in Exile Declaration to show your support.
To mark this year’s UN International Day of Education we invited ISC Governing Board Members, ISC Members and Fellows to comment on the crisis and its implications.
Source: https://council.science/current/news/concern-science-research-afghanistan/