Artist in Lichfield wants to give voice to Afghan women through her art

An Afghan refugee says she hopes to give a voice to women in her home country still living under the Taliban regime.Masuma Anwari's work once lined the walls of Afghanistan's national gallery in Kabul but when the Taliban regained power in 2021, she was forced to leave everything and flee to the UK.With her husband and seven-year-old son, she was given the chance to start again after settling in the West Midlands three years ago."I may have lost my home but I have not lost my identity," said Ms Anwari.
"Sometimes I imagine if I were still in Afghanistan and unable to draw or paint, my heart would be silent."Her new portfolio of work has been displayed at a gallery and work space in Lichfield, Staffordshire.
Mrs Anwari has fond memories of growing up in Kabul where she worked as a schools ambassador for the British consulate.But when the Taliban regained power four years ago "everything changed overnight"."I still remember the gunfire sounds and explosions," she added."My son and I are still sensitive to loud sounds because a strong explosion was not far from us."
Since regaining power in August 2021, the Taliban has steadily imposed laws and regulations that reflect its austere vision of Islamic law.Girls over the age of 12 have been barred from getting an education and many women from jobs.The Taliban has repeatedly said girls will be allowed to return to school once its concerns, such as aligning the curriculum with Islamic values, are resolved - but so far no concrete steps have been taken to make that happen.
"Life for women has completely changed," said Ms Anwari. "But they still keep their hope alive for a better future. I wish one day they will experience freedom and security."My painting is not just a hobby. They can't express themselves due to the restrictions but I want to reflect the Afghan women's silent voice with my painting."Seven of Ms Anwari's pieces are now on show at Courtyard Fine Art Lounge in Lichfield.She was also commissioned to create a piece for the city's Shire House, a shared working space which opened earlier this year.
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The Guardian

8 hours ago

• The Guardian

Thousands of Afghans face expulsion from US as Trump removes protections

Thousands of Afghans who fled to the US as the Taliban grabbed power again in Afghanistan are in mortal dread of being deported back to danger in the coming weeks amid the Trump administration's anti-immigration crackdown. Many, including some who assisted US forces in Afghanistan before the botched withdrawal by the military in 2021, are contending with threats to their legal status in the US on several fronts. Donald Trump revoked safeguards from deportation for those in the US covered under temporary protected status (TPS), by taking Afghanistan off the list of eligible countries then, not long after, put Afghanistan on the list of countries affected by the revamped travel ban. Afghans are also affected by Trump's refugee ban and that all comes amid almost daily news of stepped-up arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) affecting undocumented immigrants and also many with a legal status, from Central and South America, parts of Africa and Asia and other regions, caught in the dragnet and sending terror rippling through other communities. Shir Agha Safi, the executive director of Afghan Partners in Des Moines, a non-profit in Iowa where there are 500 families who evacuated from Afghanistan to escape the re-empowered Taliban, said members of his community are 'traumatized because they have seen what happened to Venezuelan immigrants in other states'. The loss of TPS for Afghans, which also provides employment authorization, goes into effect on 14 July. With the government's announcement, Safi said some in his community are too afraid to speak openly but had told him 'they would choose suicide over being tortured and killed by the Taliban'. Asked to elaborate, he said: 'They have said this because the Taliban is still there and if you send an Afghan back to Afghanistan that would mean a death penalty.' The US government initially granted Afghans in the US TPS in 2022, because the Biden administration agreed that it was too risky for them to return to Afghanistan due to the armed conflict and political turmoil that has forced millions to flee the country. Even before Trump returned to the White House their foothold in US society was uncertain. Now the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) argues that Afghanistan is safe to go back to. 'Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent them from returning to their home country,' homeland security secretary Kristi Noem said in a recent statement. The department cited rising tourism as a factor, with the Federal Register's item about revoking TPS for Afghans saying 'tourism to Afghanistan has increased, as the rates of kidnappings have reduced'. It quotes that from a US Institute of Peace report that assessed conditions three years after the Taliban took back control and does include that sentence – but the majority of the report describes negative conditions in poverty-stricken Afghanistan, where 'the rule of law has been replaced by the rule of force, where justice is not administered in courts but meted out through fear and violence'. The US state department website, meanwhile, puts the country in the highest-risk advice category for US citizens, warning: 'Do not travel to Afghanistan due to civil unrest, crime, terrorism, risk of wrongful detention, kidnapping, and limited health facilities.' But immigration advocates and Democratic lawmakers say Taliban-controlled Afghanistan remains a dangerous country for many, especially minorities, women and those who assisted the foreign war effort, including humanitarian work. Some foreigners living in Afghanistan have been arrested by the Taliban this year and detained for weeks. California state senator Aisha Wahab, the first Afghan American woman elected to US public office, challenged the Trump administration's decision. 'Pushing these individuals to Afghanistan again – Afghanistan being a country that lacks basic human rights, basic women's rights, basic humanitarian support, a legal and justice system – is problematic,' said Wahab, who represents some of the largest Afghan immigrant communities in northern California. 'Afghanistan is a country that is landlocked, that struggles with trade, that more than 50% of their population are not allowed to get an education beyond sixth grade. 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It added that revoking TPS, especially for women and minority groups, 'exposes these individuals to the very real threat of persecution, violence and even death under Taliban rule'. While the US government hasn't laid out a deportation plan, it has encouraged Afghans who lose their TPS status to leave the country. However, a DHS official said: 'Any Afghan who fears persecution is able to request asylum. All aliens who have had their TPS or parole terminated or are otherwise in the country unlawfully should take advantage of the CBP Home self-deportation process to receive a free one-way plane ticket and $1,000 financial assistance to help them resettle elsewhere.' Bipartisan efforts to give Afghans permanent legal status in the US previously stalled for three years, with the Biden administration creating temporary avenues for those in limbo. Many Afghan families in the US still depend on the future of TPS, said Jill Marie Bussey, the director for legal affairs at Global Refuge, an immigrant rights group that has helped thousands of Afghans settle in the US. 'Protection from deportation is the center, but the work authorization associated with the status is the only thing that is allowing them to send money to their loved ones right now and keeping them safe,' said Bussey. 'I have a client, whom I message with almost on a daily basis, who is absolutely distraught, at a very high level of anxiety, because he fears that his spouse and children, including his four-year-old daughter, whom he's never met in person, will suffer greatly if he loses his work authorization.' According to government data, since July of 2021, US Citizenship and Immigration Services has received nearly 22,000 asylum applications by Afghan nationals. Nearly 20,000 of them were granted. 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The Guardian requested information on how many Afghans currently protected by TPS have also been granted other legal status, but DHS did not respond.

The Independent

16 hours ago

• The Independent

As the UN turns 80, its crucial humanitarian aid work faces a clouded future

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The Independent

20 hours ago

• The Independent

Photos of Lesbos 10 years after the migration crisis

This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors. In 2015, more than 1 million migrants and refugees arrived in Europe — the majority by sea, landing in Lesbos, where the north shore is just 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Turkey. The influx of men, women and children fleeing war and poverty sparked a humanitarian crisis that shook the European Union to its core. A decade later, the fallout still reverberates on the island and beyond. For many, Greece was a place of transit. They continued on to northern and western Europe. Many who applied for asylum were granted international protection; thousands became European citizens. Countless more were rejected, languishing for years in migrant camps or living in the streets. Some returned to their home countries. Others were kicked out of the European Union. For Namjoyan, Lesbos is a welcoming place — many islanders share a refugee ancestry, and it helps that she speaks their language. But migration policy in Greece, like much of Europe, has shifted toward deterrence in the decade since the crisis. Far fewer people are arriving illegally. Officials and politicians have maintained that strong borders are say enforcement has gone too far and violates fundamental EU rights and values. 'Migration is now at the top of the political agenda, which it didn't use to be before 2015,' said Camille Le Coz Director of the Migration Policy Institute Europe, noting changing EU alliances. 'We are seeing a shift toward the right of the political spectrum.' A humanitarian crisis turned into a political one In 2015, boat after boat crowded with refugees crashed onto the doorstep of Elpiniki Laoumi, who runs a fish tavern across from a Lesbos beach. She fed them, gave them water, made meals for aid organizations. 'You would look at them and think of them as your own children,' said Laoumi, whose tavern walls today are decorated with thank-you notes. From 2015 to 2016, the peak of the migration crisis, more than 1 million people entered Europe through Greece alone. The immediate humanitarian crisis — to feed, shelter and care for so many people at once — grew into a long-term political one. Greece was reeling from a crippling economic crisis. The influx added to anger against established political parties, fueling the rise of once-fringe populist forces. EU nations fought over sharing responsibility for asylum seekers. The bloc's unity cracked as some member states flatly refused to take migrants. Anti-migration voices calling for closed borders became louder. Today, illegal migration is down across Europe While illegal migration to Greece has fluctuated, numbers are nowhere near 2015-16 figures, according to the International Organization for Migration. Smugglers adapted to heightened surveillance, shifting to more dangerous routes. Overall, irregular EU border crossings decreased by nearly 40% last year and continue to fall, according to EU border and coast guard agency Frontex. That hasn't stopped politicians from focusing on — and sometimes fearmongering over — migration. This month, the Dutch government collapsed after a populist far-right lawmaker withdrew his party's ministers over migration policy. In Greece, the new far-right migration minister has threatened rejected asylum seekers with jail time. A few miles from where Namjoyan now lives, in a forest of pine and olive trees, is a new EU-funded migrant center. It's one of the largest in Greece and can house up to 5,000 people. Greek officials denied an Associated Press request to visit. Its opening is blocked, for now, by court challenges. Some locals say the remote location seems deliberate — to keep migrants out of sight and out of mind. 'We don't believe such massive facilities are needed here. And the location is the worst possible – deep inside a forest,' said Panagiotis Christofas, mayor of Lesbos' capital, Mytilene. 'We're against it, and I believe that's the prevailing sentiment in our community.' The legacy of Lesbos Last year, EU nations approved a migration and asylum pact laying out common rules for the bloc's 27 countries on screening, asylum, detention and deportation of people trying to enter without authorization, among other things. 'The Lesbos crisis of 2015 was, in a way, the birth certificate of the European migration and asylum policy,' Margaritis Schinas, a former European Commission vice president and a chief pact architect, told AP. He said that after years of fruitless negotiations, he's proud of the landmark compromise. 'We didn't have a system,' Schinas said. 'Europe's gates had been crashed.' The deal, endorsed by the United Nations refugee agency, takes effect next year. Critics say it made concessions to rights organizations say it will increase detention and erode the right to seek asylum. Some organizations also criticize the 'externalization' of EU border management — agreements with countries across the Mediterranean to aggressively patrol their coasts and hold migrants back in exchange for financial assistance. The deals have expanded, from Turkey to the Middle East and acrossAfrica. Human rights groups say autocratic governments are pocketing billions and often subject the displaced to appalling conditions. Lesbos still sees some migrants arrive Lesbos' 80,000 residents look back at the 2015 crisis with mixed feelings. Fisherman Stratos Valamios saved some children. Others drowned just beyond his reach, their bodies still warm as he carried them to shore. 'What's changed from back then to now, 10 years on? Nothing,' he said. 'What I feel is anger — that such things can happen, that babies can drown.' Those who died crossing to Lesbos are buried in two cemeteries, their graves marked as 'unknown.' Tiny shoes and empty juice boxes with faded Turkish labels can still be found on the northern coast. So can black doughnut-shaped inner tubes, given by smugglers as crude life preservers for children. At Moria, a refugee camp destroyed by fire in 2020, children's drawings remain on gutted building walls. Migrants still arrive, and sometimes die, on these shores. Lesbos began to adapt to a quieter, more measured flow of newcomers. Efi Latsoudi, who runs a network helping migrants learn Greek and find jobs, hopes Lesbos' tradition of helping outsiders in need will outlast national policies. 'The way things are developing, it's not friendly for newcomers to integrate into Greek society,' Latsoudi said. 'We need to do something. ... I believe there is hope.' ___