Stand with Afghanistan.  Contact your MP.

We know you are following events in Afghanistan because so many people are donating to our appeal.  Last week over 250 people wrote to Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Finance Minister Grant Robertson.

It sounds like cabinet will make decisions about support for Afghanistan at Monday’s meeting.  Will you take the next step and email your MP asking for their support?

You can find contact details here.

Act for Afghanistan: Extend kindness beyond borders

 

Email MPs and ask them to do more for Afghanistan.

 

Dear [MP Name],

My name is ___ and I live in _____, which is in your electorate. [this issue is important to me because ideas below]

Forty years of war, natural disasters, and COVID-19 have pushed Afghanistan to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.  There are compounding crises taking place, including hunger, displacement, conflict, and Covid-19. The needs are growing by the hour, and New Zealand must respond. 

I request that you do all you can to get the Government to: 

• urgently increase humanitarian and development support
• establish and ensure safe pathways of relocation and resettlement for Afghan nationals to New Zealand
• establish formal mechanisms to liaise and consult meaningfully with the Afghan community here in Aotearoa New Zealand
• lead international efforts. 

Thank you.

Yours sincerely

or use Action Station to make it easier.

 

You can get more detail in an Open Letter signed by CWS and 60 charities, civil society groups and leaders and sent to Minister Mahuta on September 16.

The New Zealand Government spent 20 years and hundreds of millions of dollars in military expenditure as part of the international intervention in Afghanistan. We have an obligation to the people of Afghanistan to stand by them now. Be it the provision of aid, or safe pathways to New Zealand, the time for response is immediate and the cost of inaction is high. 

Please act now so New Zealand doesn’t abandon the people of Afghanistan in a time of great need.

This week, more than 60 charities, civil society groups and leaders, signed an open letter calling on our government to extend kindness beyond our borders and do more for Afghanistan. 

The World Food Programme said 14 million people were on the brink of starvation in Afghanistan. Food could run out by the end of this month and there are fears that the economy may collapse. The people of Afghanistan need your voice.

If we show a tide of compassion and aroha in the inboxes of our people in parliament, we can create pressure for the government to do more.

NB: These messages are best when they are personal to you and offer reasons why you care about this issue. Here are some suggestions of the types of things you could adapt or copy and paste into your email.

 

Reasons New Zealand should extend kindness beyond our borders and act now for Afghanistan

• I value our shared humanity
• I believe we are part of a global community that looks out for those in times of crisis and we can step-up to help people in Afghanistan.
• As a parent / as someone caring for loved ones at this time, I feel compassion for the situation of families in Afghanistan trying to provide for their loved ones.
• I believe we can step up with aroha and care at this time because every person should be able to access what they need and New Zealand has the capacity to contribute.
• I have donated to a humanitarian appeal for Afghanistan and I think the government should do the same.
• We have a long-standing relationship with Afghanistan and a community of over 6000 Afghan New Zealanders living here.
• New Zealand has a responsibility to support Afghanistan at this time. Our government spent many hundreds of millions in a military deployment in Afghanistan over 20 years. Our aid spending in Afghanistan has dropped off in recent years, to less than US$2 million in 2019.
• There are ongoing reports of gross human rights abuses. Women, children, and those who have worked to promote human rights, democracy and education, are amongst the people most at risk. Urgent action is needed to prevent an even greater humanitarian disaster and to ensure that every individual has their rights and dignity upheld. 

Facts about the situation in Afghanistan

• People in Afghanistan do not have enough to eat. Almost 50% of children under five are facing acute malnutrition and need life-saving treatment.
• In 2021, an estimated 16.9 million people, 42% of the population, will be in crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity.
• Already this year more than 550,000 people have been displaced on top of 2.9 million already internally displaced. 
• International humanitarian efforts are able to continue to reach those most in need amidst the political disruptions. For example, in a joint World Health Organization and World Food Programme operation this week, a series of three planes delivered around 50 metric tons of essential drugs to Mazar-i-Sharif. This is the second such delivery. The Taliban have confirmed in writing to the United Nations that they will allow humanitarian assistance to be provided in Afghanistan (here).