Issued by: Afghanistan Women’s Justice Movement
September 8, International Literacy Day, is not only a celebration of knowledge, books, and the power of words—it is also a day to reflect on the shameful reality in which millions of human beings, especially women and children, remain deprived of the basic right to read and write.
Since 1967, UNESCO has designated this day to highlight the importance of literacy and warn of the ongoing global crisis of illiteracy. Despite unprecedented technological and scientific progress, more than 773 million people worldwide remain illiterate, two-thirds of whom are women. These numbers are not just statistics; they are a stark reflection of systemic inequality and structural discrimination.
Afghanistan is at the epicenter of this tragedy. While the world celebrates “digital revolutions,” millions of Afghan girls are barred from the most fundamental form of education. This deprivation is not due to lack of resources but results from misogynistic policies and entrenched power structures that perceive education as a threat to their authority.
Literacy is far more than reading and writing; it is the power to think critically, question injustices, and shape one’s own destiny. Denying education perpetuates cycles of oppression, violence, and poverty. The systematic exclusion of Afghan women and girls from schools is one of the gravest silent crimes against the nation’s future.
The Afghan Women’s Justice Movement declares:
- Education is a universal right, not a privilege.
- Denying education is a weapon of oppression and a form of structural violence.
- The international community must move beyond statements and take concrete, accountable action against anti-education and gender-discriminatory policies in Afghanistan.
On this International Literacy Day, we call on teachers, students, intellectuals, and civil society advocates worldwide to defend education as the cornerstone of justice, equality, and democracy. Silence in the face of the denial of girls’ education is complicity with darkness.
Literacy is the path to freedom, justice, and a human future.
Issued by the Afghan Women’s Justice Movement
