Press Release
Bordeaux, February 20, 2023
Radio For Peace International, an NGO, and studio based in Gironde, France reaffirms its support for women in Afghanistan by producing and broadcasting new programs in Farsi in collaboration with Afghan journalists who have remained in the country.
RFPI, which had already offered a series of programs in December 2022 centered on psychological assistance to Afghan women and the education of young girls in collaboration with Afghan journalists in exile, is partnering this time with Afghan journalists who have remained in the country.
Programs designed with Afghan journalists in Afghanistan itself
Produced by Afghan women journalists present in five different provinces of Afghanistan, the program Tales of Afghan Women, reflecting their condition in the country, is designed in Afghanistan itself by professionals, and will then be exfiltrated to France via encryption tools and pseudonyms.
The programs will be available on the Internet and on shortwave four times a week. Once again, it is a question of combating the many restrictions imposed on the dignity and rights of Afghan women and girls. “Afghanistan needs information more than ever, the Taliban leaders have closed down all organizations that defend human rights, the media and intimidate journalists,” underlines Jamila Karimi, Afghanistan broadcast project coordinator for RFPI.
For Sylvain Clament, president of RFPI. “The situation of freedom of information is catastrophic in Afghanistan, RFPI ensures a free and feminine voice in a country where obscurantism reigns”. According to statistics from the Afghan Journalists Association, more than 170 radio stations are active in the country. Out of 1075 female journalists, only 163 have a job and only in Kabul, the others are unemployed.
Two major media present in the country, the Voice of America and Radio Azadi, recently had their websites suspended, forcing these two media to broadcast 24 hours a day on short and medium waves. In addition, on February 12, the only women's radio station in Herat, Radio Sahar, was banned from broadcasting.
The first broadcast will be broadcast on Tuesday, February 21, 2023. The broadcasts will initially be broadcast for a period of three months, 4 times a week on short wave and internet, Tuesdays and Thursdays on 15700 kHz at 7 a.m. UT, Mondays and Saturdays at 11:45 a.m. UTC on 15770 kHz and Sundays at 1 p.m. UT on 15770 Khz in the Farsi language throughout Afghanistan. These programs will also be available for streaming on the website http://www.rfpi.eu.