Welcome to the We Are The World #WATWB Blogfest for August and thanks to our co-hosts, participants and readers once more. I missed out last month and am delighted to scrape in this time around.
Some of us have watched in horror as the Afghanistan human rights disaster unfolds. But then I saw this story on the Tokyo Paralympics from SBS News Australia:
Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli arrived in the Japanese capital after a week-long stay in Paris, where they had been housed after fleeing their homeland following the Taliban takeover.
They are now set to be resettled in Australia, according to former Socceroo and refugee advocate Craig Foster and a lawyer assisting the efforts.
As the story continues….
Zakia will be the first female Afghan to compete at the Games since 2004 in Athens when she takes part in the women’s K44 -49kg taekwondo event on Thursday.
Hossain will line up in the heats of the men’s 400m T47 athletics event on Friday.
Lawyer Alison Battisson from Human Rights for All was involved in the efforts to evacuate scores of athletes out of Afghanistan.
She told SBS News she worked with an intern lawyer at her firm to assist Zakia and Hossain escape Afghanistan.
“I have this amazing legal intern who works as a plasterer two days a week so he can then work at my firm three days a week, Eric Zhang, he did [Zakia’s] application.
You can play along with more of the story here. Some may argue what about the many, many other Afghanis still trapped? Indeed. Stories like this might inspire other sports and organisations to get involved. That may save some other lives.
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Hi Simon – I was delighted to read about this … well done on promoting them here for #WATWB … I wasn’t sure what had happened to the Afghani Cricket Team – but I see that they’re going to be allowed to play in the International Cricket T20 next month … so I do hope things will be easier for the country. The Afghani team were playing in England in 2010 – as I posted about that back then!
I note that the lawyer you mention, Alison Battisson, is a member of the Australian Human Rights for All – great to read and thus know about her, and her work.
Thanks for this – I enjoyed learning more … and just hope that we can give every member of this world freedom and peace … an excellent #WATWB post … all the best – Hilary
I was late again this time, Hilary. I hadn’t heard about the Afghani Cricket Team. It would be lovely to have them here. Let’s hope more Afghanis can be freed. Thanks for your visits and comments once again.
Thanks for bringing some bit of light out of the darkness over that region. This is a nice story, Simon.
Great post Simon! After much of the devastating news with regards to the human rights atrocities coming out of Afghanistan this is a breath of fresh air. Thank you so much for sharing this and for being a part of #WATWB. I hope you are having a wonderful week!