VOICE OF WOMEN ORGANISATION

Ms PORTOLESI (Hartley) (15:24): I wish to draw the house's attention to a new group that is kicking off today here in Adelaide. The Voice of Women Organisation is an Afghan NGO that is opening its first international office in Adelaide. VWO is the brainchild of Suraya Pakzad, who is an incredibly brave and tireless campaigner for women's rights in Afghanistan. Suraya was moved to create VWO in 1998 while Afghanistan was under the control of the Taliban.

Suraya was so concerned that women and girls were being denied basic human rights under the oppressive regime that she literally risked her life to create an organisation whose aim was simple: to give women a better life. She did so by beginning to teach small groups to read and write. The classes had to take place in a room with a fireplace because, if the groups were discovered by the Taliban, they had to instantly burn their studies and pretend they were having a get-together lest they be caught educating women.

With the fall of the Taliban came greater freedom for this group, which now enjoys the status of a legal entity within Afghanistan. Despite the ousting of the Taliban in 2001, women continue to be subjugated in Afghanistan, and women's rights are, of course, still ignored. A recent UN report, Silence is Violence, found that Afghani women are living in an increasingly insecure environment. Less than 15 per cent of Afghani women are literate, more than 80 per cent will be subjected to domestic violence, almost 60 per cent are in forced marriages and only 14 per cent of women who give birth in Afghanistan will have a skilled attendant present. In August 2008, Suraya made a visit to Australia. On returning to Afghanistan she wrote:

I have been very amazed and impressed not only by the beauty of the country but especially by the very wonderful open-hearted people I have met who are truly committed to supporting women and children to achieve their full rights. I visited many other countries, but I have never before experienced such sincere and generous caring.

It is with this positive connection established between a group of volunteers who had heard of Suraya's work and her commitment to improving the lives of women in Afghanistan that the Voice of Women Organisation Australia was established. Amnesty International has provided office space from which the group will operate here in Adelaide, and I thank them for that. The volunteers of VWO are continuing to work with Suraya to establish links between the Adelaide and Afghanistan offices. Funds raised will be directed to projects being undertaken in Afghanistan, and VWO is working towards funding to bring Suraya to Australia for another speaking tour in 2010.

There is still so much to be done, and the VWO is doing it. For instance, it is running shelters so that women can escape from domestic violence, and it is looking to open more. It runs gender-based violence training and projects on income generation and food sustainability. It runs programs to prevent self-immolation and programs that assist women who have been in prison. The organisation works with UNICEF to provide water sanitation and hygiene schemes, and it is looking to future projects that will help women achieve economic independence and that will, of course, increase vocational training for women.

Because we live in a world such as this, there is still so much to do. We may have a Quentin Bryce, and I am deeply proud of that, but we still live in a world where Malalai Joya was suspended from parliament and forced to live in hiding because she dared to denounce war criminals sitting in her nation's parliament. Australia may have had Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon, but we live in a world where Lieutenant-Colonel Malalai Kakar, Kandahar's Deputy Commander of Police, was assassinated because of her gender and her work trying to keep other women safe.

Suraya has been named one of Time's 100 most influential people for 2009, and she has received the International Women of Courage Award from past secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. Suraya has six children, but she is not yet 40. She is a truly inspiring woman, and I commend her and her organisation, Voice of Women Organisation, to the house.