Protecting Afghan Environmental Defenders Part 2

A group of Afghan conservation scientists, environmental defenders, and their families is in the process of relocating from Afghanistan to Mexico with the help of an international network, and today they need our help to get settled in Mexico for an undetermined length of time. Nineteen Afghans (including children) have traveled as of the launch of this GoFundme, with potentially more in process. They are enduring very serious hardships and trauma from leaving their homes and belongings behind to running life-threatening conditions and everything in-between, and your help is crucial to secure their immediate future.

With the support from pro bono lawyers in New York City, we have filed for US Humanitarian Parole for many of them in the hope they could quickly move to the US. However, due to a mid-way change in policy, we fear those paroles will be denied, leaving the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) Afghan Priority Two designation (P-2) as the only avenue to access the US as a refugee. However, according to US State Department sources, this process could take as long as 2 years. During this time, while in Mexico on a humanitarian visa, our Afghan friends and colleagues cannot work, send their children to public schools or have access to public health care. In other words, they have no means to support themselves unless they choose to pursue US-Mexico political asylum avenues.

We are a group of scientists and conservationists led by Conservation X Labs (CXL), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), and others, who have organized to help the group travel and stay in Mexico for as long as needed to process the US refugee avenues. We are committed to not leaving any of our colleagues behind and are grateful to all who have provided or can provide funding through the GoFundme campaign and to the foundations that stepped up to support our efforts and those of other environmentalists. All funding is maintained in a separate bank account, and CXL, UNAM, and the entire support group is committed to seeing 100% being used only for the Afghan environmental defenders. We continue to get new requests for assistance. Thanks for your support. This GoFundme will focus on those Afghans currently in Mexico or in the process of traveling to Mexico.