In recent months, hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees and asylum seekers have fled Afghanistan, with 3.5 million internally displaced Afghans, exacerbating a decades-long humanitarian crisis. Additionally, the withdrawal of United States armed forces from Afghanistan (and the paltry number of SIV and P-2 allocations for Afghans by the US Department of State) has resulted in the abandonment of an estimated 263,000 Afghan allies and their family members.
In the midst of this humanitarian crisis is the ever-increasing vulnerability of work in Afghan history and other fields of scholarship. Under the new Taliban regime, librarians, archivists, and academics — particularly those who are women or belong to other marginalized or minoritized groups — face significant threat to their lives, livelihoods and ability to make cultural and intellectual contributions.
Public libraries have a long tradition of providing resources to the community members who need them most, and many have been active in welcoming this new influx of Afghan refugees. APALA joins the wider library community in solidarity with and support for those displaced and otherwise affected by the ongoing crisis, and to advocate for intellectual and academic freedom and for the safeguarding of information access and institutions that support this access within Afghanistan.
- We call on the government of the United States to offer refuge, settlement, and expedited pathways to citizenship for Afghani refugees.
- We call on the current Afghanistan leadership to uphold the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property, and comply with the UNESCO 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.
- We call on academic institutions in the United States to provide financial and institutional support to Afghani students and academics, which should include financial aid, visa sponsorship, and academic admissions or funding.
- We call for equal access to information and education for all people within Afghanistan and throughout the world.
APALA calls on our members and allies to contribute to the protection of scholars and scholarly work in Afghanistan and globally by sharing resources through our established networks and organizations like the Scholars At Risk. We also remind and call on our members and allies to speak up, provide support, and advocate for those in need when we are able.
Founded in 1980, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All donations to APALA are tax deductible and support our work for library services, programs, scholarships, awards, and grants related to library services benefiting Asian/Pacific Americans and Asian/Pacific American librarians.