San Diego, CA-- Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-CA-53), together with U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), led a group of 37 lawmakers to urge the Biden Administration to provide safeguards for NGOs to carry out education programming in Afghanistan. This is a follow-up to the lawmakers’ September 2nd letter asking for OFAC general licenses for humanitarian assistance, which the Biden Administration ultimately granted.

“However, despite this critical step, the general licenses contain a critical omission: safeguards for education programming. This is in contrast to past and current general licenses authorizing NGO action in areas where sanctioned groups are present that do include these critical carve outs for education, including the licenses for Ethiopia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter to Secretary Yellen and Secretary Blinken. “Continued access to education is a stated priority of the U.S. Administration and allies in the wake of the Taliban gaining control. But without the legal safeguards in place for education programming, the Administration’s laudable commitment to continue providing humanitarian assistance and support for at-risk Afghans is under threat.”

“We urge the Administration to immediately take action to support Afghans’ right to education by amending the OFAC general licenses on humanitarian assistance to explicitly authorize education activities,” they continued. 

Specific steps requested by the lawmakers include directing the Treasury Department to amend the general licenses issued on September 24 to explicitly authorize education activities and requesting the Administration to collaborate with NGOs to develop a definition of “basic human needs” informed by UN definitions.  

This letter is endorsed by 13 NGOs that provide humanitarian and development assistance abroad, including CARE, Save the Children, International Rescue Committee, Basic Education Coalition, Islamic Relief USA, Norwegian Refugee Council USA, Helping Hand for Relief and Development, InterAction, Global Campaign for Education-US, Global Citizen, Creative Associates International, Inc., Humanity & Inclusion, and UNICEF-USA.

In addition to Jacobs and Merkley, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Richard J. Durbin (D-IL), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Jack Reed (D-RI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Cory A. Booker (D-NJ)  and U.S. Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-06), Gerald Connolly (D-VA-11), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-13), Jim Costa (D-CA-16), Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05), James R. Langevin (D-RI-02), Jesus G. “Chuy” Garcia (D-IL-04), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX-15), J. Luis Correa (D-CA-46), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA-04), Tom Malinowski (D-NJ-07), Grace Meng (D-NY-06), Jamie Raskin (D-MD-08), Earl Blumanauer (D-OR-03), Ted W. Lieu (D-CA-33), Seth Moulton (D-MA-06), James P. McGovern (D-MA-02), Lois Frankel (D-FL-21), Dina Titus (D-NV-03), Mike Quigley (D-IL-05), Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ-03), David N. Cicilline (D-RI-01), Karen Bass (D-CA-37), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA-07).

Full text of the letter is available here and follows below.

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Dear Secretary Yellen and Secretary Blinken:

In September a group of 32 lawmakers called on the Biden administration to ensure that humanitarian aid can continue to reach Afghans in need despite the takeover of the Taliban, a designated and sanctioned terrorist group, by urgently issuing a broad general license for humanitarian activities implemented by NGOs in Afghanistan. We are grateful that the Department of Treasury issued two general licenses on September 24 to support the continued flow of assistance to the people of Afghanistan.

However, despite this critical step, the general licenses contain a critical omission: safeguards for education programming. This is in contrast to past and current general licenses authorizing NGO action in areas where sanctioned groups are present that do include these critical carve outs for education, including the licenses for Ethiopia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. As a consequence, NGOs working in Afghanistan on education programming do so with fear of legal reprisals or opt out of operating all together, unable to assume such risk.  

Continued access to education is a stated priority of the U.S. Administration and allies in the wake of the Taliban gaining control. But without the legal safeguards in place for education programming, the Administration’s laudable commitment to continue providing humanitarian assistance and support for at-risk Afghans is under threat. 

Education is a basic need and right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights alongside those to food, housing, and medical care, and is a lifesaving intervention. It is a crucial component of every global humanitarian response and often one of the first services that communities demand. Education provides a safe place for children to learn and play in otherwise volatile contexts, and increases their access to critical services that support health and psychosocial needs. Children enrolled in educational programs have increased access to vaccinations, medications, mental health support, and nutrition through feeding programs. Participating in education can also help prevent the likelihood that a child will be engaged in child labor or recruited into armed groups, and can prevent early marriage and pregnancy. In this way, access to education from the onset of a crisis supports children’s wellbeing in the short term and contributes to longer-term recovery goals. 

Despite ongoing and now increased humanitarian challenges, in the past decades Afghanistan has made marked progress in the education sector, especially in bridging the gender gap, in part due to impactful investments by the United States and other donors. Between 2001 and 2020, Afghan children’s enrollment in schools grew from 900,000 to more than 9.5 million students, 39 percent of whom were girls. But now under Taliban control, where the authorities have sent mixed messages about the opportunities for female education, those gains are at risk of being wiped out without international support and safeguards for NGO-implemented activities that support education.  

We urge the Administration to immediately take action to support Afghans’ right to education by amending the OFAC general licenses on humanitarian assistance to explicitly authorize education activities.  Additionally, to forestall future misunderstandings the Administration should collaborate with NGOs and civil society organizations to develop a definition of “basic human needs” informed by the humanitarian cluster system and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights as a reference for future sanctions regimes. 

Thank you for your attention to this urgent humanitarian issue.

Sincerely,