Jess Keller

Dear @vonderleyen, This is urgent. In 2024, I did the My Voice, My Choice hand gesture cuz I believe the EU can be what the US refuses to be: a leader for both women's rights & democracy. What's happened since is incredible. But what might happen this week is devastating.

Huge victory for abortion rights in Europe and an example of how to build a movement that is fearless, fierce and fun at the same time. This is how to protect rights and defeat the far right.

Exit polls show the economy and cost of living are a top concern for most voters. Our new report shows this isn’t an isolated trend: Around the world, people are calling for democratic leadership that delivers on the economy. Read more: americanprogressaction.org/article/new-gp…

The road to authoritarianism is littered with people telling you you’re overreacting.

Tomorrow will mark my last day as the U.S. Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls & Human Rights. It has been a great honor to advocate for the courageous Afghan women and men at the frontlines of fighting for a rights-based & inclusive Afghanistan. My farewell letter: It has been a great honor to advocate for the incredibly courageous Afghan people, especially women and girls, at the frontlines of fighting for an inclusive Afghanistan where its daughters and sons are empowered to move the country out of the cycle of war, instability, and aid-dependency and towards a brighter future.  All Afghans deserve the opportunity to realize their dreams. There is much more that can and should be done, but I believe we established a solid foundation in the last three years. We created a new model for meaningfully bringing the voices of civil society actors into U.S. policymaking through the U.S.-Afghan Consultative Mechanism. With our partners — the U.S Institute of Peace, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and swisspeace — we held hundreds of consultations with Afghans inside and outside the country and brought their recommendations into policy deliberations. We launched the Alliance for Afghan Women’s Economic Resilience, a public-private partnership with Boston University, mobilizing millions in in-kind resources for training, mentoring, and job placement to support Afghan women and girls, inside and outside Afghanistan. This work would not have been possible without our incredible partners — Qatar’s Education Above All, Deloitte, Pod, Pearson, Coursera, Meta, Afghan women leaders, experts, and many others. We engaged partners globally to advocate for the rights of Afghan women and girls, with a focus on Muslim-majority countries, recognizing they would be the most effective voices to counter the Taliban’s narrative. We worked with international partners to support humanitarian assistance and to establish the office of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan. There is so much more to be done to hold the Taliban to account and to leverage the efforts of brave Afghan women leaders and human rights advocates. Above all, we must continue to work to convince the Taliban to reverse the destructive decrees that have stripped women and girls of their agency, mobility, education, livelihood, voice, and access to life-saving medical institutes. We must also continue to demand that the Taliban respect the rights of members of ethnic and religious minorities. They have created a culture of fear and intimidation, keeping Afghanistan locked in a cycle of dependency and poverty. The Afghan people deserve better and it is my firm belief that the day will come that Afghanistan will advance toward a path of an inclusive society, with its daughters and sons empowered to contribute to a better future. The world must stand with the brave women and men of Afghanistan who are the best promise of a stable and secure Afghanistan, at peace with itself and its neighbors. It is a moral and strategic imperative for the region and the world.

"Rape and other forms of sexual violence are still too often viewed as collateral damage of war," said @HillaryClinton at the @UN to mark 15 years of #UNSCR1888 to combat conflict-related sexual violence. Read our proposals to advance justice for survivors giwps.georgetown.edu/not-nearly-far…

@ShaharzadAkbar @RockefellerFdn @giwps It was an absolute pleasure to be with you, Shaharzad!

Open Letter: Urging Afghan Women’s Inclusion in Doha III giwps.georgetown.edu/open-letter-ur…

Уже 40 країн приєдналися до нашого проєкту «Українська книжкова поличка». Ювілейними стали 🇺🇸: із задоволенням передала одні з найкращих 🇺🇦 видань бібліотеці Джорджтаунського університету Вашингтона. Впевнена, тут знання про Україну знайдуть вдячного та вдумливого читача.

Quote of the day @AspenSecurity from the powerful young Ukrainian Nobel Peace Laureate @avalaina “I’m a human rights lawyer. But right now, I’m in a position where the law doesn’t work. The international architecture and treaties and organizations cannot stop Russian atrocities”

“These salons are one of the very, very few spaces, maybe one of the only spaces that’s left in Afghanistan where a woman might be able to go out from her home and see other women and share information and share support.” theworld.org/stories/2023-0…

For the first time, GIWPS participated in the @UN_HRC session in Geneva in person! Read about the three events we co-organized at #HRC53 on women’s roles in Afghanistan and Ukraine. giwps.georgetown.edu/giwps-particip…

🗣️ #WPSWednesday: “Including women in sustainable rebuilding is not only the right thing to do, but also the smart move for realizing #Ukraine’s democratic future.” - @MelanneVerveer & @jckeller15 (@giwps) via @pass_blue. passblue.com/2023/05/30/wom…

BREAKING: @DHSgov has reportedly reached a decision today to establish a re-parole process for #Afghans resettled in the US. This is a policy decision that we have consistently asked for together with our allies and partners, and we are proud to have played a leading role in making this happen for our community. See more in our press release:

I often being asked about role of Ukrainian women during the war. Women fight in Ukrainian armed forces, women take important political decisions, women coordinate civil initiatives, women document war crimes. A woman can perform any role she chooses. 1/3

Today is the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. "We can have no meaningful commemoration of the agreement unless the role of women is properly recognized & applauded," said Irish Taoiseach Varadkar at a GIWPS event, featured in @guardian. theguardian.com/world/2023/apr…

“In the history of the United Nations, no other regime has ever tried to ban women from working for the Organization just because they are women. This decision represents an assault against women, the fundamental principles of the UN, and on international law,” Roza Otunbayeva.

GIWPS hosted a roundtable discussion today with Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan @SR_Afghanistan, Afghan women leaders and our Executive Director @MelanneVerveer.

The work of sustaining peace is never done. As we prepare to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, join us for a conversation hosted by @giwps on Northern Ireland and the role of women leaders in shaping its future. Tomorrow at 10am ET! facebook.com/GIWPS/

My thanks to @UAEMissionToUN, @UKUN_NewYork, @giwps & @4afghanwomen for an urgent #CSW67 event on the situation of women in #Afghanistan. Together we must and we shall amplify voices of #Afghan women, speak together as an int'l community & work tirelessly to women's rights.