*Official Fundraiser*   The latest attack on a Gurdwara in the heart of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on March 25, 2020, killing at least 25 worshipers and wounding eight, begs us to take concrete steps in safeguarding the Afghan Sikh community. 

UNITED SIKHS, a U.N. affiliated international human and civil rights organization, seeks immediate support from the global community in ending this decades-long plight of Sikhs in Afghanistan. The funds raised through this GoFundMe campaign will go directly towards providing  critical humanitarian aid and advocacy for those who are wounded in this attack, to the families of those that were killed and for the immediate relocation of Sikh families to safer shores.

In 2018, following the suicide bombing in Jallalabad that had killed 12 Sikh community leaders, UNITED SIKHS had highlighted the plight of Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan during the 39th session of the Human Rights Council.

In 2019, UNITED SIKHS called on representatives of Permanent Missions to make recommendations, during the Universal Periodic Review in Jan 2019, for Afghanistan to urgently address the continuing threats to religious freedom and security of Sikhs. 

Afghanistan’s implementation of the recommendations remains gravely unfulfilled. Multiple Sikh girls have been kidnapped and forced into marriages and Sikhs were even stopped from cremating their deceased loved ones.

The recent Islamic State advances and terror attacks raise a real fear that Afghan Sikhs, if not protected, will be subjected to such a level of discrimination and ill-treatment as to amount to a very real and immediate risk of persecution based on ethnic and religious identity. They are desperately in need of international protection.

We urge our global community to donate generously and join us in our efforts to put an end to these atrocities and infringement of civil and human rights.