Afghan Windsorite calls for humanitarian aid to help Hazaras on international day of action

An Afghan woman in Windsor, Ont., is speaking out to raise awareness about the increasing threats facing Hazara people in Afghanistan.

"The point of the campaign is to seek humanitarian aid and raise awareness about the people in Afghanistan and the threat of imminent extinction that they now face under Taliban rule," Binazir Haidari said.

On Sunday the Hazara Collective issued a global call to action to stop violence against the group. Rallies and other actions took place around the world to bring attention to the situation the third largest ethnic group in Afghanistan is facing.

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"Even in U.S. presence, Hazaras were always attacked by the Taliban," she said.

Haidari, who is an ethnic Hazara, moved to Windsor when she was four years old but said she fears for the majority of her family that still remain in Afghanistan. 

She said that the Hazara people have been facing persecution in the country since a mass genocide took place there in the late 1800s, and again in the 1990s. 

"Now that the U.S. has left, the risk that was already existing and the violence that was already existing has gone to an exponential level where Hazaras have absolutely no protection and the Taliban can repeat what they did in the 1990s, perhaps to an even greater extent," she said.

She said they face racism due to their distinct features and the fact that their faith is different from the rest of Afghanistan which is prominently Sunni Muslim.

"These two factors have made them a massive target for extremist groups like the Taliban, like ISIS for years," she said. Their situation has become more concerning, she said, since the United States pulled its forces out of the country and the Taliban took control earlier this year.

Hard to help

She said that she has been working to get members of her family out of the country and hopes they are able to reach Canada one day.

"There's been a lot of difficulty leaving the country. My family is constantly living in fear of what might happen next," she said adding that while her family has remained safe, Hazaras in some areas of the country have been forced off their land and out of their homes.

"Four days ago another Hazara neighbourhood was attacked, so the threat is really there for my family." 

WATCH: Binazir Haidari speaks about how Canada and the world are approaching the plight of the Hazara people

Binazir Haidari speaking out on day of action

3 years ago

Duration 1:01

Binazir Haidari describes how the world and Canada are approaching the situation Hazara people are facing in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover.

She said that the rest of the world has not been good with helping Hazaras trying to get out of Afghanistan and appreciates that Canada does prioritize people facing danger due to their ethnicity and race when it comes to accepting refugees. Her attempts, however, to get her family out have been unsuccessful so far.

"It's very difficult," she said. "I want them to be alive and I want them to be in safety." 

She said that there is just a handful of Hazaras that she knows of in the Windsor region, but is speaking out as her way of joining actions happening elsewhere in the province and around the world.

"Whatever you can do to raise awareness," she said. "Because our biggest issue is that no one knows about Hazaras and the threats that they face."