*Update*

Barnet Refugee Welcome Board have begun a Afghan Refugee Appeal. Most Afghanis arrived with only the summer clothes they stood up in and are now urgently in need of some coats, jackets, shoes, trainers, and toiletries.

Coats and Jackets: Deliver to RPS, 54 Hutton Grove, Finchley N12 8DR

Shoes and Trainers: Deliver to FRS, Room 410, 184 Ballards Lane, N3 2NB

Toiletries: Deliver to Quakers Meeting House, 56-58 Alexandra Grove, N12 8GH

Cash donation here - charity number 1132666

Please donate what you can.

As a Student Officer team, we wanted to acknowledge and show our continued support to our Afghan students & staff and all those that have been impacted by the actions of the Taliban forces entering the capital Kabul on Sunday. Since then, thousands have started to seek a way out of the country to escape creating an ongoing humanitarian crisis. As your Student Officers of MDXSU, we pray for peace, prosperity, and stability for our communities and their families.

We are deeply saddened about the current situation in Afghanistan – for the unnecessary loss of life, for the loss of rights – and we stand with our Afghan Students and staff who will be feeling this more acutely. Our hearts are with you.

If you are being affected by this ongoing crisis, support and resources from Middlesex University is outlined at the very end.

There are ways you can support, and here are just 3:

Stay Informed

It can be difficult to stay informed and aware about issues that are not directly impacting your life. However, when supporting a movement, it is important to stay as up to date as you can, and ensure you have the correct information at hand. Online misinformation can easily occur, so it is important you know what is true and what is not. www.GlobalCitizen.org is a great place to start.

Support the online movement

Keep the conversation open & alive on social media. The fight for human rights in Afghanistan is not one that should be forgotten after the media stops reporting it. To get you started you can follow the hashtags, #Afghanistan #HelpAfghanistan #AfghanLivesMatter

We would also urge students to be cautious about naming or tagging fellow students, as being connected with a UK University might potentially cause danger.

Write to your local MP or to the Embassy

International pressure can have influence, and it is our right that we use it to fight for the voices of those in Afghanistan. You can write to your local MP and get them to raise this in their positions of power, or to the Embassy of Afghanistan to put pressure on them to enact change.

Your MDXSU Student Officers

Twinkle Gupta, MDXSU President
Nishtha Relan, VP Arts & Creative Industries
Jaudat Alogba, VP Health, Social Care & Education
Abhishek Arora, VP Business & Law
Anastasia Calin, VP Science & Technology

Edit: Please find the link to the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme from the British Government

Support for Afghan staff and students

Universities UK International (UUKi) has been working closely with colleagues in FCDO, Home Office, DfE and with colleagues in sector bodies over the past few days in relation to the situation in Afghanistan.  As a university, we are working closely with UUKi to support their work to advocate for Afghan students, staff, and researchers associated with UK universities who may be in stranded in Afghanistan. 

We are working to identify any members of staff or students that may be in Afghanistan and would ask that if you are aware of any individuals that you please contact me c.upton@mdx.ac.uk with their details.  Please do not attempt to contact staff or students directly, especially via unencrypted digital communications or on social media.   

We are aware that there are several groups that may require support, including Afghan students currently studying at UK universities (including research students) who may have returned home during the summer, or have been prevented from traveling back to the UK by Covid; future students who have received offers from UK universities and Afghan members of staff working in UK universities.  Initial evidence suggests there to be around at least 180 Afghan students across the sector who were due to be studying at UK universities in the autumn.

We are sadly aware that these individuals may be placed at additional risk on the grounds of their association with the UK and guidance asks that we carefully adhere to the following:

• Protect the identity of Afghanistan based partners, researchers, translators, interpreters, assistants, and women engaged in any research project which are funded or in the planning for application stages, or you have worked with in the last 2 decades. Please consider editing any webpages you may have online and remove identifiable photos, names of people, organisations, locations, emails, addresses, and phone numbers.
• Careful usage of social media and tagging any people or persons who could be identified and contacted unless you have received express permission from them in the last few days.
• Privacy settings on social media accounts which could be accessed to identify links between researchers and UK based teams – including Facebook, Instagram and twitter. Set privacy to ‘Only me’ kind of settings that provides safety/anonymity to your Afghan colleagues.
• Carefully consider any email communications being sent out which could be picked up and used against your Afghanistan based colleagues.
• Avoid unnecessary interactions with Afghan colleagues over unsecured/unencrypted platforms
• Be careful of sharing unverified news over social media platforms.

Support and Resources for those affected

• The UK Council for International Student Affairs Advice Line can be reached on +4420 7788 9214, open Monday to Friday (except for public holidays): 1.00pm to 4.00pm (UK time).
• UK government information on claiming asylum in the UK
• Our full range of information and support is available at our Support for Staff page here.
• We have a wide range of student welfare, advice, wellbeing and mental health support freely and confidentially available to students online and over the phone via our wellbeing pages on UniHub here.

The situation is challenging and fast moving and I would ask colleagues to give this matter urgent and immediate priority.

Thank you for your support and assistance.

Professor Carole-Anne Upton

Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Knowledge Exchange and Engagement