Home Office backtracks after refusing to give Afghan women visas for UK talk

A trailblazing Afghan woman who climbed her country’s highest mountain was initially refused entry to the UK to speak at a Royal Geographical Society event, Sky News can reveal.

Hanifa Yousoufi, 26, and a fellow female mountaineer, Freshta Ibrahimi, 27, were distraught after the Home Office rejected their visa applications last Friday, even though empowering women in Afghanistan through adventure sports is an area Britain supports.

The decision was suddenly reversed on Monday after it was raised by Ascend, the US not-for-profit organisation that is supporting the pair, and following emails sent by Sky News to the Home Office and the British embassy in Kabul, asking for a comment on the rejection.

It is not known whether the rapid U-turn would have happened regardless or was prompted by the interventions. Either way the two women were ecstatic when they heard the news.

“I am so, so happy that they have accepted my application,” said Ms Yousoufi.

She was talking, with her friend Ms Ibrahimi translating her words into English, on Monday evening from a hotel in Delhi where the two women had to travel in the first place simply to apply for their UK visa, via the British High Commission.

Ms Ibrahimi, who works as a programme co-ordinator for Ascend in Kabul, criticised the entire visa application process.

She said there should be a way for Afghans, particularly those who have been invited to the UK because of their expertise, to apply for permission to travel to Britain via the British embassy in Kabul instead of having to spend money and time travelling to India

Asked about how it felt to have at first been rejected, Ms Ibrahimi said: “I felt very down.

“I felt people were looking down at me because I am coming from Afghanistan. I felt that they were thinking very selfishly.

“I was shocked. I had to explain the situation to Hanifa. When she heard about it she didn’t talk to me for an hour. We could not talk to each other. Hanifa had tears in her eyes.”

The women were left in limbo in Delhi from last Friday to Monday of this week.

They had already been forced to endure delays and complications obtaining a visa to travel to India. “We managed to come all the way here [to Delhi],” Ms Yousoufi said. “When we got here I thought: okay the UK visa is going to be easy, but it again caused us trouble.”

In at first rejecting the applicants, the Home Office appeared to use the fact the two women were not married and had “shown little in the way of social or familial ties to Afghanistan”, according to a copy of the rejection letters seen by Sky News.

The letter to Ms Yousoufi continued: “You are single and you have not demonstrated any evidence of properties or investments. Given this, I am not satisfied that you have demonstrated a strong incentive to leave the UK at the end of your trip.”

In fact, the top mountaineer had been forced into an arranged marriage when she was 15 – a situation she was eventually able to escape. She has also travelled elsewhere in the world, including France, and always returned home.

Ms Yousoufi found strength and self-confidence through learning to mountain climb thanks to Ascend, which helps up to 20 Afghan women each year, aged 15 to 23, learn leadership skills through mountaineering.

Ms Yousoufi conquered Mount Noshaq in August 2018 – and standing at 24,580ft – it is Afghanistan’s highest peak.

“Before joining Ascend I didn’t know about mountaineering,” she said.

“The first time [I climbed] I experienced the real freedom in my life. People were saying: mountaineering is rough. This is not for women. I decided I want to be a hero for Afghan women, that is why I continue mountaineering.”

She added: “My dream is to see and climb the highest peaks in the world like K2 and Everest.”

First of all, Ms Yousoufi and Ms Ibrahimi will travel to the UK where they hope to climb some mountains in Wales.

Ms Yousoufi will also be delivering a lecture at the Royal Geographical Society event on Monday alongside Marina LeGree, executive director of Ascend.

Ms LeGree was very critical of Britain’s visa application process for Afghans.

She said merely obtaining visas had cost her small not-for-profit organisation about $2,500 (£2,010). The applications themselves were a total of just under $1,000 (£804.00). In addition, Ascend had to fund the women’s travel and stay in Delhi.

“Surely there is a way to make the process better,” Ms LeGree said.

(c) Sky News 2019: Home Office backtracks after refusing to give Afghan women visas for UK talk