Girls deserve right to education - A speech by Matthias Hüttenbach

Girls deserve right to education - A speech by Matthias Hüttenbach

Good evening everyone, thank you Hassan Yusuf for inviting me. It is a pleasure to be part of this discussion. Before I start I want to say: My english is not perfect, so please bear with me. 

My name is Matthias Hüttenbach. I am a cameraman and film editor in Berlin. In November 2025, I took part in a discussion in Berlin about the Afghan film 'Rulebreakers'. I filmed the event, edited the material afterwards, and published the video on YouTube. 

And actually, it was my interest in Hassan Yusuf’s work that brought me there in the 

first place. So, Hassan, thank you also for that.

I want to make one thing clear: I am not an expert on Afghanistan, and I do not want to 

pretend to be one. I am German. I have never lived in Afghanistan, and I have never been there. 

As a cameraman and editor, my job is to look and to listen. Later, when I edit a film, I have to decide which images and which voices become part of the story.

So today, I simply want to share with you some of the things I have seen and learned - and some of the things that have stayed with me.

I learned about a woman who could not be rescued after an earthquake because male 

rescue workers were not allowed to touch her. At the same time, women are prevented 

from being trained and working as rescue workers themselves. Just think about what that means.

A rule about gender can suddenly decide whether a person receives help or not. 

Whether someone is rescued or not. Whether someone lives or dies.

And this is one reason why I think education is about much more than going to school.

Education means having choices.

- being able to earn your own living.

- being able to take part in society.

- being able to decide what you want your life to be.

And it means having a voice.

When girls are denied education, we are not only taking away schools, books, lessons 

or qualifications, but choices and parts of their future. 

Last Thursday, CBS News published a letter written by an Afghan girl. She has to 

remain anonymous.

I want to read from her letter to you today.

Because I think it is important that we do not only talk about Afghan girls. 

We should also listen to what they themselves have to say.

So for the next few moments, I want to lend this girl my voice, so that her 

words can be heard here:

⬇️ Start of the letter ⬇️

Dear World, hear me. 

I want to talk about something that perhaps seems simple: 

the right to study, the right to work, the right to choose, the right to build my own 

future. 

Are these really such great demands? 

These are the most basic rights every human being should have.

I want to live in a world where being a girl is not a crime. 

I want being a girl to never mean having to shrink my dreams.

World, 

I am asking you for something simple: 

an ordinary life – a life where having enough to eat is not a dream, where having 

a job is not a matter of being lucky, and where safety and freedom are not 

fantasies.

I still have hope, even though every day gives me another reason to lose it. I don’t 

want the circumstances I was born into to determine all that life has in store for 

me.

⬆️ End of the letter ⬆️

This letter touches me.

There is hope in these words. And there is something else that touches me: 

What this girl is asking for is very simple.

- She wants to learn. 

- to work. 

- to make her own choices. 

- to be safe. 

- to have a future.

And yet we all know how difficult it is – and hopefully not continue to be – for her to make 

these dreams come true. Her letter has reached the world through CBS News. 

Her voice has been heard.

But we also know that girls in Afghanistan are living in despair. 

France 24 has reported on the very high number of suicides among Afghan women and girls. Some of them are only eleven or twelve years old.

When I read this letter, I have one very simple and personal hope:

I hope this girl stays alive.

I hope she can make it become true. 

I hope that one day she will experience a different Afghanistan – an Afghanistan 

where she can

- study

- work

- where she canmake her own choices

- where she can build the future she is dreaming about.

There is another reason why I believe all of this concerns us – including those of 

us who live far away from Afghanistan.

We should never assume that women’s rights only move forward.

Rights can also be taken away.

Afghanistan is the worst case in the world, but it reminds us that rights have to be 

protected.

I sometimes think of it like this:

One stone comes loose, and perhaps nothing happens.

Then another stone comes loose.

And another.

And at some point, it can become an avalanche.

That is why I believe we should care when girls lose their rights - wherever it happens.

And that is also why a project like Her Voice, Her Future matters to me.

Here in Berlin, girls can ask themselves:

- Who am I?

- How do I want to live?

- What future do I want?

- And how can I help shape that future?

These may sound like simple questions.

But the freedom to ask these questions and look for answers – is 

enormously valuable.

Perhaps this is also one thing I have learned through filmmaking.

Giving someone a voice does not mean speaking for them.

It means listening.

And it means creating a space where they can speak for themselves – and where other 

people are willing to listen.

A girl’s voice is not something we have to give her. It is already 

hers.

Our responsibility is to make sure that she has the freedom, the education, and 

the space to use it.

That is what Her Voice, Her Future means to me.

Thank you very much for listening.

#taliban #Afghanistan #freeafghanwomenandgirls #stoptaliban #nototaliban #letherlearn #LetAfghanGirlLearn #LetAfghanGirlsLearn #freewomen #womensrights #stopchildmarriages J.K. Rowling