Shaharzad Akbar

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Shaharzad Akbar
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Born1987
Jowzjan Province
NationalityAfghan
CitizenshipAfghanistan
EducationMaster of Philosophy
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
OccupationHuman rights activist

Shaharzad Akbar (born 1987) is an Afghan human rights activist who currently serves as the chairperson of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.

Early life and education

Akbar was born in Jowzjan Province in 1987, the daughter of the leftist politician and writer Ismail Akbar, who had been a member of the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviet–Afghan War occupation of Afghanistan.[1][2] She is of Hazaras and Uzbeks.[3] Following the rise of the Taliban and the establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001), Akbar and her family sought refuge in Pakistan, eventually returning and settling in Mazar-i-Sharif after the United States invasion of Afghanistan.[4][5]

Akbar graduated with a BA in Anthropology from Smith College, before going on to become the first Afghan woman to complete postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford, where she obtained an MPhil in 2011.[6][5]

Career

Akbar has previously acted as an analyst for the Free and Fair Elections Foundation.[7] She has also contributed articles for the BBC World Service, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Al Jazeera, and CNN.[8][9][10][11] She previously served as a delegate during some of the Doha Agreement (2020) negotiations between the Government of Afghanistan and the Taliban in Doha.[12]

In 2010, Akbar founded QARA consulting, a firm owned and run by young Afghans, based in Kabul.[13] In 2012, she was a founding member and first chairperson of Afghanistan 1400, a youth-led political movement focused on promoting democratic values and the notion of Afghanistan as a united country among its young people.[5][13]

Between 2014 and 2017, Akbar was the country director for Open Society Afghanistan, focusing on women's rights issues and promoting good governance in Afghanistan.[5] Between 2017 and 2018, she served as a senior advisor to Ashraf Ghani, the then-President of Afghanistan, on high development councils.[6]

Since 2019, Akbar has served as the chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.[2][3] Prior to the Withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan, Akbar had called on the Federal government of the United States to consider the importance of civic space and the safety of civilians prior to United States Army leaving the country, urging them to demand the Taliban to commit to a ceasefire, including the targeted killings of Afghan citizens, as a condition of American withdrawal.[9] She also requested the US properly investigate allegations of abuse levied at American soldiers during the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) following concerns that some soldiers were being granted impunity for their actions.[14]

Following the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the re-establishment of an Afghanistan under Taliban control in August 2021, Akbar has become a vocal critic of the new regime, and particularly their Treatment of women by the Taliban. She has called on international bodies including the United Nations to pressure the Taliban to lift their ban on girls attending school, as well as to cease their targeted killings of Afghans linked to the previous government.[15][16] She has also criticised international agencies for sending male-only delegations to meet with Taliban officials, accussing them of normalising gender discrimination and validating the Taliban's attempted "erasure of women" in Afghanistan.[17]

Recognition

In 2017, the World Economic Forum named Akbar as a Young Global Leaders.[4][6][18]

In 2021, Akbar was named as a laureate of the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law in recognition for her work defending human rights in Afghanistan.[19] That same year, she was named as a finalist for the Sakharov Prize.[20][21]

Personal life

Akbar is married to Timor Sharan, a Hazara from Bamyan Province, who serves as the deputy director of the Independent Directorate of Local Governance.[4]

Akbar speaks Uzbek language, Dari, Pashto, and English language.[4]

References

  1. Ahadi, Baktash (2 February 2021). "Shaharzad Akbar: leader and visionary for human rights in Afghanistan". Stories of Transformation. Retrieved 2022-01-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. 2.0 2.1 Qaane, Ehsan (20 July 2019). "Beginning of a new era at the AIHRC: nine fresh commissioners". Afghanistan Analysts Network. Retrieved 2022-01-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. 3.0 3.1 Johnson, Thomas H.; Ademec, Ludwig W. (2021). Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan (5th ed.). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-5381-4928-7. OCLC 1204266976.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Akbar, Shahrzad Mrs". Afghan Biographies. Retrieved 2022-01-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Clark, Meredith (3 November 2015). "What everyone needs to stop getting wrong about Afghanistan". www.refinery29.com. Retrieved 2022-01-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 MacKendrick, Stephanie (2020). In Good Hands : remarkable female politicians from around the world who showed up, spoke out and made change. Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press. p. 135. ISBN 978-1-5253-0035-6. OCLC 1103606436.
  7. Akbar, Shaharzad; Akbar, Zubaida (2010). Elections and Conflict in Afghanistan. Berlin: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
  8. "A Wish for Afghanistan, episode 5: the advocate". BBC World Service. 2 October 2021. Retrieved 2022-01-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. 9.0 9.1 Akbar, Shaharzad (26 February 2021). "Afghans are living in terror. That must change for peace". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  10. Akbar, Shaharzad (10 April 2016). "Afghans must ensure Farkhunda Malikzada's murder by a mob was not in vain". Newsweek. Retrieved 2022-01-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. Akbar, Shaharzad (22 August 2019). "I don't want the US to bargain away my son's future in Afghanistan". CNN. Retrieved 2022-01-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. Mashal, Mujib (7 July 2019). "Afghan talks with Taliban reflect a changed nation". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  13. 13.0 13.1 "Afghanistan's next generation wants Taliban held accountable". NPR. 1 July 2013. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  14. Akbar, Shaharzad (30 June 2021). "Ending the forever war, but leaving a legacy of impunity in Afghanistan". Just Security. Retrieved 2022-01-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. Besheer, Margaret (24 September 2021). "Afghan activists to UN: pressure Taliban to let girls go to school". VOA. Retrieved 2022-01-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. Nebehay, Stephanie (27 September 2021). "Activists urge UN to investigate alleged Taliban crimes". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  17. "Anger over men-only foreign delegations to meet Taliban". France 24. 27 October 2021. Retrieved 2022-01-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. Schiavenza, Matt (7 October 2019). "Afghanistan's transformation through the eyes of its young leaders". Asia Society. Retrieved 3 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. Marquez, Consuelo (15 December 2021). "Karapatan's Cristina Palabay among laureates of Franco-German Human Rights award". GMA News Online. Retrieved 2022-01-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. "Sakharov Prize 2021: Navalni's daughter: "We cannot identify Russia with Putin"". Market Research Telecast. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 2022-01-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  21. "Sakharov Prize 2021: the finalists". European Parliament. 14 October 2021. Retrieved 2022-01-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

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