Shaharzad Akbar (born 1987) is an Afghan human rights activist who served as the chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission until the beginning of 2022.[1][2]


Early life and education

Akbar was born in Jawzjan Province in 1987, the daughter of the leftist politician and writer Ismail Akbar, who had been a member of the armed resistance against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.[3][4] She is of Hazara and Uzbek heritage.[5] Following the rise of the Taliban and the establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in 1996, Akbar and her family sought refuge in Pakistan, eventually returning and settling in Mazar-i-Sharif after the collapse of the regime in 2001.[6][7]

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 was awarded a Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust scholarship and obtained an MPhil in 2011.[8][7]

Career

Akbar has previously acted as an analyst for the Free and Fair Elections Foundation.[9] She has also contributed articles for the BBC, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Al Jazeera, and CNN.[10][11][12][13] She previously served as a delegate during some of the intra-Afghan negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha.[14]

In 2010, Akbar founded QARA consulting, a firm owned and run by young Afghans, based in Kabul.[15] 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.[7][15]

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.[7] Between 2017 and 2018, she served as a senior advisor to Ashraf Ghani, the then-President of Afghanistan, on high development councils.[8]

Since 2019, Akbar has served as the chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.[4][5] Prior to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Akbar had called on the American government to consider the importance of civic space and the safety of civilians prior to US soldiers 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.[11] She also requested the US properly investigate allegations of abuse levied at American soldiers during the War in Afghanistan following concerns that some soldiers were being granted impunity for their actions.[16]

Following the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the re-establishment of an Islamic Emirate under Taliban control in August 2021, Akbar has become a vocal critic of the new regime, and particularly their treatment of women. 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.[17][18] She has also criticised international agencies for sending male-only delegations to meet with Taliban officials, accusing them of normalising gender discrimination and validating the Taliban's attempted "erasure of women" in Afghanistan.[19]

Recognition

In 2017, the World Economic Forum named Akbar as a Young Global Leader.[6][8][20]

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.[21] That same year, she was named as a finalist for the Sakharov Prize.[22][23]

Personal life

Akbar is married to Timor Sharan, a Hazara from Bayman Province, who serves as the deputy director of the Independent Directorate of Local Governance.[6]

Akbar speaks Uzbek, Dari, Pashto, and English.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Ghani Appoints New Members For Human Rights Commission". TOLOnews. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  2. ↑ "Akbar legt Amt nieder (Akbar resigns from office)". taz (in German). Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  3. ↑ Ahadi, Baktash (2 February 2021). "Shaharzad Akbar: leader and visionary for human rights in Afghanistan". Stories of Transformation. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  4. 1 2 Qaane, Ehsan (20 July 2019). "Beginning of a new era at the AIHRC: nine fresh commissioners". Afghanistan Analysts Network. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  5. 1 2 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.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Akbar, Shahrzad Mrs". Afghan Biographies. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Clark, Meredith (3 November 2015). "What everyone needs to stop getting wrong about Afghanistan". www.refinery29.com. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 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.
  9. ↑ Akbar, Shaharzad; Akbar, Zubaida (2010). Elections and Conflict in Afghanistan. Berlin: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
  10. ↑ "A Wish for Afghanistan, episode 5: the advocate". BBC World Service. 2 October 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  11. 1 2 Akbar, Shaharzad (26 February 2021). "Afghans are living in terror. That must change for peace". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  12. ↑ Akbar, Shaharzad (10 April 2016). "Afghans must ensure Farkhunda Malikzada's murder by a mob was not in vain". Newsweek. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  13. ↑ Akbar, Shaharzad (22 August 2019). "I don't want the US to bargain away my son's future in Afghanistan". CNN. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  14. ↑ Mashal, Mujib (7 July 2019). "Afghan talks with Taliban reflect a changed nation". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  15. 1 2 "Afghanistan's next generation wants Taliban held accountable". NPR. 1 July 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  16. ↑ Akbar, Shaharzad (30 June 2021). "Ending the forever war, but leaving a legacy of impunity in Afghanistan". Just Security. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  17. ↑ Besheer, Margaret (24 September 2021). "Afghan activists to UN: pressure Taliban to let girls go to school". VOA. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  18. ↑ Nebehay, Stephanie (27 September 2021). "Activists urge UN to investigate alleged Taliban crimes". Reuters. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  19. ↑ "Anger over men-only foreign delegations to meet Taliban". France 24. 27 October 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  20. ↑ Schiavenza, Matt (7 October 2019). "Afghanistan's transformation through the eyes of its young leaders". Asia Society. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  21. ↑ Marquez, Consuelo (15 December 2021). "Karapatan's Cristina Palabay among laureates of Franco-German Human Rights award". GMA News Online. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  22. ↑ "Sakharov Prize 2021: Navalni's daughter: "We cannot identify Russia with Putin"". Market Research Telecast. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  23. ↑ "Sakharov Prize 2021: the finalists". European Parliament. 14 October 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
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