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Women
changing lives: Belquis
Ahmadi
by Jacqueline
Kozin, Digital Freedom Network
(March 7, 2003) Belquis
Ahmadi was the tender age of seven when the Soviets invaded her
home country of Afghanistan. It was her first encounter with war
and as she said in an interview with the Digital Freedom Network,
"I did not know what war was but I became scared."
Conflict remained in
the background for those living in Afghanistan during that time
and, of course, in the future. But something positive resulted
as it inspired Ahmadi to become the human rights activist she
is today.
"Having
lived in Afghanistan most of my life, I became aware of injustice
in our society and the maltreatment of millions of Afghan
women by their families and by society," says Belquis
Ahmadi, above. |
Ahmadi is currently
the Afghanistan program coordinator with the International Human
Rights Law Group (IHRLG), a non-profit organization engaged in
advocacy, strategic human rights lawyering, training and coalition
building around the world. She helps coordinate program activities
in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as overseeing program management
and development at the organization's Washington office. Ahmadi
joined the organization's staff in August 2000 as a New Voices
Fellow, which is a program sponsored by the Academy for Educational
Development that provides funding to non-profit organizations
to bring innovative and talented individuals to their staffs.
During her fellowship, her work with IHRLG included network building
and advocacy support for women's rights activists throughout the
world living under religious extremism.
Energized by injustice
and challenges
The oldest of six children,
a young Ahmadi originally wanted to be a law enforcement officer,
but changed her career path and decided to study law and political
science at Kabul University. Throughout her career, Ahmadi's advocacy
efforts have focused mainly on women in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"I had always been interested in women's rights and women's
empowerment ever since I was a child," said Ahmadi. "Having
lived in Afghanistan most of my life, as a child and later as
a teenager I became aware of injustice in our society and the
maltreatment of millions of Afghan women by their families and
by society."
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"Women
were the most to suffer from all of the ethnic clashes
and men-imposed war and crimes," says Ahmadi. |
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One of the experiences
that made an indelible impression and inspired her to become more
involved in trying to make a change was her work at the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Kabul in its war wounded
surgical hospital. "Through my work at the surgical hospital,
I was witness to the most horrifying crimes during war and disrespect
for the rights of human beings," Ahmadi noted. "Again,
women were the most to suffer from all of the ethnic clashes and
men-imposed war and crimes." In addition to the desire to
combat the injustice around her, Ahmadi found advocacy work energizing
because of the challenge it creates. "I like challenges,
and working in the field of human rights, particularly women's
rights, is definitely a continued challenge."
Prior to working with
IHRLG, Ahmadi was the program manager for the Women's Affairs
department at the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief in
Peshawar, Pakistan, which is an umbrella organization that facilitates
negotiations between the Pakistan and Afghanistan governments
and over 70 Afghan and international NGOs, and the office manager
for CARE-International's Afghanistan office.
Making a dream reality
But her most challenging
work came during the most challenging period of her life. In 1996,
after the Taliban took over Kabul, Ahmadi co-founded the Afghan
Women's Network in Kabul with one of her female law school professors.
The future of the organization became questionable as later in
the year, she became a refugee in Pakistan. "As a young woman
and a new refugee, I was not welcomed by the Afghan women's groups
in Peshawar when I presented the idea of re-establishing a network
of Afghan women," reminisced Ahmadi. "Only days after
I started working in the refugee community I felt the need for
bringing different groups of women together to jointly tackle
issues related to women's rights and interests.
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What
you can do
"IHRLG
depends on the financial contributions of individuals
who share our principles and concerns for the state
of human rights and the status of women throughout
he world," says Belquis Ahmadi.
While
IHRLG does not have a volunteer program, the organization
does welcome pro bono contributions from "legal
professionals on human rights cases and international
advocacy projects."
To find out more information, please consult IHRLG's
Web site.
Ahmadi
would also like to see more Afghan women take part
in Georgetown's Women's Law & Public Policy
Fellowship Program, of which she is a current
recipient. The only way for that to happen is for
it to receive additional support. Please check out
the Web site for more information at www.wlppfp.org.
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"Unlike in Kabul,
there existed a significant number of women's groups and NGOs
in the refugee communities. However, there was less cooperation
among them. As soon as I saw this lack of cooperation and coordination
among the groups I decided to re-establish the Afghan Women's
Network. It took a lot of effort and patience to accomplish my
goal and my dreams of seeing women from different backgrounds
work together and jointly advocate for women's rights.
"When I left Pakistan
in 1999, the Network had around 70 members. Today the Network
has more than 500 members and it is consulted in every major decision
making process at national, regional and international levels."
As one of ten prominent women's activists, Ahmadi was selected
as a delegate in last year's loya jirga in Afghanistan, which
was a gathering of over 1000 elected delegates to help determine
the new Afghan government.
Ahmadi does not take
full credit for the creation of such a dynamic organization and
pointed to those who surrounded her as additional driving forces.
"There were times that I was ready to quit, but my determination
as well as the support I received from my family, friends and
members of the network helped me stay focused on my goal and on
my dreams."
And for that, we thank
them.
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