NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Sima Samar, chair of Afghanistan’s first Independent Human Rights Commission (IHRC), will give a talk on the status of Afghan women after Taliban rule at Vanderbilt University Monday, Feb. 24.
Samar’s talk will begin at 4:10 p.m. in Room 114 of Furman Hall. This appearance is her second at Vanderbilt.
“When Dr. Samar spoke at Vanderbilt in 2001, very few people knew what the Taliban was or fully understood the extent to which human rights violations were being committed against women in Afghanistan as part of the Taliban’s gender apartheid,” said Alison Piepmeier, senior lecturer with Vanderbilt’s Department of Women’s Studies.
“What Dr. Samar reminds us is that in the time since the Taliban has been overthrown the plight of women and girls has improved, but the work has been slow and extremely under funded,” Piepmeier said.
After the 2001 end of the Taliban regime, Samar assumed a position in Afghanistan’s interim cabinet as minister of women’s affairs. She was one of two women to receive government appointments. When death threats forced her resignation from the cabinet post, she accepted the position as chair of the IHRC.
As chair, she oversees human rights education programs across Afghanistan and is responsible for the implementation of a nationwide women’s rights education program as well as monitoring and investigating human rights abuses.
Samar, who holds a degree in medicine from Kabul University, is also the founder and current director of the Shuhada Organization, which runs health, education and income generation projects for women and girls in Afghanistan and those living as refugees in Pakistan.
During the Taliban’s rule, Samar risked her life by violating the ban on educating women – by running underground schools that educated more than 17,000 girls, operating health clinics for women and campaigning for women’s rights through Shuhada Organization.
Shuhada runs four hospitals and 10 clinics in Afghanistan. The organization also operates 55 rural schools for approximately 22,000 Afghan children and three schools for Afghan refugees in a border town in Pakistan. During the Taliban regime, Shuhada’s schools in central Afghanistan were among the few academic girls primary schools. Shuhada also ran the only high schools that girls were allowed to attend. The Shuhada Organization continues to run English and computer courses and income generation and adult literacy programs for women in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Samar is frequently highlighted on the international stage. Most recently she was named to ABC News’ 2002 Top Five “Beating the Odds” list for her continued fight for women’s rights in Afghanistan.
“Dr. Samar is such an important figure,” said Piepmeier. “She was such an unknown while she risked her life doing underground work, and now she – and the women of Afghanistan – are beginning to receive to the sort of international recognition they need and deserve.”
Samar’s talk is sponsored by the Vanderbilt Women’s Studies Program.
Media contact: Princine Lewis, 615-322-NEWS, princine.l.lewis@vanderbilt.edu