By Zafar Shayan
Known as the ‘Woman of Action’, Sima Samar has spent tireless efforts promoting peace, education and human rights in Afghanistan since the 1980s. She is a member of the High Level-Panel on Internal Displacement of the United Nations. She also served as the Chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) for several years.
Sima Samar was born in 1957, in the Jaghori District of Ghazni, Afghanistan. She completed her medical degree at Kabul University and worked as a doctor in a hospital. However, she fled to Pakistan in 1984 due to conflicts in her home country.
In Pakistan, Samar started her activities by providing school education and health services for refugees, particularly women and children. In 1989, she established the Shuhada Organization, which operates 12 clinics, 4 hospitals and 71 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
During the civil war and at that time, being under the Taliban regime, it wasn’t easy for a woman to work as an educational philanthropist and human rights activist. However, Samar consistently delivered her cultural and human rights activities despite the serious challenges. She said, “I have always been in danger, but I don’t mind.” She was secretly financing a few schools in Ghazni and Kabul due to security concerns during the Taliban.
From December 2001 to June 2002, Samar worked as the Deputy Chair and the first Minister of Women’s Affairs in the Interim Administration of Afghanistan. She also served as the Special Rapporteur for the Situation of Human Rights in Sudan from 2005 – 2009.
Samar has many achievements from her activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and has received over 20 international awards and honors for her numerous services for her leadership in promoting education and human rights.