By Zuhra Abhar
A talented woman, a leader, a mother, a doctor, Dr. Sima Samar was born in Jarghori District, Ghazni Province, Afghanistan in 1957. Dr. Sima spent her childhood in Jaghori and later on joined her father who was an officer in the civil service in Lashkargah, Helmand. Dr. Sima came from a large family. She studied in Lashkargah and after graduating from high school studied in the Faculty of Medicine at Kabul University, graduating in 1982.
Dr. Sima is the Chairwoman of the Independent Afghanistan Human Rights Commission, the first of its kind in Afghanistan’s history. In this position, Dr. Sima oversees the conduct of human rights education programs across the country, implementation of a nationwide women’s rights education program, and monitoring and investigation of human rights abuses across the country. Dr. Sima convened the Commission, created pursuant to the Bonn Agreement.
For a short video clip of Dr. Sima speaking in the documentary “Daughters of Afghanistan,” at the International Gender Justice Dialogue in Mexico, and at the Oslo Freedom Forum 2010, please click on the link below:
From December 22, 2001 until June 22, 2002, Dr. Sima served as the Deputy Chair and Minister of Women’s Affairs for the Interim Administration of Afghanistan. Dr. Sima was one of the only two women cabinet ministers in the Interim Administration of Afghanistan’s government. In June 2002, Dr. Sima was elected as the vice-chair of the Loya Jirga Assembly.
Dr. Sima has received nearly 20 international awards for her work on human rights and peace since 1994, including: Global Leader for Tomorrow from the World Economic Forum (WEF), Ms. Magazine’s Woman of the Year award, awards by the International Human Rights Law Group and the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights, the Profile in Courage Award, and has been named an Honorary Officer of the Order of Canada.
During the Interim Administration, Dr. Sima established the first-ever Afghanistan Ministry of Women’s Affairs. Under her leadership, buildings for the Ministry were secured and rehabilitated and the Ministry began advocacy, training, and service programs to help restore the rights of women and to improve their economic, political, legal, and social status. Among other accomplishments, the Ministry won the right of women government employees to return to their jobs and to keep their seniority, secured the representation of women as 11% of the Loya Jirga delegates, oversaw the re-entry of girls to schools, launched a women’s rights legal department, and opened a school for married girls, tailoring, literacy, and embroidery courses at the Ministry’s headquarters. Dr. Sima also won support for and began construction of multi-service women’s centers throughout Afghanistan.
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