Award-winning author, journalist, and human rights activist Sally Armstrong will moderate a panel discussion on Afghanistan's perils and its people once again under Taliban rule.
Panelists will discuss:
- Aid delivery challenges and barriers in Afghanistan and the current humanitarian crisis
- Resettlement of Afghans who have managed to reach Canada and the plight of those who remain behind
- The Taliban's practices and policies in relation to women's rights in Islam
MODERATOR
Sally Armstrong
Human rights activist, journalist and award-winning author Sally Armstrong has covered stories about women and girls in zones of conflict all over the world. From Bosnia and Somalia to the Middle East, Rwanda, Congo, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Iraq and Guatemala, her eye witness reports have earned her awards including the Gold Award from the National Magazine Awards Foundation and the Author's Award from the Foundation for the Advancement of Canadian Letters. She received the Amnesty International Canada Media Award in 2000, 2002, 2011 and again in 2017.
She was named the Massey Lecturer for 2019. The lectures and book are titled Power Shift: The Longest Revolution. In 2020 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Women of Influence. Also in 2020 she delivered the Judy LaMarsh Lecture at Victoria College/ University of Toronto.
She was a member of the International Women’s Commission a UN body that consists of 20 Palestinian women, 20 Israeli women and 12 internationals whose mandate was assisting with the path to peace in the Middle East.
In 1996, Sally was honoured by the YWCA of Toronto with the prestigious Women of Distinction Award in Communications. In 1997 she received the Achievement Award for Human Rights for Women from Jewish Women International; in 1998 Media Watch's Dodi Robb Award and in 2003, the Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement from the National Magazine Awards Foundation. In 2005, she received the Athena International Award (Chicago), the World of Difference Award from the International Alliance for Women (Florida) and the Red Cross Humanitarian Award - New Brunswick Region. In 2008 she received the Adrienne Clarkson Public Service Laureateship. And in May 2008, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Journalism Foundation. In March 2010, she became the fourth recipient of The Calgary Peace Prize. In 2016 she was part of the team that received honourable mention in the Multi Media category of the News Photographers Association of Canada for the The Real Faces of ISIS. In June 2017 she received the Dave Greber Award for Social Justice Writing. And also in 2017 Sally along with photographer/videographer Peter Bregg won the Gold Award for Investigative Journalism at Canadian Online Publishing for the work about the Yazidis called Resisting Genocide. And in December 2017 Peter Bregg and Sally Armstrong received the Amnesty International Canada Media Award for their work in Iraq.
She is the recipient of eleven honorary doctorate degrees and is an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Her book Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan was published by Penguin Books in 2002. The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor was published by Random House in 2007. Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots: the Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan’s Women was published by Penguin in 2008. Ascent of Women was published by Random House in March 2013. A revised version called Uprising: A new age is dawning for every mother’s daughter was published in March 2014 by St. Martins Press in New York. Power Shift: The Longest Revolution was published in 2019 by House of Anansi Press. Rebel by Rahaf Mohammed as told to Sally Armstrong is the shocking story of a young woman from Saudi Arabia who ran for her life and managed an extraordinary escape from her abusive family. It was published in March 2022.
SPEAKERS
Asma Faizi
For over twenty years Asma has been a staunch advocate at the national and international level on issues related to the plight of Afghan women, challenges faced by newcomers to Canada, and human rights issues for refugees worldwide. Asma became a Board member of the Afghan Women’s Organization (AWO) in 1998 and has been the President and Chair of its Board of Directors since 2008. The AWO has been providing settlement services for over 30 years to newcomers to Canada with a special focus on women, their families, refugees, and people who have experienced war and persecution. The AWO has also had several home-based/underground schools and educational, capacity building, and income generation projects inside Afghanistan and in the refugee camps in Pakistan. The AWO also established an orphanage in 2004 in Kabul.
In 1986, Asma escaped the war in Afghanistan at age three with her mom and 4-year-old brother. The perilous escape included time spent in a refugee camp in Pakistan. Asma is a lawyer and member of the Canadian-Afghan Lawyers Association and lives in Toronto with her husband and three children. She is also a member of the Atlas Afghanistan Emergency Taskforce, a subgroup of Atlas Women aimed at galvanizing the power of international feminist lawyers to respond to the Afghanistan crisis.
For her work, Asma has received: the YWCA's Women of Distinction Award in 2022; the Member of Parliament's Sesquicentennial Citizenship Award in 2017; and Asma was among the Atlas Women that received the 2021 PILnet Pro Bono Publico Award - an award that recognizes legal professionals with an extraordinary, passionate, and long-standing commitment to service for the public good.
Adeena Niazi
Adeena Niazi is an immigrant and women’s rights advocate. Formerly a lecturer in Dari Language and Literature at Kabul University, Afghanistan, Adeena Niazi became a refugee and a refugee advocate in India when Afghanistan was occupied by the former Soviet Union. The cornerstone of Adeena’s career has been the creation of the Afghan Women's Organization in 1990, which has helped countless girls and women both in Canada and in Afghanistan to become empowered citizens of the global community. Under her leadership, the organization has supported newcomer women and their families, especially refugees who have experienced war and violence. The AWO, as one of only a few settlement agencies in Canada that are also a sponsorship agreement holder, has sponsored and successfully settled thousands of refugees. Adeena served as an elected member of the NGO/Government Committee on Private Sponsorship for 4 terms and has been a board member of several organizations serving newcomer communities. In partnership with a group of prominent Canadian women, she founded the "National Coalition in Support of Afghan Women" and has advocated for the human rights of Afghan women at international conferences. Adeena contributed to the drafting of the Brussels Proclamation during the Brussels summit of Afghan Women Leaders.
Adeena also had the extraordinary opportunity of developing initiatives in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan including establishing and managing home-based educational programs, creating trainings, income-generating initiatives, and opening an orphanage for young girls. She was elected to the Loya Jirga, which was the council charged with the responsibility of designing a new Afghan government after the fall of the Taliban, and led to the government of Hamid Karzai.
For her years of service and dedication to humanitarian work, Adeena has received numerous awards over the span of her long career, including Ontario's highest honor, the Order of Ontario; Leading Women, the Persons Award by LEAF, the Legal Education Action Fund; and the YWCA's Women of Distinction Award for global action for women's rights and was made McLean Magazine's Honor Roll as one of Ten Canadians Who Have Made a Difference in 2002.
Nuzhat Jafri
Nuzhat Jafri is the Executive Director (ED) of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW) and has served as President and long-time national board member and volunteer with the Council. She also serves on the board of directors of The Pluralist Foundation and has served as chair and member of several other non-profit boards, including the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, ACCES Employment, and South Asian Family Support Services. Nuzhat has wide-ranging leadership experience in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. She served as the Executive Director of the Office of the Fairness Commissioner from 2007 to 2017. Her experience spans leadership roles in policy, communications, human resources, and legislative and regulatory compliance. She is an untiring advocate for human rights, equity, inclusion and accessibility. She has a B.A. in French language and literature from the University of Toronto and a Master’s from the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Western Ontario. She lives in Toronto and enjoys being a grandmother among many of her occupations.
Shinkai Karokhail
Miss Karokhail is a well-known women’s rights activist who served as a member of the Afghan parliament for 15 years. Then appointed as Afghan ambassador to Canada. She was also the Director of the Afghan Women’s Education Center (AWEC) for four years, besides being a member of the Afghan Women’s Network (AWN). Shinkai Karokhail initiated a nation-wide campaign, “Let’s Fight Against Cancer”, along with other prominent figures and medical professionals in Afghanistan. Her efforts, with the support of Afghanistan’s first lady, Mrs. Rula Ghani, resulted in establishing the first Afghanistan Cancer Foundation (ACF), and an Oncology Ward at Jamhooriat Public Hospital in Kabul, October 2016.
During her tenure as a parliamentarian, Miss Karokhail, with the help of her colleagues and women’s rights activists, established Women Parliamentary Caucus. Their collective efforts made it possible to have the National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA) approved by the government. Also, she was part of a team drafting the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) Law which was ultimately enacted by a Presidential Decree in 2009. Likewise, Shinkai Karokhail was behind major amendments to 50 articles related to the Shiite Personal Status Law.
Miss Karokhail has received several prestigious awards from national and international organizations for her efforts to advance women’s rights since 1990. She received an award from the first lady of Afghanistan and the Ministry of Public Health in relation to fighting against cancer in October 2016. In May 2014, Miss Karokhail received the Malalai Kakar Human Rights Award from the Queens-based Women for Afghan Women organization. Also in August 2014, the Afghan American Women’s Association (AAWA), based in Virginia, granted her a Humanitarian Award for the promotion of women’s rights in Afghanistan. In September 2012, EastWest Institute, a U.S-based NGO presented a joint award for Value-based Leadership to Miss Karokhail and Dr. Fehmida Mirza, Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan. Moreover, on International Anti-Corruption Day, the Civil Society Coordination Center (CSCC) bestowed Miss Karokhail with an Anti-Corruption Award in December 2015. Her outstanding efforts for the promotion of women’s rights were also appreciated by several media outlets, including a famous TV channel, AREZO in the north of Afghanistan in 2013.
Finally Miss Karokhail became the member of parliament for the third time from Kabul province. She is also the chairperson and founder of Afghan parliamentary women caucus 2007 and 2019.