Afghanistan LAWA Fellow 2002-2003 L.L.B., Kabul University L.L.M., Georgetown University Law Center Senior Human Rights Advisor Women’s Rights Under Islam USAID Afghanistan Rule of Law Project Kabul, Afghanistan Work Phone: +93 (0) 797-253-874 Work Email: belquis@arolp.org

Profile:

Since 2004, Ms. Ahmadi has been the senior Afghan advisor to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), The Asia Foundation and the United Nations on Election related issues in Pakistan, Jordan and Afghanistan. In addition, Ms. Ahmadi is currently working as a consultant with the Asia Foundation/Asian Development Bank on a project called Legal Empowerment and Economic Development for Women and Disadvantaged Groups, centered in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan. She has just recently completed a project in Afghanistan, assessing the current Afghan women’s situation for Management System International (MSI).

She has recently accepted an offer from MSI as their Senior Legal Expert in Afghanistan to work on the promotion of women’s human rights.

LAWA Experience:

During her LAWA fellowship, Ms. Ahmadi completed her graduate thesis, entitled “Muslim Women in Leadership: Focus on Afghanistan,” in April, 2003. Throughout, her fellowship, Ms. Ahmadi continued her work for the Global Rights Partners for Justice and completed an internship with the International Human Rights Law Group. She gave a number of presentations with a focus on promoting women’s human rights in different forums in D.C. She organized a conference on Women, Law and Justice in Kabul soon after her graduation with the participation of Afghan Civil Society representatives and legal and Muslim scholars from other Muslim countries.

Additional Experience:

Ms. Ahmadi helped found the Afghan Women's Network in Kabul and worked for several NGOs on behalf of women in the early 1990s. She spent several years working for the International Committee of the Red Cross and CARE International in Kabul and then worked in Peshawar, Pakistan with Afghan women activists and refugees.

From 2000-2004, Ms. Ahmadi was a program coordinator for Global Rights Partners for Justice, in which capacity she was responsible for managing the Afghanistan program, designing and conducting trainings for attorneys and judges to build capacity on fair trials, legislative advocacy, and establishing Global Rights’ office in Kabul, among many other additional duties.

She served as co-editor of the Afghan Mosaic from 1998-2000. In 2003 she became the Afghanistan and Pakistan program coordinator for the International Human Rights Law Group and worked on the Iraqi election in Jordan in 2005.

In 2005, Ms. Ahmadi acted as Senior Advisor to the International Organization for Migration/United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan in Pakistan, assisting the Director of the Out of Country Registration and Voting Program in negotiations with refugee camps elders to allow women’s participation in the registration and voting process and increasing media attention for women’s right to vote.

Also in 2005, she acted as principal advisor to the Chief Electoral Officer of Afghanistan in the Joint Electoral Management Body Secretariat, providing legal and policy analysis regarding parliamentary elections and managing relationships with the President’s office, other governmental bodies, and political parties.

Publications:

“Know Your Rights”, Global Rights. February 2004. (English and Dari languages. Translated into Pashtu).

“Human Rights Defenders: Conference Report”, Global Rights. January 2004. (English and Dari languages. Translated into Pashtu).

“Women’s Rights Law and Justice. Conference report”, International Human Rights Law Group. July 2003. (English and Dari languages. Translated into Pashtu).

“Harassment of Women”, International Human Rights Law Group, 2003. (English and Dari. Translated into Pashtu)

“Filling the Vacuum: Prerequisites to Security in Afghanistan”. International Human Rights Law Group, American Bar Association, International Resources Group and International Foundation for Election Systems, 2002.

“Reality Gap in Afghanistan: Despite rosy reports, women’s rights remain wishful thinking”, Editorial. Washington Post July 8, 2002.

“We Have Already Suffered 20 Years of War”, The Progressive November 2001.