Palwasha Hassan

Palwasha Hassan
پلوشہ حسن
Hassan in July 2022
Personal details
Born1969 (age 55–56)
Kabul, Afghanistan
OccupationWomen's rights activist, peace activist

Palwasha Hassan (Pashto: پلوشہ حسن, born 1969 in Kabul, Afghanistan)[1] is an Afghan women's rights and peace activist and former politician. She was the founder and executive director of the Kabul-based non-profit Afghan Women's Educational Center, founded in 1991.[2]

Palwasha Hassan was one of 100 women delegates at the 2003 loya jirga that formed the new constitution.[3] She contributed to the increase of women's representation in state affairs in the 2004 constitution, and other articles in it.[4] In January 2010, Palwasha Hassan was picked to be the minister of women's affairs in the Karzai administration, but did not receive enough votes in the House of the People to assume office.[5][6]

She holds a master's degree in Post-war Recovery Studies from the University of York.[7][8][9]

In 2022 Hassan was the US Institute of Peace's Jennings Randolph Afghanistan Fellow. She was employed as their "Director for Rights and Democracy" for Afghanistan.[9]

Awards

Discussion about "Engaging Afghan Women and Civil Society in U.S. Policymaking" in 2022. Left to right: Hassan, Asila Wardak, Naheed Sarabi and Rina Amiri

Palwasha Hassan was one of 1,000 women nominees for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. She was also one of 11 Afghan women who were jointly finalists in the 2021 Sakharov Prize, the European Parliament's annual human rights prize,[10][4] which was given that year to Alexei Navalny.[11]

In December 2021 she was awarded the Hillary Rodham Clinton Award for her efforts in promoting women's rights and peace.[4]

References

  1. ^ "Palwasha Hassan". PeaceWomen Across the Globe. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  2. ^ "Palwasha Hassan - Executive Director of the Afghan Women's Education Centre". 16 March 2021.
  3. ^ "World People's Blog » Blog Archive » Palwasha Hassan – Afghanistan".
  4. ^ a b c Sail, Abdul Raqeeb (2021-12-07). "Palwasha wins award for promoting women's rights". Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  5. ^ Motevalli, Golnar (2010-01-12). "Afghan women praise Karzai's female cabinet picks". Reuters. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  6. ^ Price, Amanda (2010-01-18). "Afghan Women in Politics". dw.com. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  7. ^ "In the words of Palwasha Hassan: "The time is now to transform that suffering into our strength"". UN Women – Asia-Pacific. 2018-11-13. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  8. ^ "Our Team". Onward for Afghan Women. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  9. ^ a b "Palwasha Hassan". Middle East Institute. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  10. ^ "Sakharov Prize 2021: the finalists". Topics | European Parliament. 2021-10-14. Retrieved 2024-05-14.
  11. ^ Emmott, Robin (20 October 2021). "Kremlin critic Navalny wins EU rights prize for his "immense bravery"". Reuters. Retrieved 20 October 2021.