Shukufa Tahiri, 25, was selected for the month-long meeting through an open application by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
Tahiri says that unlike the usual symbolic celebrations of International Women’s Day, this year she will celebrate by participating in the UNHRC’s meeting, learning from the others and empowering herself.
“I think the most meaningful celebration is to be active shoulder-to-shoulder with women and men from all over the world,” she says.
Tahiri and her family fled Afghanistan in 1999 to take refuge in Pakistan. After six years, the family reunited with Tahiri’s father who had been accepted as a refugee in Australia. She gained Australian citizenship in 2010.
Shukufa is selected as one of the two Australian civil society’s representatives for the United Nations Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) annual meeting for 2019. Source: Supplied
As a 12-year-old girl, Tahiri knew that she had come to Australia from “a war-torn country full of violation of human rights,” and she should use every opportunity to become a defender of human rights.
When she finished high school, she wasn’t sure what to study at university because she had enjoyed most subjects at school. She began studying psychology, but after a year she came to realise it wasn’t suited to her, so she changed to law and economy.
Her interest in politics and human rights lead her to be more active outside of her studies, and Tahiri began to work voluntarily with refugee and migrant advocacy organisations.
Soon after, in her first ever job application, she was appointed as a Policy Assistant and in the following year she was promoted to a Policy Officer position at the Refugee Council of Australia.
in 2018, she was selected as one of the Australian Financial Review’s Top 100 Women of Influence. Source: Supplied
On International Women’s Day in 2017, Tahiri was named one of 15 Australian women championing human rights by and, in 2018, she continued to shine as she was selected as one of the .
She is due to graduate from the Western Sydney University this year.
Tahiri believes the Australian Afghan community is a ‘toddler’ community which is yet to settle the balance between the role of women and men, and with many members still confused about their precise place in Australian society.
“I think this compromise and peace between the traditional roles and modern roles in Australian society is a great challenge [for Australian Afghans] which the whole community should work on. It’s not just women’s responsibility,” she says.
In an open society like Australia, women’s financial and social dependency to men is another challenge for Australian-Afghan women, says Tahiri. To remove these obstacles, she believes the community’s approach towards women should change and the women themselves should study hard to tackle the issue of financial dependency by working alongside men.
The United Nations Human Rights Council’s session 40 is held from 25 February to 22 March 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland. Source: Supplied
“We should think that when women improve, all improve. Women’s active role is key to our community’s improvements,” she says. “From a social perspective, it’s time for a change in views about women”.
The young human rights advocate says she can’t even imagine the extent of Afghan women’s fear of the Taliban’s comeback amid the Afghan peace process.
She says the insurgent group’s policy towards women has not changed and she is not sure whether the resurgence is the beginning of a peaceful era or the violation of women’s rights.
The United Nations Human Rights Council’s meeting room Source: UN Human Rights Council Facebook
“I fear from going back to the era of terror and whipping by Taliban.”
The Taliban has repeatedly said that the group will respect women’s right within the ‘Sharia framework’, but few know if that is the same framework used during the late 1990s regime, or a newer perspective.
