Malalai Joya
Malalai Joya is one of the most popular Members of Parliament in Afghanistan and often takes a stand against the ex-Mujahideen fighters who dominate the country's new assembly. Born in 1979, she is currently the youngest member of the Afghani Parliament. Joya was 4 years old when her family fled Afghanistan in 1982 to the refugee camps of Iran and then Pakistan. She finished her education in Pakistan and began teaching literacy courses to other women at age 19. After the Soviets left, Joya returned to Afghanistan in 1998 during the Taliban's reign. During that time she established an orphanage and health clinic, and was soon a vocal opponent of the Taliban.
Joya is also director of the non-governmental group, Organization for the Promotion of Afghan Women's Capabilities. Malalai Joya rose to fame in December 2003 when, as an elected delegate to the Constitutional Loya Jirga, she spoke out publicly against the domination of warlords. The chief of the Loya Jirga called her an "infidel" and "communist." Since then she has survived four assassination attempts, and travels in Afghanistan under a burqa and with armed guards.
In 2005 she was elected to the 249-seat National Assembly, or Wolesi Jirga, as a representative of Farah Province. Malalai won the second highest number of votes in the province. Although Joya receives numerous death threats and her home has been bombed, she chooses to remain primarily in Afghanistan. She tirelessly presses her case against the former rulers of her nation, and she's making inroads. In 2004, she and a delegation of 50 tribal elders persuaded President Karzai to dismiss a provincial governor who was a former Taliban commander. According to Human Rights Watch "... up to 60% of deputies in the lower house, are directly or indirectly connected to current and past human rights abuses." The BBC has called Joya "the most famous woman in Afghanistan." She told the BBC: "They will kill me but they will not kill my voice, because it will be the voice of all Afghan women. You can cut the flower, but you cannot stop the coming of spring."
In 2004, the Valle d'Aosta province of Italy awarded her the International Women of the Year Award. In 2006, she received the Gwangju Award for Human Rights in South Korea, and the Women's Peacepower Foundation Women of Peace award . She was also among the "1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005" |
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