Freshta Karim

Last updated

Freshta Karim
Founder and director of Charmaghz
Personal details
Born (1992-04-05) 5 April 1992 (age 31)
Kabul, Afghanistan
Alma mater Somerville College (University of Oxford)
Panjab University


Freshta Karim (born 5 April 1992) is an Afghan children's rights activist and television presenter. She is the founder and director of Charmaghz, a Kabul-based NGO dedicated to promoting the education of children in Afghanistan.

Contents

Early life and career

Karim was born in Kabul, in 1992, about three weeks before the beginning of the Civil War. She spent her early life in Pakistan as a refugee before returning to Kabul. At the age of 12, she contacted a local television channel and was hired as a presenter for a program dedicated to children. During her teens, she worked for various local radio and television channels.

Karim studied Political Science at Panjab University, after which she completed a Master's degree in Public Policy at the University of Oxford (Somerville College).

After completing her studies in 2016, Karim returned to Afghanistan and founded Charmaghz, [1] a Kabul-based NGO dedicated to promoting education, literacy, and critical thinking in children, in a country traumatized by decades of war. The organization transforms disused public buses into mobile libraries, where children learn how to read and write, take part in artistic activities, and listen to stories. [2]

After the Fall of Kabul in August 2021, Karim sought asylum in the United Kingdom, where she currently resides. On November 17, 2021, Karim made an address at the UN Security Council where she declared: “We need to make the effort to see the human in others, hear their suffering and their stories…Today I start this journey by declaring that no one is an enemy.” [3]

Until 2023, Karim served as a senior advisor for the Malala Fund. [4] In 2023, she was elected as a board member for BBC Media Action. [5]

Recognitions and awards

In 2019, Karim was awarded the Max-Herrmann-Preis, [6] and was featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 selection. [7] In 2021, she was featured in the BBC 100 Women [8] and was one of the finalists for the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize [9] (granted that year to Alexei Navalny), along with ten other Afghan women.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treatment of women by the Taliban</span> The rights of women in Taliban controlled places

The treatment of women by the Taliban refers to actions and policies by various Taliban regimes which are either specific or highly commented upon, mostly due to discrimination, since they first took control in 1996. During their first rule of Afghanistan (1996–2001), the Taliban were notorious internationally for their misogyny and violence against women. In 1996, women were mandated to wear the burqa at all times in public. In a systematic segregation sometimes referred to as gender apartheid, women were not allowed to work, nor were they allowed to be educated after the age of eight. Women seeking an education were forced to attend underground schools, where they and their teachers risked execution if caught. They were not allowed to be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a male chaperone, which led to illnesses remaining untreated. They faced public flogging and execution for violations of the Taliban's laws.

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, commonly known as the Sakharov Prize, is an honorary award for individuals or groups who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought. Named after Russian scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, the prize was established in December 1988 by the European Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farhad Darya</span> Afghan singer, writer, and composer

Farhad Darya is an Afghan singer, composer, music producer, and philanthropist. Active since the 1980s, Darya has been one of the most renowned and influential Afghan pop musicians of the modern era, contributing to establishing new wave in Afghanistan and blending urban and rural styles. Darya's career has spanned multiple genres - including semi-classical ghazal, pop, folk, and rock - as well as both his native languages Dari Persian and Pashto as well as Uzbek, Hindi and English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyse Doucet</span> Canadian journalist and television presenter

Lyse Marie Doucet is a Canadian journalist who is the BBC's Chief International Correspondent and senior presenter. She presents on BBC World Service radio and BBC World News television, and also reports for BBC Radio 4 and BBC News in the United Kingdom. She also makes and presents documentaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Afghanistan</span> Overview of education in Afghanistan

Education in Afghanistan includes K–12 and higher education, which is under the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education. In 2021, there were nearly 10 million students and 220,000 teachers in Afghanistan. The nation still requires more schools and teachers. Soon after the Taliban takeover of the country in August 2021, they banned girls from secondary education. Some provinces still allow secondary education for girls despite the ban. In December 2022, the Taliban government also prohibited university education for females in Afghanistan, sparking protests and international condemnation.

Sally Jane Sara AM, is an Australian journalist and TV presenter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christina Lamb</span> British journalist and author

Christina Lamb OBE is a British journalist and author. She is the chief foreign correspondent of The Sunday Times.

The mass media in Afghanistan is monitored by the Ministry of Information and Culture (MoIC), and includes broadcasting, digital and printing. It is mainly in Dari and Pashto, the official languages of the nation. It was reported in 2019 that Afghanistan had over 107 TV stations and 284 radio stations, including 100s of print media and over 1,800 online media outlets. After the return of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) in 2021, there was a concern that the mass media will significantly decrease in the country. The number of digital media outlets is steadily increasing with the help of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and other such online platforms. IEA's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid suggested that the media should be in line with Sharia and national interests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afghanistan women's national football team</span> Womens national association football team representing Afghanistan

The Afghanistan women's national football team was the women's national team of Afghanistan until the fall of Kabul in 2021. They played under the authority the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yalda Hakim</span> Australian journalist (born 1983)

Yalda Hakim is an Australian broadcast journalist, news presenter, and documentary maker. She was one of the chief presenters at BBC News broadcasting in English in the UK and globally. After her family left Afghanistan and settled in Australia in 1986, she grew up in the western Sydney suburb of Parramatta and went on to study journalism. She started her career at SBS Television, moving to BBC TV in 2012. In July 2023, it was announced that she was leaving the BBC to join Sky News.

Television in Afghanistan started broadcasting in August 1978, flourishing until the 1990s, when hostilities in the capital Kabul destroyed broadcasting infrastructure. Between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban government outlawed television, though some stations in areas outside Taliban control continued to broadcast. After their removal, country-wide television broadcasting was resumed beginning with the government-run channel Afghanistan National Television. It was reported that Afghanistan currently has over 200 local and international television channels, 96 in Kabul and 107 in other provinces of the country. In 2014, the country commenced a switch from analog to digital TV transmission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malala Yousafzai</span> Pakistani education activist and Nobel laureate (born 1997)

Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani female education activist and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate at the age of 17. She is the world's youngest Nobel Prize laureate, the second Pakistani and the first Pashtun to receive a Nobel Prize. Yousafzai is a human rights advocate for the education of women and children in her native homeland, Swat, where the Pakistani Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. Her advocacy has grown into an international movement, and according to former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, she has become Pakistan's "most prominent citizen."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy Dowden</span> Welsh dancer (born 1990)

Amy Dowden is a Welsh professional ballroom and Latin American dancer from Caerphilly, Wales, best known for her appearances on the BBC One television show Strictly Come Dancing. Dowden joined the series in 2017, and in 2019, she was a finalist in the seventeenth series with TV presenter Karim Zeroual. Dowden and her partner Ben Jones are former British National Latin Dance Champions. She has the Guinness World Record for the most back-Charleston kick-steps in 30 seconds (2022). She has a twin sister and an older brother.

Secunder Kermani is a British journalist who is Foreign Correspondent for Channel 4 News. Kermani is a former BBC correspondent in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He was previously a reporter on the BBC's flagship current affairs programme Newsnight.

Sam Mort is currently Chief of Communication, Advocacy and Civic Engagement for UNICEF Afghanistan, based in Kabul. Officially based in New York, she is currently 'one of the few Westerners left' after evacuations from Kabul. Afghanistan is in the midst of a Taliban offensive, where the insurgents have now taken over from the elected government. She previously announced that Unicef had made a historic deal to have girls educated in the Taliban-controlled areas of the country in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fall of Kabul (2021)</span> Taliban capture of the capital of Afghanistan

On 15 August 2021, Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul was captured by the Taliban after a major insurgent offensive that began in May 2021. It was the final action of the War in Afghanistan, and marked a total victory for the Taliban. This led to the overthrowing of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan under President Ashraf Ghani and the reinstatement of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban.

MahboubaSeraj is an Afghan journalist and women's right activist.

Shaharzad Akbar is an Afghan human rights activist who served as the chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission until the beginning of 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palwasha Hassan</span> Afghan womens rights activist

Palwasha Hassan is an Afghan women's rights activist, 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.

Events in the year 2023 in Afghanistan.

References

  1. "Charmaghz Executive Team". Charmaghz.org. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  2. "Mobile Libraries". Charmarghz.org. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  3. "Alumna Freshta Karim addresses UN Security Council on Afghanistan Conflict". www.some.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  4. "The children's rights activist writes at the invitation of Malala Yousafzai". assembly.malala.org.
  5. "Freshta Karim". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  6. "Max-Herrmann-Preis 2019 an Freshta Karim (Kabul) und Bara'a Al-Bayati (Bagdad)". www.freunde-sbb.de.
  7. "Freshta Karim". www.forbes.com. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  8. "BBC 100 Women 2021: Who is on the list this year?". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  9. "Sakharov Prize 2021: the finalists". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 26 September 2023.