The Evolving Situation in Afghanistan and Canada's Role
What is Canada's role in Afghanistan? A panel discussion featuring Senator Ratna Omidvar and
journalists Lotfullah Najafizada & Parwiz Kawa.
Since seizing control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban have implemented several rules and policies that infringed upon the fundamental rights of women and girls. Restrictions on their freedom of movement, the right to work and earn a living, and their ability to access education and healthcare have become the norm.
Additionally, the Taliban authorities have cracked down on independent media outlets and individuals who criticized their rule, resulting in the closure of civil society organizations and the dismantling of government offices intended to promote and safeguard human rights.
Senator Ratna Omidvar, media specialist and activist Parwiz Kawa, and award-winning journalist Lotfullah Najafizada will discuss––in conversation with CIC Toronto's Mustafa Aryan––Canada’s role in Afghanistan amid mass human rights violations.
As a liberal democracy committed to multilateralism and fundamental human rights, Canada has the ability to denounce violations in Afghanistan. The problem, however, is whether government, civil society organizations, and academia can match rhetoric with action. What is the best path forward?
Please join us for this timely and much-needed discussion.
About the Speakers
Senator Ratna Omidvar is an internationally recognized voice on migration, diversity and inclusion. She was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2016, where she currently chairs the Senate’s Social Affairs, Health and Technology Committee and is the Vice-President of the Canada-Germany Interparliamentary Group. Senator Omidvar previously served as Deputy Chair of the Special Senate Committee on the Charitable Sector. Outside the Senate, she is a Director at the Century Initiative, a Councillor on the World Refugee and Migration Council, and a Founding Committee Member of Lifeline Afghanistan.
Lotfullah Najafizada is an Afghan journalist with Amu TV, an international media outlet for Afghanistan founded after the fall of Kabul in August 2021. At Amu, Najafizada and his colleagues are trying to revitalize the free press in Afghanistan by connecting Afghan journalists overseas with those who are inside the country and providing free and unbiased reporting for the people of Afghanistan. Najafizada is the recipient of One Young World's Journalist of the Year Award (2022) and Reporters Without Borders' Medal of Press Freedom Hero (2016). TIME Magazine profiled him as a Next Generation Global Leader in 2016 and Forbes magazine selected him among the 30 under 30 Asia influencers in media in 2017.
Parwiz Kawa is a media specialist, activist and journalist. He is a founding member and Executive Director of Hasht-Subh Daily, the largest newspaper in Afghanistan. During the years 2021 to 2023, he also served as the News Editor at Afghanistan International TV, a 24/7 news channel in Washington D.C. He is also a winner of the Journalist of Courage and Impact award by East-West-Centre in 2018 and 2022. He has over 20 years of experience working with different monthly journals, radios, TVs and newspapers. He holds a master’s degree in Peace, Security and International Development Studies from the University of Innsbruck, Austria.
About the Moderator
Mustafa Aryan sits on the Executive Committee at the Canadian International Council—Toronto Branch. He is a project manager at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. Until the collapse of the Afghan government in August 2021, Aryan worked as the Director of Regional and International Affairs at the High Council for National Reconciliation of Afghanistan. He is a Salzburg Global Seminar Fellow and often writes op-eds in English and Persian. Mustafa holds a master's degree in International Security from the University of Reading in the UK.
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