Sultana Tafadar hopes to empower and educate young women through new international organisation
A hijab-wearing criminal barrister, believed to be one of the first to be appointed a KC, has launched a new international organisation which aims teach women about their human rights.
In March 2022, Legal Cheek covered Sultana Tafadar’s monumental achievement of becoming the first hijab-wearing criminal barrister to secure the title of KC (King’s Counsel).
The ‘Girls Human Rights Hub’ has its own trailblazing inspiration in the form of Tafadar’s 11-year-old daughter Safiya, who “came up with the idea to create a hub where girls could learn more about their rights and how to claim them”.
Acting as a non-profit organisation, the hub’s central purpose is to educate young women aged 11 to 24 on their rights and advocacy, and to equip them with the resources and knowledge needed to create greater gender equity. Specifically, it aims are to reduce gender-based violence, to improve menstrual equity, and to advocate for the rights to education and domestic and sexual safety.
The organisation will also support young women who aspire to be human rights lawyers, by teaching them how litigation can help in achieving gender equity.
Speaking to PA News, Tafadar explained that the hub is premised on “the belief that every girl is entitled to a life free from oppression, discrimination, and violence, and that girls’ rights are fundamental human rights.”
By encouraging young women to learn about, and be involved in, the advocacy and policy that affects these fundamental rights, Tafadar hopes the hub will help create a “world where every girl can achieve her full potential”.
And whilst the career of human rights lawyer might be some time away yet, Safiya says she’s “so excited” to helping young women “fight for their human rights now”.