Roqia Samim
Global Human Rights Research Fellow
Global Human Rights Clinic
Email: rsamim@nd.edu
Roqia is currently concentrating her work on our pipeline of research projects at the United Nations. She also works as a senior research associate for Notre Dame Law School’s LL.M. Program in International Human Rights Law and leads the program’s institutional collaboration with the Afghan Peace and Development Program at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for Peace Studies. She holds a graduate degree from Notre Dame Law School, Class of 2022 LL.M. in International Human Rights Law, and obtained her law degree from Law and Political Science Faculty of Herat University, Afghanistan in 2014.
While in law school, she participated in the Global Right’s Young Lawyers-in-Training Program. After graduation, she participated in the Women Leadership Development (WLD) program, leading a volunteer group to provide basic health services for girls’ schools in Herat province’s remote areas. She worked as Human Rights Volunteer in Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) assisting in promotion of human rights and advocating for victims and survivors of human rights violations in Herat Province. In 2018, she worked as Provincial Coordinator for the Women Leadership Development (WLD) program in Herat province enhancing 1,000 young women’s leadership skills and supporting them to have an active role in the community. Samim served as a United Nations Young Volunteer in the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). As Associate Political Affairs Officer in UNAMA Herat Field Office she supported Sustainable Development Goals for Gender Equality and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions in the western region of Afghanistan. After serving two years as a United Nations Volunteer, she started her work in UNAMA’s Human Rights Services as Human Rights Assistant promoting human rights in the western region of Afghanistan as well as monitoring, fact-finding, investigation and reporting on human rights and international humanitarian law violations in the western region of Afghanistan. Recently, Roqia wrote a policy brief, “The State of Women’s Rights and Freedoms after the Taliban Take-Over: Afghan Women Face the Worst Human and Women’s Rights Crisis in the World.”