Asila Wardak

Focus Areas

Asila Wardak is a human rights and women’s rights activist, former Afghan diplomat, board member of the Women’s Forum on Afghanistan and founding member of Women’s Unity for Change.

Asila is an Independent Human Rights Commissioner at the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). She also served as a Fellow at Harvard University. Asila served as Minister Counselor at the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations, Director General of UN Affairs in Afghanistan and Director General of Human Rights in the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

She has extensive work experience in the fields of gender studies, human rights, peacebuilding, and community development. She has also served in senior positions with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UNDP, UN Women, UNAMA, CARE International and the Canada Fund in various leadership roles.

Asila is committed to protecting human and women’s rights, and empowering civil society. She was one of the female delegates who participated actively in the Bonn I Conference, where the new government of Afghanistan was established after the collapse of the Taliban in 2001. She was also one of the Afghan delegates to the first Doha Peace Talks in Qatar in 2019, representing the Afghan government during the peace negotiations and talks with the Taliban.

Asila received a master’s degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, USA. She contributed to many national and international policies, laws and strategies for refugees and returnees, as well as women’s inclusion, protection and promotion in leadership and politics. Asila has also supported women-led NGOs and organizations and enhanced their
capacities.