She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.
Born in 1939 in Kabul, Benazir Hotaki attended Malalai School in Kabul. After her graduation from high school, she traveled to Australia where she obtained a BA in Education from the University of Queensland. Upon completion of her degree, she returned to Afghanistan and served as an educator in several schools. She is one of the few women who were able to study abroad. Hotaki was also involved in the reconciliation process between the government and different opposition groups in the years 1985-1986 … (1000peacewomen).
She says: « As an advocate of the women’s rights movement in Afghanistan, I am very optimistic about the future of the country ».
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Benazir Hotaki – Afghanistan
She works for the Ministry of Information and Culture MIC. Its contact.
She says also: » … We’re caged, » says Benazir Hotaki, former principal of a Kabul high school. « All doors are closed to us. All we can do is cook. We’re not human beings any longer. We only eat, drink, and sleep, like animals »… (full long text).
After the completion of her degree, Hotaki returned to Afghanistan and was appointed as a teacher in Malalai School. She also served as the headmistress and principle of several schools in Kabul. During her career as an educator, she was awarded numerous medals of Honor, certificates and commendations, including four times ‘the teacher of the year’ and once ‘the mother of the year’. She also represented Afghanistan on sixteen occasions as the cultural and political emissary of the country.
In 2003 Hotaki represented the Ministry of Information and Culture in an educational seminar in Tokyo, Japan. As a pioneer of women’s movement in the country, she has published extensively in different academic journals. She continued her activities and advocacy of peace and reconciliation between warring factions during the brutal Taliban regime, when women were banned from education and employment. Hotaki was eventually forced to seek refuge in Pakistan, and to continue her activities in exile.
Currently she serves as a member and head of the Council of Media at the Ministry of Information and Culture. Her main aim is to encourage women to take part in the peace efforts and reconstruction process in Afghanistan, two key elements she always emphasizes in workshops and meetings. She also props equal rights of women in both social and political spheres. (1000peacewomen).
… Such plays met with mixed reviews and Benazir Hotaki in the Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs remembers that audiences were often loud in their approval or disdain … (full text).
… En la capital afgana, Kabul, el evento organizado por el ACNUR y por el Ministerio de Refugiados y Repatriación el 6 de marzo para celebrar el día de las mujeres, dio inicio con canciones de niños afganos. En sus palabras de bienvenida, el jefe de operaciones del ACNUR en Afganistán, Filippo Grandi, hizo un llamado para obtener una mayor participación de las mujeres en la toma de decisiones en el Ministerio Afgano para Refugiados y Repatriación. También instó a las mujeres refugiadas a apoyar el trabajo del ACNUR y a asegurarse que cada mujer retornada se beneficie de los programas de asistencia de la agencia. « Me encuentro muy contenta de haber sido invitada a esta reunión después de tanto tiempo », dijo la maestra afgana Benazir Hotaki, de 40 años de edad. « En los últimos años, especialmente durante los 5 últimos, las mujeres en Afganistán han experimentado los periodos más oscuros de sus vidas: » Las mujeres afganas no podían creer que podrían regresar a las escuelas, las universidades y las oficinas junto a sus hermanos, dijo Hotaki, quien lamentó, « sin embargo, que las mujeres en nuestra sociedad tienen todavía que recibir la completa atención que merecen, ya que todavía están lejos de tomar parte en los asuntos nacionales » … (full text).
links:
the book: Women of the Afghan War, by Deborah Ellis (probably the mentionned Benazir Hotaki is not our peacewoman). Find this book also on amazon (Temporarily out of stock there … order now and we’ll deliver when available);
AN INTRODUCTION TO THEATRE TODAY IN CENTRAL ASIA AND AFGHANISTAN, November 2005, Updated version February 2007, 79 pdf-pages;
Relevance of Culture and the Arts in Attaining Global Peace and Development, January 11, 2008;
Media seminar in Afghanistan, Sept. 25, 2002;
Documents of the Second Afro-Asian Women’s Conference, 13-18 August, 1972;
Institute for the Study of Violent Groups ISVG;
HISTORY IN THE NEWS (a good general homepage). But here put this link in your browser, you will reach: NOV. 17 2006- DARFUR, SUDAN AGREES TO AU PEACEKEEPERS. Then scroll more down to: JANUARY 7, 2007- THE TALIBAN CONSIDER A WINTER OFFENSIVE (yes, a bit complicated, this blog managment).