Freshta Karim
{{Short description|Children's rights activist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Freshta Karim
| image =
| office1 = Founder and director of Charmaghz
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1992|4|5|df=y}}
| birth_place = Kabul, Afghanistan
| death_date =
| death_place =
| alma_mater = Somerville College (University of Oxford)
Panjab University
| occupation = Children's rights activist, television presenter
| awards = Max-Herrmann-Preis (2019), Forbes 30 Under 30 (2019), BBC 100 Women (2021)
}}
Freshta Karim (born 5 April 1992) is an Afghan children's rights activist and television presenter. She is the founder and director of Charmaghz, a Kabul-based NGO dedicated to promoting children's education in Afghanistan.
Early life and career
Karim was born in Kabul, in 1992, about three weeks before the beginning of the Civil War. She spent her early life in Pakistan as a refugee before returning to Kabul. At the age of 12, she contacted a local television channel and was hired as a presenter for a program dedicated to children. During her teens, she worked for various local radio and television channels.
Karim studied Political Science at Panjab University, after which she completed a Master's degree in Public Policy at the University of Oxford (Somerville College).
After completing her studies in 2016, Karim returned to Afghanistan and founded an NGO, Charmaghz,{{cite web |title=Charmaghz Executive Team |url=https://charmaghz.org/aboutus/ |website=Charmaghz.org |access-date=26 September 2023 |archive-date=26 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926104336/https://charmaghz.org/aboutus/ |url-status=dead }} to promote education, literacy, and critical thinking among children, in a country traumatized by decades of war. The organization transforms disused public buses into mobile libraries, where children learn how to read and write, take part in artistic activities, and listen to stories.{{cite web |title=Mobile Libraries |url=https://charmaghz.org/mobilelibraries/ |website=Charmarghz.org |access-date=26 September 2023 |archive-date=26 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926104336/https://charmaghz.org/mobilelibraries/ |url-status=dead }}
After the Fall of Kabul in August 2021, Karim sought asylum in the United Kingdom, where she currently resides. On November 17, 2021, Karim made an address at the UN Security Council where she declared: “We need to make the effort to see the human in others, hear their suffering and their stories…Today I start this journey by declaring that no one is an enemy.”{{cite web |title=Alumna Freshta Karim addresses UN Security Council on Afghanistan Conflict |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/news/oicsd-scholar-freshta-karim-addresses-un-security-council-on-afghanistan-conflict/ |website=www.some.ox.ac.uk |date=3 December 2021 |access-date=26 September 2023}}
Until 2023, Karim served as a senior advisor for the Malala Fund.{{cite web |last=Karim |first=Freshta |date=7 March 2022 |title=Freshta Karim on how to change the lives of Afghanistan's women |url=https://assembly.malala.org/stories/freshta-karim-on-how-to-change-the-lives-of-afghanistans-women |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=assembly.malala.org}} In 2023, she was elected as a board member for BBC Media Action.{{cite web |title=Freshta Karim |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/about/management-and-trustees/freshta-karim |website=www.bbc.co.uk |access-date=26 September 2023}}
Recognitions and awards
In 2019, Karim was awarded the Max-Herrmann-Preis,{{cite web |title=Max-Herrmann-Preis 2019 an Freshta Karim (Kabul) und Bara'a Al-Bayati (Bagdad) |url=https://www.freunde-sbb.de/maxherrmann-preis/2019-freshta-karim-baraa-al-bayati/ |website=www.freunde-sbb.de}} and was featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 selection.{{cite web |title=Freshta Karim |url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/freshta-karim/ |website=www.forbes.com |access-date=26 September 2023}} In 2021, she was featured in the BBC 100 Women{{cite news |title=BBC 100 Women 2021: Who is on the list this year? |work=BBC News |date=7 December 2021 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-59514598 |access-date=26 September 2023}} and was one of the finalists for the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize{{cite web |title=Sakharov Prize 2021: the finalists |url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/eu-affairs/20211008STO14523/sakharov-prize-2021-the-finalists |website=www.europarl.europa.eu |date=14 October 2021 |access-date=26 September 2023}} (granted that year to Alexei Navalny), along with ten other Afghan women.
References
{{Reflist}}
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Category:Afghan women activists
Category:Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford
Category:Panjab University alumni
Category:Children's rights activists
Category:Afghan television presenters
Category:Afghan women television presenters
Category:Afghan expatriates in the United Kingdom