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University of Pittsburgh Hosts Conference on Legal Recognition of Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan
On April 17, 2026, the University of Pittsburgh's School of Public and International Affairs and the Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies, in partnership with Women Leading Peace, convened scholars, legal experts, practitioners, and advocates for a full-day conference on one of the most urgent frontiers in international human rights, the legal recognition of gender apartheid in Afghanistan. Held at the William Pitt Union Ballroom at the University of P
Women Leading Peace founder Zakira Rasooli speaks at the UN General Assembly: "We Are Not Asking for Permission"
September 25, 2025, United Nations General Assembly Zakira Rasooli, Founder and Executive Director of Women Leading Peace, was invited to speak at the UN General Assembly on the 30th anniversary of the World Programme of Action for Youth. She opens with her own story of watching her dreams collapse on August 15, 2021, the day Afghanistan was handed to the Taliban without the consent of its people. Drawing connections between Afghan women and young people facing exclusion and
"This is Gender Apartheid" Women Leading Peace founder challenges global complicity at the UN CSW 2025
March 12, 2025, United Nations Commission on the Status of Women Zakira, who is the founder and Executive Director of Women Leading Peace, was invited to address the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Her remarks challenged the international community's self-congratulatory narrative of progress, centering the voices of Afghan women and girls who have lived under Taliban rule since 2021. She calls out the structural failures that have left Afghan women and girls behind not
