Fighting for Justice Globally: The 2023–2024 LL.M. Human Rights Fellows

Supporting Women’s Rights in Afghanistan

Home Country: Afghanistan

Maryam Jami ’24 LL.M. has published research on women’s rights under the Taliban in Afghanistan and on Afghan refugees in Iran, among other subjects, and conducted research on the role of Afghan women in the peace process. The recipient of an American Association of University Women International Fellowship, Jami has been an extern for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and a legal consultant for the International Human Rights Commission and the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights, as well as conducted research for multiple human rights organizations in Afghanistan.

Growing up during the prolonged conflict in Afghanistan, Jami chose law as a tool to combat the discrimination and abuses she saw around her. “Law, to me, meant human rights, and the way to get out of human suffering,” she says. As a law student at Herat University, she participated in a juvenile justice clinic. After the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, and despite its threats, she founded Fem for Rights, which she describes as Afghanistan’s first-ever human rights law mentorship program for women law students and lawyers.

“I wanted to be in a position, even in a small way, to resist the human rights violations and discrimination that I and many other members of vulnerable groups in my country had been experiencing,” Jami says. “I realized that I did not have to fall victim to the lack of opportunities when I had the ability to create opportunities myself.”  

She was drawn to Columbia Law School by the Human Rights Institute and its faculty. “Being selected as a Human Rights Fellow means that these exceptional people believed in my ability and potential to pursue their path,” she says. ”The best part of the fellowship is, I think, the mentorship and the connections we make. These networks and circles will stay with us forever.” 

At Columbia, Jami’s interests have broadened to include the role of the private sector in human rights questions—whether endangering rights or protecting them—with an eye to a possible future in the private sector.