Supporting Scholars at Risk - Berkeley Human Rights Center

The Human Rights Center has hosted many scholars over its thirty years of research. Some of those individuals were persecuted in their countries of origin, and came to the Center for refuge and opportunity to continue their important work.

Partners

Afghan Scholars Project

UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center, in partnership with San Jose State’s Human Rights Institute and the UC Berkeley Afghan Student Association, created the Afghanistan “Scholars at Risk Fund” on behalf of our campuses to respond to the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan and the urgent need to help journalists, lawyers, and other academics — especially women — flee the country. We raised $251,000, matched with a $100,000 grant from the the UC Berkeley Vice Chancellor for Research Opportunity Fund and $50,000 from San Jose State University. Those funds supported six at-risk Afghan women and their family members to come to UC Berkeley and San Jose State. Funds support legal and visa fees, travel, and modest stipends. We supported three women at the Human Rights Center, their details can be found below.

A woman with short hair looks off-camera pensively.

Khwaga Ghani, Journalist

Now completing her Master’s at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

A woman with a head scarf stands outside a building with ehr arms folded.

Judge Basira Qazizada

Now completing her LLM at UC Berkeley School of Law

A woman in a green headscarf looks pensively at the camera.

Maria Raheen, Journalist

Now completing research on women’s rights in Afghanistan

Burmese Activist and Scholar Wai Wai Nu

Wai Wai Nu was a 2019-2022 visiting scholar at the Human Rights Center. Graduating from Berkeley Law in 2018, she used the resources at the HRC to further her work on the Rohingya crisis. Nu’s family is Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Myanmar, and has a history of advocacy. In 1990, Nu’s father was elected to parliament, receiving harassment for promoting labor rights. He was eventually sentenced to 47 years in prison for “alleged state security and immigration violations” in 2005. Soon after, Nu and the rest of her family were given 17-year sentences under the same allegations.

Upon being released in 2012, Nu set out to fix Burma’s legal system. After receiving her law degree, she established the Women’s Peace Network-Arakan and later co-founded Justice for women, a network of female lawyers that promotes democracy- and peace-building efforts. Her soared after initiating the #MyFriend campaign. This campaign urged participants to post photos of themselves with friends from diverse backgrounds in order to counter the widespread discrimination and hate on social media. Watch Wai Wai deliver a special message to our community for Human Rights Day 2018.

News

November 11, 2023

A Harrowing Journey for Afghan Journalist and Berkeley Law Scholar Maria Raheen

Berkeley Law: Featuring Afghan Scholar Maria Raheen.

A woman smiles at the camera while a man and woman on the outer wings of the frame clap. They have medical masks on. A sign reads

August 8, 2022

A Life in Limbo: After Fleeing Afghanistan, Judge Basira Qazizada Finds a Stopgap Oasis in Berkeley

HRC in the News — Berkeley Law: A Life in Limbo: After Fleeing Afghanistan, Judge Basira Qazizada Finds a Stopgap Oasis in Berkeley, a feature on HRC scholar at risk Basira Qazizada.

Photograph of Rohingya Refugee's. Image by SH Saw Myint via Unsplash

March 22, 2022

At long last, the U.S. recognizes what the Rohingya already knew

Commentary — The Washington Post: At long last, the U.S. recognizes what the Rohingya already knew, authored by Scholar at Risk Wai Wai Nu.

After the fall of Kabul, it took Khwaga Ghani and some members of her family nearly two months to escape Afghanistan and make their way to California. She is the first fellow in an ambitious program, co-sponsored by UC Berkeley, to support Afghan refugees — and she’s already thinking about how she can get back to Kabul to continue her work as a journalist. (Photo by Brittany Hosea-Small).

November 21, 2021

Taliban gunshots echo through Khwaga Ghani’s new life at Berkeley

HRC in the News — Berkeley News: Taliban gunshots echo through Khwaga Ghani’s new life at Berkeley by Ed Lempinen. After the fall of

A U.S. Marine lifts an infant over a barbed wire fence during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. (Photo by - / Courtesy of Omar Haidiri / AFP).

August 29, 2021

More Universities, Higher Ed Groups Step Up To Help Afghan Refugees

HRC in the News — Forbes: More Universities, Higher Ed Groups Step Up To Help Afghan Refugees, with mention of HRC’s Afghan Scholar Project.

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN-AUGUST 16: An Afghan family rushes to the Hamid Karzai International Airport as they flee the Afghan capital of Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 16, 2021. (Photo by Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images).

August 20, 2021

How Bay Area universities are helping Afghans during the Taliban coup

HRC in the News — NBC Bay Area: How Bay Area universities are helping Afghans during the Taliban coup, with mention of SJSU’s Human Rights Institute and Human Rights Center’s

Hundreds of people gathered outside the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021. UC Berkeley has launched a fundraising rescue operation for Afghan scholars at risk. (AP Photo).

August 20, 2021

Berkeley students, staff and faculty launch Afghan scholar rescue campaign

HRC in the News — Berkeley News: Berkeley students, staff and faculty launch Afghan scholar rescue campaign. Hundreds of people gathered

January 19, 2018

‘The world has not forgotten us’: a Rohingya Activist Speaks as Myanmar Faces Genocide Case

Commentary — Time Magazine: ‘The world has not forgotten us’: a Rohingya Activist Speaks as Myanmar Faces Genocide Case, by former HRC Visiting Scholar Wai Wai Nu.