Middle East and North Africa Seminar Series
On 26 February, at 4 p.m., the first session of 2026 of the Middle East and North Africa Seminar Series, ‘Gender Apartheid and Feminist Resistance in Afghanistan,’ will take place.
This session will take place online, on the Teams platform, and will feature speakers Mina Sharif (author of Your War, Our Lives) and Samira Hamidi (Regional Campaigner, Amnesty International for South Asia). Joana Pereira, from CEI-Iscte, will moderate the session.
Mina Sharif is an Afghan-Canadian author, speaker, and advocate whose work focuses on diaspora identity, women’s rights, and compassionate approaches to conflict-affected communities. She spent more than a decade living and working in Kabul, where she led media and educational initiatives. Drawing on her lived experience, Sharif explores the human dimensions of war, migration, and belonging in her writing, including in her book Your War, Our Lives: Short Stories of the Afghan Experience (2025), which centers Afghan voices and challenges dominant narratives about conflict. She currently serves as Communications Manager at Jumpstart Refugee Talent, supporting refugee inclusion and talent integration in Canada.
Samira Hamidi is an Afghan women’s rights activist and civil society leader who has worked extensively on gender advocacy, peace processes, and human rights in Afghanistan. She has served in leadership roles, including with the Afghan Women’s Network and the Women Knowledge and Leadership Organization, collaborating with government, UN agencies, and community groups to enhance women’s participation in political consultations and peace dialogues. Currently, she works for Amnesty International as the Regional Campaigner for South Asia, focusing on documenting abuses in Afghanistan and advocating for justice, gender equality, and international accountability for human rights violations under the Taliban’s rule.
