20 Facts About Sima Wali

Sima Wali was one of the foremost Afghan human rights advocates in the world, serving as an international campaigner for the liberties and empowerment of refugee and internally displaced populations.

Sima Wali was the Chief Executive Officer of Refugee Women in Development, Inc.

Sima Wali was the vice president of the Sisterhood Is Global Institute, the world's first feminist think tank.

Sima Wali was a speaker at the Ford Hall Forum in 1999 and 2009, and was a participant in the Dropping Knowledge project, among many other prestigious events and notable institutions.

Sima Wali served as a representative of King Mohammed Zahir Shah's Rome delegation.

At the conference, Sima Wali was pivotal in the creation of the Ministry of Women's Affairs, insisting that her male counterparts permanently include the ministry in the new administration.

Sima Wali was then nominated to lead that ministry, but declined in order to focus on her international activism.

That same year, Sima Wali served as the chief organizer of the Afghan Women's Summit for Democracy in Brussels, Belgium, an unparalleled gathering of its kind.

In June 2003, Sima Wali was accompanied by Women's Edge co-founder and executive director Ritu Sharma on a human rights advocacy mission to Afghanistan.

Sima Wali often spoke out against "the constant marginalization" of females in refugee and post-war societies, calling for training that helps those women to become leaders.

Sima Wali played a key role in creating the Policy Council on Afghan Women, a coalition of non-governmental organizations that works to advance women's status in Afghanistan and to ensure that women there are equal recipients of US development assistance funds.

Since their ascent in the mid-1990s, Sima Wali had been a vocal opponent of the Taliban's ideology.

Sima Wali had been a bold critic of what she felt was the American government's abandonment of Afghanistan between the 12 years that the Soviet-Afghan War ended and the US-led invasion of Afghanistan began.

Sima Wali's writings have been published in prominent journals, newspapers and books.

Sima Wali co-authored Invisible History: Afghanistan's Untold Story with Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould.

Sima Wali has made speeches, led conferences and sat on panels at many universities and institutions, which include the United Nations, the United States Congress, the US State Department, Amnesty International, Ford Hall Forum, Yale University Law School, George Washington University Law School, Northeastern University, Woodrow Wilson Center, the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, and the Dropping Knowledge project.

Sima Wali has been interviewed and featured on various news programs on CNN, CBS News, ABC News, FOX News, Al Jazeera, NPR, and CBC.

Sima Wali died on September 22,2017, in Falls Church, Virginia, from multiple system atrophy at the age of 66.

Sima Wali was conferred honorary doctorate degrees by both Smith College and Shenandoah University in 2002 and 2003, respectively.

Sima Wali earned her master's degree in International Relations from American University's School of International Service ; and her bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Kabul University.