3. Biodata:
Mrs. Mahbouba Seraj was born 1948 in Kabul Afghanistan into royal lineage (niece of King Amanullah Khan). She graduated from Malalai High School for girls and Kabul University.  In 1978, Seraj and her husband were put in prison by the Communist Party of Afghanistan and later that year declared persona non grata.She then left for the United States,at least initially New York City and lived there in exile for some 26 years, before returning to Afghanistan in 2003.She has been working with the women and children of Afghanistan ever since.  She is the creator and announcer of a radio program for women by the name of “Our Beloved Afghanistan by Mahbouba Seraj” which has been broadcasted all over Afghanistan. She also established Women’s Listening Circles in the villages of Afghanistan, where women would gather to listen and discuss different topics of previously recorded radio programs. She has been a advocate for Women’s rights, pushing for women’s participation in the Peace Jirga, as well as in the High Peace Council. She and other women advocates were responsible in raising women participation at the 2011 BONN conference and 2012 Tokyo Conference on” Afghanistan after 2014.” And now for their participation in the Afghan Peace talks with Taliban and the U.S.

She is the founder and President of an Organization by the name of “Organization for Research in peace and Solidarity” or ORPS creating discussion amongst the young people, doing research and surveys about the meaning of Peace and Solidarity in almost all provinces of Afghanistan, she is a tireless advocate against corruption at all levels she believes that corruption is the mother of all evils in Afghanistan and in the world.  The International Community and Afghan army might win some battles here and there, but ultimately will lose the war if nothing is done to stop corruption, because it is corruption which feeds and strengthens the Taliban’s, ISIS and other such groups all over the world.  She was Executive Board Member and Chair of Afghan Women Network or AWN the biggest women network in Afghanistan.  Since 2013 she has been involved with the New Deal for Fragile States Process, she also sits on the Board of Advisory for ND at the Ministry of Finance.

She is very much interested in education, her recent works through her consultancy projects have been on two studies on Girls Participation in Higher Education and most recently co-producing a study on Tertiary Education for Afghan Women. Seraj is also a writer, she has a bi line with Huffington Post and co-authors with Anne Jones for Tom Dispatch, she writes about Political situation in Afghanistan as well as central and South East Asia. After two years of absence from her advocacy work in Afghanistan, she returned to her native country to work and be present, shoulder to shoulder with her Afghan sisters on pushing to create a sustainable peace after the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan and the return of Taliban. She is now the Director of an old and established organization in Afghanistan by the name of AWSDC Afghan Women Skills Development Center working with victims of violence.
 

The Coalition of Afghanistan Protesting Women (CAPW) says Mahbouba Seraj does not deserve to be a potential candidate for the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. The CAPW in a statement has asked Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) to remove Mahbouba Suraj’s name from the Nobel Peace Prize candidacy.Peace Research Institute Oslo announced that Mahbouba Seraj and Narges Mohammadi, an Iranian human activist, currently living in Islamic Regime detention have been proposed for the prestigious prize to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.
 

The CAPW in a statement has asked Henrik Urdal, the director of Peace Research Institute Oslo, “Mahbouba Seraj has not made any substantial efforts to restore peace and freedom for Afghan women under the Taliban regime – nor has she done anything to help women participate in education, work or public life”.
 

It is also stated that Seraj has acted contrary to the demands of Afghanistan’s protesting women, and has turned to a well-known lobbyer for the Taliban regime inside Afghanistan and overseas. The CAPW has asked the director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo and the selection committee members of Nobel Peace Prized not to undermine the values of the prestigious peace award and remove Mahbouba Suraj’s name from the candidacy list.
 

Her views run contrary to some Afghans who have called for the international community to further isolate and punish the Taliban. Seraj hit back at her critics, saying engagement with the Taliban is the only way to ease the devastating humanitarian and economic crises in Afghanistan.

“Do you have any other suggestions?” she asked. “Or do you want all of us to die here in Afghanistan?” (20230210)

She is one of the few women’s rights advocates who remained in Kabul after the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021 and supports resolving the issues with the Taliban regime through negotiations. Peace Research Institute Oslo advocates negotiations with the Taliban and calls on the international community to pay extra attention to the dire humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.(20230122)
 

Finland on Monday Dec 12, 2023  presented the International Gender Equality Prize for 2023 to the Afghan Women Skills Development Center, an NGO in Afghanistan that provides women with training and supports their skills development and economic empowerment.

In a ceremony attended by Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo in Tampere, the organization’s representative, Mahbouba Seraj, was presented with the 300,000 euro prize.

Afghanistan, under Taliban rule, stands as an example where women’s human rights are systematically suppressed. Access to secondary education for girls and higher education for women has been denied since the Taliban took power.