Ghizaal Haress (Afghanistan)

Dr. Ghizaal Haress is a constitutional lawyer, scholar, and human rights advocate from Afghanistan. She served as the country’s first Ombudsperson and later as a Commissioner on the Independent Commission for Overseeing the Implementation of the Constitution, where she worked to expose corruption, safeguard constitutional principles, and defend fundamental rights under immense political pressure.

For more than a decade, Dr. Haress taught law at the American University of Afghanistan, where she continues to teach remotely to Afghan women now banned from education by the Taliban. She is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto and collaborates with the International Human Rights Program to document the suppression of women under Taliban rule.

She also directs the Afghan Women’s Fellowship Program at Massey College, enabling Afghan women scholars to remain engaged in academic life. Her work focuses on women’s empowerment, peacebuilding, and constitutional debates, bringing Afghan women’s voices to international platforms, including the United Nations.