PukhtunWomen

She was beautiful and graceful and her passion for her work and and her strength in her beliefs made Samar a star last night. Everyone tried to talk to her and she was more than happy to answer as many questions as she was asked no matter how many times it was the same questions over and over again.

The other two recipients were as deserving for the recognition they got, but Samar was truly the star of the evening. She wore a beautiful black hand embroidered in a Swati stitch qamees (shirt) that had been her grandmothers, to honor both her and her mother. Both have played a vital role in her life, she is who she is today because of them.

At the last minute she was told that she would have to give an acceptance speech and Samar being Samar did not panic, but went to the podium and spoke elegantly and her charisma just spread over everyone.

Samar's Acceptance speech.

Thank you for such a nice introduction, i could not believe it was about me
Good evening ladies and gentleman it is indeed an honor to stand here as a Perdita Huston Human rights activist.
I would like to thank the United Nation association of the national Capital area, Perdita Hustons Family and Samina. for having faith in me and my work. also behind me stands a supportive husband and mother who have been a source of strength.
Friends for the past many years I have been making an effort to give voice to the rural women of Pakistan through various mediums of communication.
I am honored to receive this award in recognition for my work in advocating against an inhuman custom of giving away girls as compensation to end disputes. Swara, vani and sang chatti are practiced in various parts of Pakistan as alternative dispute resolution, where by disputes, often murders are resolved by local council of elders called Jirga, panchait or faislos.
Not only does an innocent girl pay the price of someone else's crime, but unaccountability of offenders leads to the rise of the number of offenses. As an activist, a documentary film maker I traveled to villages to give voice to those little girls that were being used as a human shield in the name of culture.
Religion shuns it but ironically with time, like many other institutions cultures and traditions get to be re-molded and redefined by men in a way that perpetuates patriarchy. Through our organization and through media and development that believes in a culturally sensitive development we disseminated the documentary on the custom of Swara through various levels of society to create awareness. it led to filing of a public interest litigation in the Supreme court by me with the help of a well known lawyer against the custom.
From such cases as two minor girls being given away as compensation for 11 stolen buffaloes in Sindh
to the case of a religious scholar solemnizing the marriage of a one month old girl to a year old boy to end a dispute in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. Ethnomedia has managed to avert 50 such cases in the last two years. Ethnomedia believes that media can accelerate change. by working on various social issues we hope to promote justice public engagement and policy change

The enforcement of this law is what I now want to focus on.

Once again thank you Perdita Huston award for giving me and many other members of our organization the encouragement to go on.