Marzia Basel

Marzia Basel

Biography

Marzia Basel was previously a judge and has extensive training in the areas of international relations, women in development, and law. She founded the Afghanistan Progressive Law Organization after the Afghanistan Supreme Court suspended the Afghan Women’s Judges Association and has been serving as its director since 2009. She is also a volunteer member of the Afghan Independent Bar Association Women's Committee and the advisory committee for the Afghan Women's Ministry.¹ During the rule of the Taliban, Maria ran a private, home-based school for women to whom she taught English. Some of her students included wives of the Taliban who would warn her if she was about to get a visit from the now defunct Ministry for the Protection of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.² After the fall of the Taliban, she participated in state reconstruction by serving on the Kabul Public Security Court, acting as a representative for the establishment of the Independent Afghan Judicial Commission and acting as an officer for the Emergency Loya Jirga Commission. Marzia also has experience working with various UN agencies. She worked for UNICEF Afghanistan as a Juvenile Justice Project Officer and for UNIFEM Afghanistan as a Gender Justice Officer. In addition, she has been working as a National Advisor to the German government's assistant for Afghanistan GTZ (now the GIZ Rule of Law Project) since 2006. Marzia received a bachelor’s in law and political science from Kabul University and a master’s in international law and comparative studies from George Washington University. She has served as a judge in both civil and criminal courts in Kabul.³   [1] The Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict: Speakers [2] Washington Post.com: Diplomatic Dispatches [3] The Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict: Speakers [4] Washington Post.com: Diplomatic Dispatches