Hanifa Girowal is an Affiliate at Princeton University’s Afghanistan Policy Lab who also serves as an Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan. She is the Vice President of Women’s Rights First (WRF), an Afghan women-led organization dedicated to documenting human rights violations and advancing women’s participation in peace building and accountability processes in Afghanistan.

Previously, Hanifa was a Research Fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law.  She has worked as the Deputy Governor of Kabul and the Director of Human Rights for the National Directorate of Security.

In her early career, she served in multiple roles at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, focusing on women’s rights, transitional justice, and the protection of civilians during armed conflict. Hanifa holds a master’s degree in public international law from Brunel University London through Chevening Scholarship.