Farida Azizi, an advocate for women’s rights in Afghanistan, discussed the difficulties she has faced trying to spread reforms in the country during a speech Wednesday in the ICC.

Azizi said that fundamentalist regimes and tribal warlords that control large parts of the nation are impediments to social progress, and that militant leaders have gained more power since the defeat of the Taliban.

“Many famous warlords are in the parliament still,” she said. “When peacekeeping forces came, instead of disarming the warlords, they supported them more.”

Azizi, a native of Afghanistan who fled with her family to Pakistan after the 1979 Soviet invasion, currently serves as the program manager for the Afghanistan Program at Vital Voices Global Partnership, an organization that pursues political and social reforms worldwide.

Azizi said that the nation would benefit from increased education, particularly for women, but that she has felt endangered during efforts to bring educational opportunities to Afghani women and children.

She said that the education and empowerment of women is essential to the development of Afghanistan.

“We need more women leaders in the cabinet and in all fields in Afghanistan,” Azizi said. “If we ignore more than 55 percent of the population in Afghanistan, how can we achieve our goals?”

While living as a refugee in Pakistan, where most of the schools in the refugee camp were supported by political parties and many local areas had no schools at all, Azizi said she recognized the need for education, especially of women.

Azizi said that the prevailing culture in Afghanistan discourages education of women and frequently permits young girls to marry older men.

Responding to a question from a student, Azizi said that Islamic law is not incompatible with a legal system that protects human rights.

“Human rights and the Koran is not a separate thing,” she said. “Most of the people there are asking the question, `Islam or human rights?’ There are huge human rights elements inside the Koran.”

Azizi added that Afghanistan has become increasingly dangerous, with kidnappings and human trafficking becoming increasingly common.

The lecture was part of the course “Human Rights: A Culture in Crisis,” taught by Anthony Arend and Daniel Porterfield, vice president for public relations and strategic planning.