Sima Noori was a child when war drove her family from Kunduz, Afghanistan, to Iran. Years later, with a master's degree in international relations, she returned to Afghanistan as a representative of migrants at the Loya Jirga, determined to help rebuild her country.

She went on to work in the energy sector, a field where women were rarely seen. By her account, that visibility made her a target of persistent threats from the Taliban and other extremist groups. She and her father were targeted in an assassination attempt, and her father was wounded.

Through all those years, Sima never gave up on education. She set up literacy classes for women and helped establish three schools for more than 600 undocumented migrant children. That work came at a heavy cost: legal pressure, confiscated documents, and ultimately, being forced to leave once again.

Today, Sima lives in Norway. In her words, "My geography has changed, not my mission." She is a co-founder of the Hazara Women's Global Movement and campaigns for the recognition of gender apartheid in Afghanistan.

For more than five years, she has run a shelter in Pakistan that has given refuge to some 500 to 600 people, including women heads of household, protesters, survivors of war, and members of religious and ethnic minorities.

Her story carries even greater weight at a time when girls in Afghanistan are still barred from education beyond primary school. For Sima, justice means a day when no girl is denied her dreams or her right to education because of her gender.

We stand with Sima. Denying girls an education is a flagrant violation of human rights, and the international community must not remain silent.

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