SAR Speaker Series: SAR/SRF scholar from Afghanistan to speak at Haverford College, June 16
SAR-PR-04-14, Feb. 25, 2005

Habib Rahiab of Afghanistan, a scholar assisted by Scholars at Risk and the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund, is scheduled to give a lecture at the opening plenary at the Friends Association for Higher Education's conference entitled "Centering on the Edge: Intellect, Spirit, Action," held at Haverford College (PA) on Thursday, June 16, 2005. Robert Quinn will introduce Rahiab and discuss the work of Scholars at Risk and the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund to assist threatened scholars.

Rahiab's lecture will reflect on challenges facing intellectuals in developing countries, drawing in particular on his own experiences as a scholar in Afghanistan. Rahiab was forced to flee Afghanistan in 2003 after the publication of a report that included allegations of abuses committed by powerful warlords.

"Habib Rahiab risked his life to promote intellectual freedom and human rights in Afghanistan," says Scholars at Risk director Robert Quinn. "Despite his past experiences, he seems even more determined today to continue advancing knowledge and seeking justice. He is exactly the type of important, courageous, intellectual voice that Scholars at Risk was created to honor and defend," adds Quinn.

Rahiab, a native of Ghazni province in southeast Afghanistan, was a law student at Balkh University in Mazar-e Sharif when the Taliban seized the city in 1997. He fled the city on foot, eventually moving to Pakistan, where he worked in a minority rights group and taught in a school for refugees. He returned to Afghanistan immediately after the collapse of the Taliban, and started working with an international human rights organization. He also founded and served as a senior member of several civil society and minority rights' groups. His current research concerns transitional justice with particular interest in the use of tribunals and truth commissions. He has spent most of his career working as a researcher on human rights issues for major international human rights organizations. With support from the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund, Rahiab currently is a visiting fellow at Scholars at Risk Network member Harvard University.

Rahiab's lecture is part of the conference entitled "Centering on the Edge: Intellect, Spirit, Action," organized by Friends Association for Higher Education, a Quaker-based association for higher education. The event will bring together educators and independent scholars to discuss academia and Quakerism, particularly on witnessing through scholarship, work in the classroom and campus life and beyond. The conference will be held from June 16-19 and requires registration. More information is available at: http://www.haverford.edu/hcweb/fahe/

"We are so grateful for the support we receive from Haverford College, particularly from the President's Office and the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship and we thank the Friends Association for Higher Education for organizing this event," says Quinn. "We hope this event will raise awareness on campus about Haverford's commitment to promoting academic freedom and helping threatened scholars globally," adds Quinn.

Thanks also to Harvard University and the Institute of International Education's Scholar Rescue Fund, which awarded a fellowship to Habib Rahiab to support his work in the US. (www.iie.org/SRF)

Scholars at Risk is an international network of nearly 100 universities and colleges working to promote academic freedom and to defend the human rights of scholars worldwide. Scholars at Risk's primary activity is to arrange short-term visits to Network-member institutions for scholars who suffer because of their work, prominence, or the exercise of fundamental human rights. For more information about Scholars at Risk, please visit: http://scholarsatrisk.nyu.edu or contact Carla Stuart (212) 998-2179.

The lecture will be held on Thursday evening, June 16, 2005 on the campus of Haverford College. For more information about the event, please contact: Helene Pollock at 1-610-896-1020.

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