Farkhunda Zahra Naderi is a politician from Afghanistan. She is the senior advisor to president Ashraf Ghani in United Nations Affairs. Naderi was appointed at this position via presidential decree released in December 2016. She previously served as a member of Afghanistan National Council from 2010 to 2015 who was elected as member of Afghan Parliament in 2010 Afghan Parliamentary Election. She was the only female representative from Afghanistan who participated in three consecutive Chantilly Conferences at Paris in 2010 and 2012. Naderi was awarded the N-Peace Award in July 2012. In March 2013, Naderi obtained the membership of third Standing Committee of Inter-Parliamentary Union in an election process at IPU's 128th Assembly held in Ecuador. In the election between Afghanistan, Australia and Iran representatives, Naderi got 28 votes out of 52, while the Australian and Iranian parliamentarians got 20 and 3 votes respectively. She was elected as President of the third Standing Committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in March 2014 at the 130th Assembly of IPU. In December 2016, she was appointed a senior advisor to President Ashraf Ghani on United Nations affairs.
Naderi was the National Solidarity Party of Afghanistan candidate from Kabul province in the 2010 parliamentary election and was elected as member of parliament with 6,612 votes. She entered into the 2010 election campaigns with a challenging slogan of "Burka, the window of power; چادری، دریچه قدرت" and there were no pictures of her in the advertising materials and posters as she wanted to encourage the public to concentrate on candidates' platforms rather than their faces. Her campaign methods included arranging campaign rallies in different parts of Kabul City, sending campaigners knocking on citizens' doors to provide them with information about the candidate.
Naderi, as one of the women rights activists in Afghanistan has been lobbying for the representation of a woman on the Supreme Court of Afghanistan. During a panel in the Chicago Summit 2012, she said the absence of women on the court was her "greatest concern". She began lobbying for a woman on the court right after she took a seat in the Afghan Parliament in 2010. She shared the idea with the Women Committee members in Afghan Parliament and also presented in the General Assembly.
Awards
Naderi was nominated by UNDP for the 2012 N-Peace Award. She won the award through an electronic voting system. The 2013 award was won by another female Afghan parliamentarian, Massouda Karokhi, who was nominated by Naderi.
