Shaheen Sardar Ali is a British Pakistani law professor and an

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

who formerly served chair of the

National Commission on the Status of Women National Commission on Status of Women (NCSW) ( ur, ) is a Pakistani statutory body established by the President Pervez Musharraf, under the XXVI Ordinance dated 17 July 2000. It is an outcome of the national and international commitments of the G ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. She is a professor of law at the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

Biography

Shaheen, a

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

, was born in

Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

in 1955 in

and obtained her BA, LLB and an MA in Political Science from the

University of Peshawar The University of Peshawar ( ps, د پېښور پوهنتون; hnd, پشور یونیورسٹی; ur, ; abbreviated UoP; known more popularly as Peshawar University) is a Public university, public research university located in Peshawar, Khy ...

. A Foreign and Commonwealth Scholarship allowed her to come to the UK in 1990 to take an LLM in international law at

Hull University , mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £18.8 million (2016) , budget = £190 million ...

. She returned to Pakistan and gained a professorship at

Peshawar University The University of Peshawar ( ps, د پېښور پوهنتون; hnd, پشور یونیورسٹی; ur, ; abbreviated UoP; known more popularly as Peshawar University) is a Public university, public research university located in Peshawar, Khy ...

in 1995. Three years later, she returned to the United Kingdom, teaching as a law lecturer at the

. Her research and teaching interests include international law of human rights, women's and children's rights and Islamic law and jurisprudence. Ali is fluent in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Pashtu Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...

and Punjabi, can read and write

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and has a working knowledge of

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. Furthermore, she serves as a consultant for

the British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh la ...

the World Bank The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Grou ...

UNIFEM The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM, french: Fonds de développement des Nations unies pour la femme, ) was established in December 1976 originally as the Voluntary Fund for the United Nations Decade for Women in the International ...

, ILO,

NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and protection ...

and

Radda Barnen Radda may refer to: * Radha Cuadrado Radha Cuadrado (born December 13, 1976), popularly known as RADHA, is a Filipino singer and songwriter best known as an original member of the Filipino-Canadian hip hop group Kulay (previously known as Boo ...

and is a member of the British Council Task Force on

Gender and Development Gender and development is an interdisciplinary field of research and applied study that implements a Feminism, feminist approach to understanding and addressing the disparate impact that economic development and globalization have on people based up ...

. Ali often contributes to radio and television programmes and appears as commentator on current affairs and debates. She was previously a member and vice-chair of the

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...

(OHCHR) working group on arbitrary detention. She is married to Ali and the mother of two daughters, Gulsanga and Zara, and one son, Isfandyar.Conceptualising Islamic Law, CEDAW and Women’s Human Rights in Plural Legal Settings

Works

* ''Gender and Human Rights in Islam and International Law: Equal Before Allah, Unequal Before Man?'' (2000) * ''Development Processes: Some experiences from the North West Frontier of Pakistan'' (2002) *''Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Minorities of Pakistan: Constitutional and Legal Perspectives'' (2013)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Shaheen Sardar Pakistani legal scholars Pakistani writers Pakistani educators Pashtun people 1955 births Living people Pakistani emigrants to the United Kingdom British people of Pashtun descent People from Swat District Academics of the University of Warwick