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Helena Olsson
Helena has a Master Degree in Political Science with focus on Human Rights, Peace and Democracy from Lund University. She has worked with development, human rights and in the humanitarian field since 2001, for Swedish Embassies/Sida and UNHCR in Central and South America; at Sida Headquarters Humanitarian Team in Stockholm; and subsequently with academic institutions and NHRIs in Sub-Saharan Africa; Middle East and North Africa; and South/Southeast Asia since she joined the Institute in 2010.
Between 2016 and 2018 she led the development and start-up of a new regional Asia team and office in Jakarta, and of regional programmes focusing on human rights and environment/climate change, as well as the integration of human rights into Agenda 2030 plans in the region.
She was also team leader of the thematic focus area People on the Move 2016-2017, and currently leads an internal working group of human rights and local governments.
Afghanistan Programme Team
Helena Olsson
Helena has a Master Degree in Political Science with focus on Human Rights, Peace and Democracy from Lund University. She has worked with development, human rights and in the humanitarian field since 2001, for Swedish Embassies/Sida and UNHCR in Central and South America; at Sida Headquarters Humanitarian Team in Stockholm; and subsequently with academic institutions and NHRIs in Sub-Saharan Africa; Middle East and North Africa; and South/Southeast Asia since she joined the Institute in 2010.
Between 2016 and 2018 she led the development and start-up of a new regional Asia team and office in Jakarta, and of regional programmes focusing on human rights and environment/climate change, as well as the integration of human rights into Agenda 2030 plans in the region.
She was also team leader of the thematic focus area People on the Move 2016-2017, and currently leads an internal working group of human rights and local governments.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett was appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan in April 2022 and had his mandate extended a year this October.
Mr. Bennett has served in Afghanistan on several occasions, playing an important role in in the promotion of transitional justice, child rights, rule of law, rights of people with disabilities and a range of economic, social and cultural rights as well as in the protection of civilians and human rights defenders.
He has been a long-term adviser to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and was in the past Chief of the Human Rights Service with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
He also conducted two missions in Afghanistan (2003-07 and 2018-19) as Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and head of the human rights components of peacekeeping operations. A position which led him to work in Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, and South Sudan.
Prior to joining the United Nations as a consultant on UN human rights assignments in Afghanistan, Myanmar and New York in 2019 Mr. Bennett worked for Amnesty International. He was first Director of its Asia-Pacific Program before becoming head of Amnesty’s United Nations Office in New York.
His other roles include being the Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and head of OHCHR’s office in Nepal as well as Chief of Staff for the UN Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka and Special Adviser to the Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights in New York.
David Eile
David Eile currently works as a Senior Programme Officer responsible for various projects under RWI’s Europe Office, focusing on different forms of academic cooperation in Europe and Cuba. Since joining RWI in 2006, David worked with various human rights programmes in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. David has an MA in Anthropology from Lund University and is a doctoral candidate in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Uppsala.
Massoud Adrakhsh
Massoud Adrakhsh holds an MA in Politics and Security from the OSCE Academy and has more than five years of experience in project management and research.
Raúl Saucedo
Raúl Saucedo is the Programme Associate at RWI Afghanistan Programme working on training and round table organising for human rights defenders, but also reinforcing the RWI Afghanistan team on communications. Raúl brings over 4 years of international professional experience in project management, communication and events organisation. Prior to joining RWI, he worked in civil society organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, focusing on issues concerning children’s rights and supporting human rights defenders globally. Raúl has a master’s in Innovation, Human Development, and Sustainability from the University of Geneva. Fluent in Spanish, English, and French, he’s currently developing his Swedish language skills.
Zoya Noori
Zoya Noori, Programme Associate, who has more than 15 years of working experience with international organizations including United Nations and educational institutions in Sweden, Afghanistan and Denmark. Most recently, she served United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) in Copenhagen, Denmark. She has a degree in Teaching as well as Diploma in Human Resources Management and Social Pedagogy and certificate in Education. Zoya will particularly focus and provide administrative and operational support to our Programme Afghanistan.
Razia Sayad
Razia is currently pursuing a PhD in Law and Legal Studies with a focus on Human Rights and Global Justice at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. She also holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration and a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the Faculty of Law and Political Science at Kabul University.
Razia is a dedicated human rights lawyer and activist from Afghanistan, with over 17 years of experience in promoting justice, documenting human rights violations, conducting research, and advocating for the rights of vulnerable populations, particularly women and children.
She has worked with various national and international institutions, including the Human Rights Support Directorate of the Ministry of Justice, the Justice Sector Support Program (JSSP), the Law Directorate of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the Rule of Law Project of USAID, and the Civil Society and Human Rights Network in Afghanistan. From 2019 to 2021, she served as the Child Rights Commissioner at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), where she led efforts to promote and protect the rights of children across the country.
Following the events of August 2021, Razia was forced to leave Afghanistan but has continued her work in the advancement of human rights and women’s rights. Since then, she has served as a Consultant with the Asia Pacific Forum (APF), assisting in the resettlement of AIHRC staff into safe countries, as a Sharia Law Specialist with the UN Women’s Afghanistan country office, and as a Consultant with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), contributing to a landmark report on gender-based discrimination in Afghanistan as part of the SR Afghanistan team.
According to Razia, joining RWI presents a unique opportunity for her to combine her practical experience with academic expertise in addressing human rights challenges from theoretical and applied perspectives.
Danang Aditya Nizar
Danang Aditya Nizar has years of experience working in the international development sector, with various thematic areas such as education, youth engagement, disaster risk reduction, displacement, gender, and sustainable agriculture.
He started his career in the sector with UNOCHA, supporting the Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency in preparing the Disaster Risk Management Baseline Status Report, as mandated by the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030. He also has experience in emergency response, where he was deployed to implement a Displacement Tracking Matrix with IOM during the Mt. Agung eruption in 2017. He was also a certified trainer of camp coordination and camp management modules with IOM.
Danang holds a Master’s degree in Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation from the University of Sussex, UK, with a specialization in refugees, displacement, and humanitarian response.
In his spare time, Danang Aditya Nizar remotely manages a bed and breakfast in Bukittinggi, West Sumatera.
Lina Rachmawati
Lina Rachmawati has been working in development project for more than two decades mostly in operational and administrative departments. Lina first joined RWI in 2017, where she worked as a Senior Programme Associate for Regional Asia Pacific Programme.
After gaining additional experience at Internews for STRIDES Project, a project that supports environmental reporting on infrastructure development and its impacts and funded by US Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), Lina returns to RWI for the Afghanistan Programme to support to Afghan women scholars studying at Indonesian universities with fresh insights and renewed enthusiasm.
In her spare time, Lina enjoys cooking and experimenting with new recipes, cuisines, or flavours.
Fatema Ahmadi
Fatema D. Ahmadi is a dedicated human rights advocate and international development practitioner with over a decade of experience advancing women’s and children’s rights in conflict and post-conflict settings. She has collaborated with national and international organizations on policy development, human rights advocacy, and community engagement.
Currently, at Rawadari, she leads an accountability program where she hopes to be part of the effort to hold the perpetrators of human rights violations in Afghanistan accountable and ensure that the victims see justice after long-standing impunity in Afghanistan.
From 2022 to 2024, Ahmadi served as a Fellow and Adjunct Professor at the American University School of Public Affairs, where she focused on women’s rights movements in the Global South, with a particular emphasis on Afghanistan. Before this, at the U.S. Institute of Peace, she led peacebuilding initiatives with grassroots movements, journalists, women, and Afghan and international groups for the anticipated peace process in Afghanistan to amplify marginalized voices throughout the processes.
As a Fulbright Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow (2018–2019) at American University Washington College of Law, Ahmadi focused on the law and policies related to human trafficking for women and children and completed consultation roles with the World Bank and the International Republican Institute, informing the status of women, minorities, and vulnerable communities in Afghanistan. Prior to this, she spearheaded one of the largest counter-human trafficking programs at Hagar International to make sure the policies and laws for protecting victims of human trafficking are in place and involved actors are well equipped with the knowledge to identify, refer, and protect the victims. She also co-authored the country’s first national Trafficking in Persons (TiP) training manual.
She holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the American University School of Public Affairs, with a specialization in global governance and management.
Nazeela Elmi
Nazeela Elmi is a human rights scholar and professional specializing in conflict-affected regions, with a particular focus on gender, transitional justice, and inclusive peace-building. She has served as a Professional Specialist at the Afghanistan Policy Lab at Princeton University, centering human rights advocacy and policy research in her work.
Nazeela holds a Master’s degree in Human Rights Studies from Columbia University, where her research examined human rights abuses and reporting in Afghanistan, with an emphasis on marginalized and understudied communities. Previously, she worked with the Centre for Information Resilience – Afghan Witness, conducting open-source investigations and human rights monitoring, with a particular focus on the surge in women’s suicides, honor killings and extremist propaganda.
Nazeela has contributed to global policy discussions, engaging with high-level experts on Afghanistan’s evolving political and humanitarian landscape. Her commitment to human rights extends beyond research and advocacy to humanitarian initiatives, including fundraising efforts for displaced communities both within Afghanistan and in the diaspora.
Her scholarship includes publications in English, German, and Turkish critically analyzing the status of human rights and women’s situation under the Taliban rule. Her research interrogates dominant narratives on Afghanistan and explores gender issues through an intersectional lens, with particular attention to women’s resistance movements, the gendered impact of forced displacement, and youth engagement in peace and justice initiatives.
Nazeela’s lived experience as an Uzbek, Afghan woman, and young advocate deeply informs her scholarship and activism. She remains dedicated to advancing inclusive peace and justice programs for Afghanistan’s most marginalized communities.
Hafizullah Saeedi
Hafizullah Saeedi is an independent researcher and a human rights defender. He holds a Master of Arts in Global Studies from Leipzig University, Germany. He obtained a double degree in International and Comparative Politics from American University of Central Asia and Bard College-NYC, for his undergraduate studies.
Hafizullah has a background in human rights advocacy at the United Nations and European Union level. His area of research includes human rights, security and development studies, with a focus on minority issues, countering violent extremism, and humanitarian action. In the context of Afghanistan, he has written extensively on social movements, minorities and hate speech, as well as political participation of women and youth in national processes. He has previously worked with Minority Rights Group International, European Center for Minority Issues, and Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development. In addition to his mother tongue Persian/Dari, he speaks English, Pashto, Russian and German languages.
Atal Ahmadzai
Dr. Atal Ahmadzai has been a dedicated advocate for environmental security and human rights. He earned his degree from Kabul University before pursuing further studies at Mahidol University in Thailand. His professional career includes working with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), where he worked on human development initiatives in Afghanistan and co-authored the National Human Development Report for the country. Following this, Dr. Ahmadzai continued his education at Rutgers University, where he obtained a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Global Affairs, focusing on Environmental and Human Security. Since 2015, he has held various academic roles, including adjunct instructor, post-doctoral scholar, and visiting professor. During his time as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Arizona, Dr. Ahmadzai examined the governance systems of armed non-state actors in South Asia. As a subject matter expert, he has also contributed to the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Dr. Ahmadzai’s research and teaching interests center on the intersection of environment, development, and conflict. Currently, as a Visiting Assistant Professor, he teaches environmental courses at Colby College. His scholarly and non-scholarly works have been published in numerous academic journals and respected publications. At the Raoul Wallenberg Institute (RWI), he examines the nexus between climate shocks and human rights in Afghanistan.
Mohammad Mustafa Raheal
Mohammad Mustafa Raheal is a dedicated activist and researcher specializing in human rights and social development. He holds a Master’s degree in International Development with Conflict and Humanitarian Action, achieved through the prestigious Chevening Scholarship and currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Humanities and Social Policy department at the University of Bath under a British Council Scholarship. His research focuses on urban-rural disparities and their impact on sustainable peace and human rights in Afghanistan.
With over seven years of experience in international development and humanitarian work, Mustafa has held key leadership roles with organizations such as the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) at the Swedish Embassy in Kabul, the Civil Peace Service Program of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), and the Migration for Development Program of the International Psychosocial Organization (IPSO). His expertise includes program development, risk assessment, multi-agency collaboration, refugee resettlement, and conducting research on equitable aid distribution and sustainable peacebuilding.
Mustafa served as a Research Consultant with the University of Bath’s Centre for Development Studies (CDS), focusing on fostering equitable partnerships in academic research and currently a Quantitative Researcher with University College London’s Institute of Education (IOE), Department of Education and Society, contributing to critical studies on refugee integration in England.
Through the RWI Fellowship, Mustafa will examine horizontal inequalities in aid distribution in Afghanistan, aiming to highlight systemic challenges. As a passionate advocate and researcher, Mustafa combines his professional and academic expertise to support marginalized communities and contribute to sustainable development.
Tahmina Sobat
Tahmina Sobat is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where she is also a Fellow at the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (ICGC). She earned her law degree from Herat University in 2015 and went on to complete an LLM in International Human Rights Law at the University of Notre Dame in 2020. As a Fulbright Scholar, she obtained her second master’s degree in Gender and Women’s Studies at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Tahmina’s interdisciplinary research centers on transnational feminist theory, epistemic violence, politics of representation, and peacebuilding. Her dissertation critically examines the Paradoxical Representation of Elite Afghan Women within Feminist Empire, exploring the complex intersections of gender, imperialism, and postcolonial thought. She employs feminist and postcolonial research methodologies, to challenge systems of power and exclusion.
Her scholarly contributions include publications in Contending Modernities at the University of Notre Dame, the Gender and Policy Report at the University of Minnesota, SIGMA: The South Asian Journal, and the Agitate journal. These works address issues such as gender apartheid, Afghan women’s struggles for transnational feminist solidarities, and the structural inequalities embedded in global peacebuilding efforts.
Professionally, Tahmina has held significant roles in human rights advocacy and women’s empowerment. She is currently serving as a board member for the Afghan Cultural Society in Minnesota. Previously, she worked as Monitoring and Evaluation Deputy for the Women Empowerment Program at Zardozi Organization, and Ombudsperson at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC).
Tahmina’s work reflects a deep commitment to advancing feminist scholarship and the field of Afghanistan studies, advocating for human rights, and fostering transnational solidarities to address the challenges facing marginalized communities in Afghanistan and beyond.
Kaweh Kerami
Kaweh Kerami is a political scientist whose work bridges politics, (digital) media and human rights. He earned his PhD in Development Studies from SOAS University of London, where he investigated how power dynamics and competing interests shape political competition and cooperation in post-intervention Afghanistan (2001–2021). Drawing on comparative and narrative analyses, supported by extensive primary data and elite interviews, his research offers nuanced insights into political bargaining and (in)stability in conflict-affected contexts.
As a Research Fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute (RWI), Kaweh examines how journalists use digital technologies to document human rights violations, focusing on challenges such as verification, security, and legal admissibility. His work also addresses the role of misinformation, including AI-driven disinformation, in shaping political discourse and media landscapes. Through these investigations, he aims to support international accountability efforts by developing secure, credible documentation methods and strengthening pathways for peace and justice.
Kaweh taught at the American University in Kabul (2019–2021) and currently serves as a Master’s thesis supervisor at SOAS University of London. He has worked as a journalist for the BBC World Service, covering politics, war, and women’s rights, and most recently served as a specialist researcher for BBC Media Action on a U.S.-funded project examining media under Taliban rule. In his free time, he enjoys iPhone photography, capturing moments of beauty and reflection.
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