Nazifa Haqpal

Director & Lead Expert Witness

Nazifa Haqpal is Aspire’s Director & Lead Expert Witness and an Afghanistan & Pakistan Country & Human Rights Expert. A journalist, former diplomat and founder/director, she has over 15 years of experience across governmental and non-governmental sectors, including diplomacy, policy analysis, advocacy and human-rights research.

Her work focuses on Afghanistan, Pakistan and the wider region, including international human-rights law, sharia law, gender studies and women’s rights. She prepares independent expert reports for immigration and asylum proceedings, addressing country-of-origin information analysis, risk on return, nationality and language assessment, Afghan documentation and Taliban governance where relevant to the instruction.

Nazifa has held senior positions including Head of the United States Desk at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Her practitioner experience includes work with UNAMA and ActionAid International in human rights and women’s empowerment, as well as service at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in London from 2011 to 2015.

She is a PhD candidate in Law at SOAS, University of London, with doctoral research on legal reform and women’s rights in post-2001 Afghanistan. She holds a Master’s degree in International Security and Diplomacy from the University of East Anglia and a BA in Law and Political Science from Kabul University.