LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (November 16, 2015) — Hadiqa Bashir of the Khyber Province of Pakistan was honored at the 2015 Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards in September as a Six Core Principle award recipient for her Conviction in dedicating her young life to the advocacy of women’s and girl’s rights against forced child marriage in Pakistan. Recently she was presented with another award by the Pakistani Senate Chairman, Senator Raza Rabbani.

During a special session of the Pakistani senate, the Honorable Chairman Rabbani introduced Bashir and her life’s work, presenting her with an Appreciation Award, to which she received unanimous applause.

As a pioneer of the Girls United for Human Rights Group, Bashir hails from District Swat in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province which once remained under the control of the Taliban. The Girls United for Human Rights’ mission is to empower disfranchised girls in rural regions of Pakistan, eliminate socioeconomic inequality, facilitate self-reliance, enable local self-governance, and promote people’s advocacy. Their goals are to reduce discrimination and violence against girls, including early and forced marriages, and to generate awareness and provide education to women and girls about their rights. Bashir’s promotion of gender equality against the popular beliefs of her patriarchal culture is a courageous demonstration of her conviction to bring about social justice for young women. Bashir is only 14 years old.