2020 Avicenna Peace Award Laureate
Senator Dr. Anarkali Honaryar
Affiliation at the time of the award: Member of the National Assembly of Afghanistan
Prize motivation: Human Rights Activist
Anarkali Kaur Honaryar is Sikh Afghan politician. She is also a women's rights activist and a dentist, as well as a medical doctor. She is the first non-Muslim member of the National Assembly of Afghanistan.
When Taliban was ousted in 2001, Honaryar studied medicine at the Kabul University. She has been a member of the Loya Jirga which chose Afghanistan's interim government after the decline of Taliban, and also an Afghan Constitution Committee member. In 2006, she became a member of Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.
In 2010, Honaryar was elected for the country's Meshranoi Jirga, and she was the first non-Muslim woman to achieve the milestone, she left from her post in mid-2015.
Honaryar is a well-known human rights activist and has been awarded with the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence. "for her work helping women who suffer from domestic abuse, forced marriages and gender discrimination and for her commitment to promote the ideals of human dignity, human rights, mutual respect and tolerance in her country." Honaryar was also chosen by Radio Free Europe's Afghan chapter as person of the year in 2009.
Currently, Dr. Honryar is a member of (Committee of Religious Affairs, Cultural and Educational in ministry of education and ministry of higher education), member of Women's Parliamentary Coalition of National Assembly, member of Afghan Women's Network, member of Afghan Minority Council, member of all Afghan Jirga in the last two decades. she also participated in Qatar's Talks with Taliban.