Islamic laws, especially sharia law, during an interview in Canada with a Persian-language newspaper. During the 2003 Loya Jirga, several religious conservatives took out an advertisement in a local newspaper calling Samar the Salman Rushdie of Afghanistan. Samar is currently the head of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). She also established Gawharshad Institute of Higher Education in 2010, which has attracted more than 1200 students in a very short amount of its activities. In 2019, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Samar as one of eight members of the High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement under the leadership of Federica Mogherini and Donald Kaberuka. Samar became a member of the Truth and Justice party which was formed in 2011. Samar publicly refuses to accept that women must be kept in purdah (secluded from the public) and speaks out against the practice of wearing the burqa (head-to-foot wrap), which was enforced first by the fundamentalist mujahideen and then by the Taliban. She also has drawn attention to the fact that many women in Afghanistan suffer from osteomalacia, a softening of the bones, due to an inadequate diet. Wearing the burqa reduces exposure to sunlight and aggravates the situation for women suffering from osteomalacia. Recognition Samar is one of the four main subjects in Sally Armstrong's 2004 documentary Daughters of Afghanistan. In the documentary, Sima Samar's work as the Minister of Women's Affairs and her subsequent fall from power is shown. Samar has received numerous international awards for her work on human rights and democracy, including: 1994 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership; 1995 Global Leader for Tomorrow from the World Economic Forum in Switzerland; The 1998 100 Heroines Award in the United States; The Paul Grunninger Human Rights Award, Paul Grunninger Foundation, Switzerland March 2001; The Voices of Courage Award, Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, New York, June 2001; The John Humphrey Freedom Award, Rights & Democracy, Canada 2001; Ms. magazine, Women of the Year on behalf of Afghan Women, USA December 2001; Women of the Month, Toronto, Canada, December 2001; Best Social Worker Award, Mailo Trust Foundation, Quetta, Pakistan March 2001; International Human Rights Award, International Human Rights Law Group, Washington, DC April 2002; Freedom Award, Women's Association for Freedom and Democracy, Barcelona July 2002; Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, New York October 2002; The Perdita Huston Human Rights Award 2003; Profile in Courage Award 2004; and