Ajmal Pashtoonyar

Bio

Ajmal is currently a policy analyst with the International Legal Programs Section, Department of Justice and has previously worked with the Afghanistan Task Force at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

Prior to that, Ajmal worked with the United Nations Development Program in Kenya as the focal point for youth and also contributed to UN's African youth development initiatives in Uganda and Ethiopia. He also worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva and drafted the agency's first policy paper on refugee youth empowerment.

Ajmal has also volunteered with numerous human rights and social justice organizations, including the Canadian Red Cross and OXFAM Canada. He was also the pro bono legal researcher for Senator Roméo Dallaire on child soldiers' issues. In 2002-2003, Ajmal was one of the 10 Youth Mine Action Ambassadors in Canada and conducted outreach in the campaign to ban landmines.

Originally from Afghanistan, Ajmal is the 1998 recipient of World University Service of Canada's (WUSC) Student Refugee Sponsorship. Ajmal was sponsored by the College of the North Atlantic, Burin campus in Newfoundland. Ajmal holds a B.A. in Political Science from Memorial University and a LL.B. from University of Ottawa.

Issue of Investigation

As a 2009 Gordon Global Fellow, Ajmal will conduct a comparative study of approaches to transitional justice in conflict affected regions. By undertaking field research, he will investigate the successes and challenges to implementing transitional justice processes in Bosnia Herzegovina, Rwanda and Sierra Leone and examine international community response to transitional justice in Afghanistan.