Nazia Hashimyar wins Democracy Prize 2023

KABUL (Khaama Press): The National Democracy Institute has announced that it will award the Democracy Prize for 2023 to Nazia Hashmiyar, an Afghan journalist. The institute stated that this year’s Democracy Prize has been dedicated to her in recognition of her efforts as an Afghan journalist to raise awareness among the people.
The National Endowment for Democracy, also known as NED announced on Tuesday that the 40th anniversary of this institution will be celebrated today in Washington, D.C.
According to reports, this program has brought together figures from Congress, the Biden administration, activists and leaders of democracy from around the world, members of the media community, diplomatic corps, and other human rights advocates. The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a non-profit organization created with the aim of promoting and strengthening democratic institutions worldwide.
This institution awards over a thousand prizes annually to individuals and groups who work towards democratic goals in more than 90 countries. It should be noted that freedom of speech, media independence, and access to information against women journalists in Afghanistan have decreased since August 2021.
Furthermore, Damon Wilson, the President and CEO of this institution, has emphasized that journalists are frontline fighters for freedom and are adapting their legacy to meet the complex challenges of democracy. He stated, “We are not only celebrating NED’s anniversary but also uniting our community to confront the new challenges of democracy.”
This comes in the wake of a report from the Afghanistan Journalists Support Organization (AJSO), published on World Press Freedom Day, which highlighted that after the rise of the Taliban administration, four out of five women journalists in Afghanistan (84%) had lost their jobs.
Previously, Marjan Wafa Mohammadi, an Afghan journalist and two other country journalists, received the Best Journalist of 2023 award from the Afghanistan Journalists Center.