'Don't forget us': Teenage refugee reminds Gen Z of silenced Afghan girls

Nila Ibrahim was chosen from 165 nominees as the 20th winner of the prestigious prize.

The award recognises not just the work done on HerStory, but also her passion for standing up for women's rights in Afghanistan.

Nila's first stand for women's rights came in March 2021, when she joined other young Afghan girls in sharing a video of her singing online.

It was a small but powerful protest against a decree by the then-director of education in the Afghan capital, Kabul, who tried to ban girls over 12 singing in public. The attempted order was never implemented.

"That was when I really understood the importance of performing, the importance of speaking up and talking about these issues," explains Nila, who was part of a group called Sound of Afghanistan.

But less than six months later, everything would change - and, aged 14, she would have to flee with her family as the Taliban arrived.

The family - who are part of Afghanistan's Hazara minority - made the difficult journey to Pakistan, where they spent a year before being granted asylum in Canada.

It was, after 12 months without education, a "breath of fresh air", she says.

There, Nila was reunited with her friends from the singing group.

She was also invited to speak at events, about her experiences of Afghanistan, allowing her to advocate for all the girls left behind.

People, she says, were surprised at how eloquent she was. But Nila knew there were millions of women and girls in Afghanistan who were just as capable - although with less access to the opportunities she had.

"So I thought if my potential can surprise these people and they don't know about how educated girls from Afghanistan can be, what if that information was accessible to them?"

HerStory - the website which grew out of this thought - started in 2023. It features interviews and first person accounts from both refugees and women inside Afghanistan.

The idea is to create a safe space where a group of people who "grew up with the stories of the first period of Taliban and how horrible the lives of women were at the time" share their stories - and their "shock and anger" at finding themselves in an increasingly similar situation.

The anger is a feeling Nila tries to keep separate from her work.

"When you see Afghanistan going back in time in 20 years, of course it makes you fear," she says.

"It's a shared feeling. It's a shared experience for girls anywhere."

The award, she says, is a chance for Afghan girls to once again remind the world about the restrictions they face on a daily basis - a reminder "not to forget Afghan girls".

Marc Dullaert, founder of the KidsRights Foundation, which runs the award, pointed out that a "staggering" number of young women were currently being excluded from education.

"Nila’s inspirational work to provide them with a voice that will be heard across the world makes her a truly worthy winner of this year’s 20th International Peace Prize,” he added.

It is also a reminder that her generation - while young - can make a difference, Nila hopes.

"I think so many times when we talk about issues and different causes, we talk about it with the very adult like approach of oh, this is very serious," she says.

"The world is a very scary place, but there is an approach that is more Gen Z-like... and we can take little steps and... do whatever we can."