Aziza Akrami, an entrepreneur and human rights advocate, has been named Afghanistan’s Youth Representative to the United Nations, becoming the fifth young Afghan to hold the role, organisers said.

The position, awarded annually through a competitive process run by a civil society group, resumed this year after a three-year pause following the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in August 2021.

Akrami was chosen from three finalists, Fatema Forotan, Wazhma Rahmani and Akrami, in a speech competition held on 11 September in The Hague. Previous youth representatives include Ramiz Bakhtiar, Aisha Khurram, Shukla Zadran and Ahmad Fawad Shahanyar.

Akrami is a co-founder of Empowered Circle, an organisation that has delivered health and education services to more than 8,000 women and children in underserved areas of Afghanistan since 2021.

Organisers said her work as both an entrepreneur and a human rights defender helped secure her selection for the role.