Afghan Scholar on Gender-Based Violence and Human Rights

Mar 02, 2023 12:00 PM

Negina Khalili and Dean Madeleine Landrieu

Negina Khalili and Dean Madeleine Landrieu

Topic: Afghan Scholar on Gender-Based Violence and Human Rights

A prominent Afghan lawyer, Professor Negina Khalili worked in Afghanistan as a prosecutor of crimes against women and girls. Her goals as a lawyer are to help bring justice and equality to the women and girls of Afghanistan and to support democracy. Professor Khalili was the first female prosecutor in Ghor Province, the province where she grew up, where she served under the first female attorney general, specifically prosecuting cases of violence against women. She received her law degree in Afghanistan and served as a law professor there before the Taliban take-over, which forced her to flee her homeland last summer. During the 2022-23 academic year, Loyola is hosting Professor Khalili, a lawyer and expert in gender and the rights of women and girls. Through a partnership involving the College of Law and College of Arts and Sciences, Professor Khalili will serve as a guest lecturer at the law school and teach a human rights course for the undergraduate Honors Program at Loyola.

Madeleine M. Landrieu became Dean of Loyola University New Orleans College of Law (her Alma Mater) on July 1, 2017. Prior to her appointment, she served as a judge on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal for the State of Louisiana, and prior to that as a trial court judge on the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans. Prior to being elected to the bench, Dean Landrieu was a litigator in private practice. She has tried numerous cases to verdict in both judge and jury trials, representing clients in the areas of products liability, the general maritime law, Jones Act, medical malpractice, general negligence, family, juvenile, and criminal law. She has argued before several state circuit courts of appeal and the Louisiana Supreme Court. Dean Landrieu has spent a large part of her career advocating for improvements in laws and policies relative to children who come before the courts as a result of abuse or neglect. She is a founding Board member of the Louisiana Institute for Children in Families, and was instrumental in the launch of Louisiana’s Quality Parenting Initiative and Louisiana Fosters, efforts to raise awareness about the needs of abused and neglected children and their families. Dean Landrieu is a long-standing member of the Board of Directors of Covenant House New Orleans, a service provider for homeless, at-risk, and trafficked youth.