It was Jasvinder Sanghera’s book ‘Daughters of Shame’ that first inspired Arifa Nasim, then fourteen, to become an activist for forced marriage. The book is a collection of stories of women and men who had suffered in Forced Marriages and from Honour Based Abuse. Includes Jasvinder’s own story of how she escaped such a match at the age of 16 and her sister Robina’s tragic suicide due to her own abusive marriage. However it was the horrific story of Uzma Arshad, who was battered to death alongside her three small children for ‘dishonouring her husband, that truly affect Arifa.

“Uzma’s story cemented itself in my mind. I longed to save those children. Coming from an Irani-Pakistani background myself, I could have easily been in their position. But I wasn’t. My single mother didn’t subscribe to the notion of honour in the same way. I knew I had to act.”

She began the simplest form of activism she knew; talking. She talked to everyone she knew about the book including teachers, friends and her family. From this she began working with Jasvinder’s charity, Karma Nirvana, organising a charity dinner to raise funds and awareness for the group.

She spent hours absorbing new information, learning, researching, and attending conferences, understanding the difference in opinion within the Traditional Harmful Practices sector. Despite her young age, Arifa has worked as advisor and representative for Plan UK, internal governance and speaking at national education conferences such as The Festival of Education. She is on the UK Youth for Change secretariat, a DFID funded global movement working to promote effective and meaningful youth participation.

In 2015, Arifa was selected to be the first Official UK Youth Delegate to the United Nations. She attended the 70th UN General Assembly and spoke at High Level Events alongside Secretary of State Justine Greening.

In 2016, she became the Founder and Executive Director of Educate2Eradicate, an organisation that aims to eradicate FGM, Forced Marriage and Honour Abuse.

“Organically from my work talking to students and teachers in schools, the idea for E2E was born. This little seed of an idea was nurtured by a whole community of friends, colleagues, family members, schools and local government” she said on the formation of the organisation.

Educate2Eradicate provides safeguarding training for Front Line Professionals such as School Staff, Police Officers, Doctors and Midwives on the issues of Forced Marriage, Female Genital Mutilation and Honour Abuse. The organisation also provides awareness raising workshops for students and young people to ensure they know about these important issues.

“We believe the best form of protection is prevention. A part of our mission is to further inspire a ‘domino effect’ of activism amongst young people and encourage them to match their talent with their passion and find their linchpin. We believe in the limitless potential of young people and want to help them unlock it.”

Despite all the work Arifa does, the recently 21 year-old is still a full time Persian and History student at SOAS University of London. She subsequently became a Global Teen Leader at the 9th Just Peace Summit, held by the We Are Family Foundation in New York in 2017.