Ferghanaa Ansari is a lawyer working as a Research Associate at the Research Society of International Law, while concurrently serving as a Research Associate at the Center of Excellence for International Law, Institute of Strategic Studies Research and Analysis, National Defence University.

At RSIL, Fer Ghanaa works on numerous projects with the Ministry of Human Rights, the UNODC and the UNDP involving research in human rights law, criminal law, and constitutional law. At NDU, she writes advisory policy papers for the civilian and military leadership on key issues of international law relating to Pakistan.

Before joining RSIL, she served as an intern at the International Committee of the Red Cross where she worked on compiling Pakistan’s State Practice on Customary International Humanitarian Law, after which she interned at Fazleghani Advocates, where she was given the opportunity to draft petitions and appeals for the superior courts.

Other than this, Fer Ghanaa has taught at the US Department of State’s English Access Micro scholarship Program and volunteered as the Editor of an educational development magazine called “The Reformer” by ASCD Pakistan. She has also conducted various community development initiatives including anti-harassment legal awareness and self-defense sessions for women.

Fer Ghanaa completed her BA-LLB from Quaid-i-Azam University and has also completed her Masters in English Literature. During her undergraduate studies, she went to the US on a fully-funded semester exchange through the US State Department’s Global-UGRAD program. She participated in the Ventotene International Seminar on global federalism held in Italy, and in numerous moot court competitions as well.

A one-day Self-Defense training and legal information session on harassment was conducted by our Salamti Fellow, Fer Ghana Ansari. It was aimed to provide women not only with essential self-protection skills but also with legal awareness. It carried a message that harassment and threats to personal security will not deter women from reclaiming their public spaces and discovering their potential. This supported the strong notion that every time a woman clear a hurdle, demonstrating not only physical strength, but also leadership and strategic thinking, they take a step towards gender equality. This activity provided young girls with support to take up the challenge and demonstrate their power. Expert trainer from Fight Fortress including Head Coach Aatif Imtiaz Butt conducted the self-defense training, and an interactive legal awareness session by a Gender-Based-Violence expert Ms. Sidra Humayun on laws against sexual harassment and violence, and legal recourse and remedies available to women both for the workplace and public place. Extensive discussion took place on the patriarchy and gender roles and how there is a need to minimize gender role expectations in order to form a more peaceful society.