Naema Tahir

Naema Tahir is a British-Dutch writer, lecturer and human rights lawyer, of Pakistani origin. She is considered to belong to the avant garde of women in Europe who strive towards the emancipation of Muslim women.

Tahir read Dutch and International Law at Leiden University. She worked as a lawyer for ten years at various Dutch Ministries and the UNHCR (as protection officer in Lagos, Nigeria). She was a lawyer at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, specialized in economic and social human rights, a position she obtained through a competitive national exam. At the was Council she was appointed as a member of the Equal Opportunities Board by the Deputy Secretary General.

Tahir has authored books on the empowerment of Muslim women, their human rights and reproductive rights, identity, migration and integration, published in the Netherlands. 'Een Moslima ontsluiert' (A Muslim woman unveils, 2005, Houtekiet) dealt with the effects of migration on Islamic identity. The bestselling 'Kostbaar Bezit' (Prized Possession, 2006, Prometheus) was a controversial novel on the reproductive and sexual rights of Muslim women. The novel 'Eenzaam heden' (Lonesome today, 2008 Prometheus) dealt in a humoristic manner with the issue of identity of an isolated Pakistani family in London who find themselves mildly radicalising. In October 2008 'Green Riding Hood and the converted wolf' was launched - fairy tales on Muslims and morality in the West. Tahir is currently working on a novel on sharia and forced marriages to be launched in October 2010 by Publishing House The Geus.

Tahir featured in the book 'Derde Feministische Golf' (Third Feminist Wave, 2006 Houtekiet) by Dirk Verhofstadt (brother to the former Belgium Prime-Minister) who considers Tahir to be one of the most important voices on the emancipation of Muslim women. In 2008 Tahir appeared as a guest in the prestigious Dutch television programme Zomergasten.

Tahir is board member of E-Quality and was board member of Amnesty International. In 2006, Tahir joined the Worldconnectors, a Round Table Initiative of leading Dutch thinkers who aim to advance global thinking in the Netherlands. In 2009, Tahir was amongst the twenty-eight prominent Dutch to be appointed forum member for the Reading and Writing Foundation, which aims to combat illiteracy.