Laila Azmy

Laila Azmy is a rising Junior undergrad at Wesleyan University, where she is majoring in American Government and Sociology, with a minor in Human Rights Advocacy. Her academic interests include pro-poor social policy reform, government accountability, and political extremism. Prior to her fellowship with the Advocacy Project, Laila traveled to Nepal with the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR) and the Network of Families of the Disappeared Nepal (NEFAD) to conduct field research on the needs of families of those disappeared by the state during the Nepali civil war. While in Nepal, she was particularly struck by the power of grassroots activism anchored in love, memory, and accountability, which profoundly shaped her understanding of how social change happens. Currently, she is building on this field research to synthesize the data with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and human rights claims. The final product will be a flexible guidebook for relevant Nepali stakeholders for requesting development based aid to address the material needs of conflict-affected persons. Laila is looking forward to furthering her sustained interest in effective, survivor-led transitional justice processes through her AP fellowship. This upcoming summer, she will be working with other Fellows in Nepal to establish a transitional justice research center for local and international students in partnership with NEFAD and Kathmandu University. She is eager to support both NEFAD’s programmatic capacity building abilities and their broader mission of raising awareness about the unresolved situation of the disappeared in Nepal and beyond.