Dr. Samar currently serves as the Special Envoy of the President of Afghanistan and State Minister for Human Rights and International Relations of Afghanistan.  She is also a member of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation and a board member of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement. She is the Chair of Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF) and Head of the National Commission on the Prevention of Torture in Afghanistan. She previously served as the UN’s Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Sudan between 2005 and 2009. She was also the inaugural chair of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, the Vice Chair of the Emergency Loya Jirga, and the Deputy Chair and Minister of Women’s Affairs in the post-Taliban Interim Administration of Afghanistan. Dr. Samar has participated in many international forums on human rights, democracy, and transitional justice. Her contributions have been widely recognised and she is the recipient of several prestigious awards.