Sultana Tafadar KC operates at the intersection of law, policy and systemic reform — advising States, institutions, NGOs and international organisations on human rights compliance, legal system harmonisation and the development of new legal frameworks. Her advisory work is not abstract. It is grounded in two decades of frontline practice and directed at outputs that change how law is written, interpreted and applied — and, at the highest level of ambition, at how international law itself is structured.

The Girls Human Rights Act — A Legislative Revolution

The most significant legislative initiative Sultana is developing is the Girls Human Rights Act (GHRA) — a model legislative framework that represents a fundamental rethinking of how domestic law protects girls.

The problem the GHRA addresses is structural. In virtually every jurisdiction, legal protections relevant to girls are fragmented across criminal statutes, family law, education legislation, equality provisions, immigration rules and child protection systems. The result is incoherence: enforcement standards vary, institutional responsibilities overlap or fall into gaps, and access to remedies depends on procedural accident rather than substantive right. Girls — as a distinct legal category — are poorly served by a system that was never designed with them specifically in mind.

The GHRA responds to this by providing a harmonised statutory architecture that states can adopt in full or use as a benchmark for domestic reform. It is organised around 16 substantive domains — including violence, exploitation, education, health, digital harm, economic participation, displacement, disability, conflict protection and access to justice. Each domain translates international obligations into operational domestic provisions, with clear rights statements, institutional duties and enforcement mechanisms.

This is a legislative drafting exercise, not a policy advocacy document. It is grounded in comparative law analysis and international legal standards, and designed to function as a practical legal instrument capable of influencing reform at national and international level. There is no equivalent. No existing international instrument treats girls as a distinct legal category with their own comprehensive framework. The GHRA fills that gap.

The GHR Index Tracker — Measuring the Gap Between Law and Reality

Even the strongest legislation fails if it is not enforced. The Girls Human Rights Index Tracker (GHR-IT) is Sultana’s mechanism for holding states to account on exactly that gap — between what the law says and what actually happens to girls in practice.

The GHR-IT is a structured comparative assessment tool that examines how states protect girls in law and in practice. It is deliberately legal in character — not a perception survey or ranking exercise, but a technical accountability instrument relying on statutory analysis, case law review, institutional assessment and publicly available enforcement data. Each country assessment examines the existence, scope and enforceability of legal protections, the adequacy of enforcement mechanisms and the accessibility of remedies — with particular attention to implementation gaps that persist even where legislation appears formally compliant.

The Index is structured regionally, with designated lead law firms coordinating research within allocated jurisdictions using a defined methodology to ensure cross-country comparability. Outputs — individual country profiles, regional summaries and a consolidated publication — are designed to inform reform dialogue, support legislative development and provide an evidence base for strategic engagement by policymakers, NGOs and international bodies. The GHR-IT will be hosted on a dedicated digital platform with AI-assisted monitoring to flag legislative amendments and policy developments, subject to legal verification protocols.

Together, the GHRA and the GHRI-T form an integrated system: the Act defines the standard; the Index measures compliance with it. This is systems change as architecture, not advocacy.

Advisory Expertise

Beyond these flagship instruments, Sultana’s advisory practice spans:

• Human rights compliance and legal harmonisation - Advising States and institutions on aligning national legislation with international human rights frameworks, including ECHR obligations, UN treaty commitments and regional human rights instruments.

• Counter-terrorism and national security — evaluating counter-terrorism and national security laws for rights compliance; advising on the lawful limits of state power, surveillance, proscription and the application of terrorism legislation to expression and protest. She has been a rostered OSCE expert since 2015.

• Transitional justice and post-conflict settings — advising on legal redress, accountability mechanisms and access to justice in post-conflict contexts, drawing on her early career work at the Amnesty International International Secretariat on programmes in Darfur, Iraq and other conflict zones.

• Arbitrary detention and fair trial rights — advising on detention practices, parole, pre-trial detention and appeal processes across jurisdictions through her long-standing membership of Fair Trial International’s Legal Expert Advisory Panel.

• Parliamentary and legislative engagement — advising on proposed legislation and its human rights implications. Her briefings for SOAS’s Influencing Corridors of Power programme have covered the Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Bill, the Covert Human Intelligence Sources Bill and emerging counter-terrorism legislation. She has chaired and contributed to webinars reaching hundreds of lawyers and policy professionals on live legislative developments.

• Women, girls and marginalised groups — developing legal tools and protective frameworks addressing gender-based violence, reproductive rights, digital exploitation and discriminatory laws, informed by her work on the GHRA and GHRH’s international programming across more than 30 countries.

DEI, Islamophobia & Inclusion

Sultana delivers specialist DEI training with a particular focus on Islamophobia, religious discrimination and genuine inclusion in professional environments. She has delivered this training to corporations, regulators, law firms across the City; and to public sector bodies — drawing on her experience as Chair of the Bar Standards Board’s Taskforce on Religion and Belief. Her training goes beyond awareness-raising — it provides legal grounding, practical frameworks and institutional tools for embedding genuine inclusion. Under her chairmanship, the BSB Taskforce has developed practical resources to dismantle structural barriers for lawyers of faith across the Bar, with direct institutional impact on the culture and diversity of the legal profession.

Appointments

• Founder, Girls Human Rights Hub - Non-profit organisation combating discrimination and violence against girls (2023-present).

• Chair, Taskforce on Religion & Belief, Bar Standards Board - Advising BSB on the development of DEI strategy, policy and activity with regards to religion & belief. (April 2021- Present)

• JUSTICE, Council Member - Contributing to the work of law reform and human rights charity . (Jan 2023 – Present)

• Advisory Board, Influencing Corridors of Power (ICOP), SOAS, University of London - Promoting university-based research in Westminster. Advising on enquiries and new, proposed legislation. (Feb 2022 - Present)

• Legal Advisory Panel, The People’s Review of Prevent - Alternative review platform giving a voice to those impacted by the Prevent duty, Countering Violent Extremism programme in the UK. (Aug 2021-Present)

• Special Advisor on Human Rights, Oxford Initiative for Global Ethics & Human Rights - Advising on projects in relation international human rights issues. (July 2020 – Present)

• Head of Strategic Litigation, Muslim Lawyers Action Group (MLAG) - Overseeing strategic litigation cases; advising on legal developments (April 2020 – 2022).

• Member of Legal Expert Advisory Panel (LEAP), Fair Trial International - Advise on fair trial safeguards, pre-trial detention, appeals processes. Annual conferences: Netherlands (Feb 2015), Greece (Mar 2017), Bulgaria (Feb 2018), Online (2021). (Oct 2014 – Present)

• Roster for Criminal Justice Sector Experts dealing with Counter-Terrorism, Organisation for Security & Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) – Roster of experts to assist with responses to terrorism consistent with human rights standards. (2015-Present)

• Member of Detention Experience, Advocat Sans Frontieres (ASF)- Specialist network of lawyers providing legal responses to arbitrary detentions in Uganda. (Dec 2020 -Present)

• Joint Director of Counsel for Leadership (CfL) - Bespoke leadership training programmes delivered to participants from the UN, Home Office, British Medical Association (2013).

• Previously worked at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in the Africa Program; the Middle East Program; and the International Justice Project of the International Law Program.

To discuss an advisory engagement, legislative collaboration or DEI training, contact Sultana.