‘Comic artist’ with a cause

Activist artist: Shazeera uses various ways to raise awareness about human rights and torture prevention – one of them is through her love of drawing comics. — Handouts

COMING from a family deeply involved in political activism, championing human rights was always a calling for activist Shazeera Zawawi, who works with the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) in Geneva, Switzerland.

“I’m legally trained but I don’t think I was built to be a lawyer that litigates. Working in the field of human rights is closer to my heart, ” she tells Sunday Star in a recent telephone interview.

“I’m also very afraid of the judges. They always scare me!” she adds candidly.

A law graduate from Universiti Malaya with a masters in Applied Human Rights from Britain’s York University, Shazeera has spent 16 years in the human rights field and has been with APT’s Asia Pacific team since 2013.

In her day to day work with the APT, Shazeera engages with government and non-government bodies all across the Asia Pacific – “from Mongolia to Fiji, ” she says.

“On a daily basis I work on different levels. First, we provide technical expertise and advice to our partners in areas of torture prevention. For example, we will come in and support a state if they want to introduce laws that criminalise torture, or if authorities request training on how to handle detainees during the first hour of custody, ” she explains.

Shazeera also conducts high-level negotiations and advocacy by working with the diplomatic core, local NGOs, faith-based organisations, academics and anyone willing to be a part of torture prevention efforts.

Shazeera admits that in the beginning, she worried that getting involved in torture prevention might turn her into someone bitter due to the dark topic she would be dealing with.

Instead, the exact opposite happened.

“I found that the more I dove into it, the more I realised the need for us to convey positive narratives about human rights. Give a human face to issues and problems, ” says Shazeera, who credits her resilience to the immense support given by her colleagues.

But advocacy for Shazeera goes beyond the office.

Merging her hobby of drawing with her passion for human rights, Shazeera uses comics as an ingenious way to discuss complex matters relating to torture prevention.

“I find that there is power in using visual images to communicate messages and to represent or unpack difficult issues. It is one of the best mediums, ” she says

To accurately portray the stories of the people she meets, Shazeera includes as much evidence into her comics as possible.

“The first comic I drew relates to the case of an enforced disappearance of an activist in Thailand. When I saw how widely it was distributed, and that even the victim’s family members appreciated the comic, I never looked back, ” she says of her documentary-style comics.

Among those who inspire Shazeera are the determined female activists across Asia who work steadfastly to protect human dignity.

“You see many strong ladies who work to defend human rights and promote peace, as commissioners, as ombudsmen and so on. They may not take centre stage, but they are really crucial to the work and are the playmakers, ” she says.

“We need to tell more stories of women in this field. Their contribution is immense.”