I was invited to a seminar this week about radicalisation of British Muslim youths. A former navy man present, now working for a British Government department, claimed the root cause of radicalisation of young British Muslims was their lack of role models. Where are the Muslim footballers, the Muslim pop stars, the well-known Muslim entrepreneurs? He rightly described their anger and noted their ability to find oxygen for their anger online in extremist forums and chat rooms where they were made to feel part of the Muslim Ummah and contentedly separated from British life. For him, here was the key - find Muslim role models in Britain and the wannabe terrorists will become sportsmen, set up businesses and train as ballerinas. In sum, switch ammonium nitrate for tutus and these youths will be Brits first and Muslims second.

We are honouring Nazanin Afshin-Jam for her tireless efforts to shed light into the shadowy corners of conflict, to expose and end the abuses that ruin the lives of so many children in Iran. Her work exemplifies the ideals of the human rights movement: “courage, an unswerving commitment to justice and a genuine concern for the rights of all victims.”

Unquestionably, this young talented Iranian born Canadian citizen has been a role model and has earned our respect, not only among most Iranians around the world, but in many other countries where she has visited and spoken about Human rights issues. She has the determination of unquestionable integrity, sensitivity to the needs of others and willingness to help wherever the help is needed. She is a courageous human rights activist, who is exposing horrific crimes about child executions in the Islamic Republic of Iran. She has also helped several key cases of Iranian refugees who were going to be deported back to Iran and likely face severe persecution.

Nazanin Afshin-Jam, this dazzling gem of Iran, has a huge mission in life. As good a human being as she is and almost unnervingly nice, she is relentlessly positive, a one-person cheering section of smiles. She has elevated what it means to be an Iranian and what it means to be a child of Cyrus the Great.