Prior to joining MFY in April 2003, she was an OSI Community Fellow with New York Taxi Workers Alliance (“NYTWA”), where she provided legal support to the organization’s campaigns and provided direct representation to its members, including successfully challenging the summary suspension procedures implemented by the Taxi and Limousine Commission, advocating for government resources for drivers post 9-11, and a legislative campaign to increase the taxi-fare.
She began working for NYTWA as a Skadden Fellow at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, where she also represented South Asian domestic and construction workers to recover their wages. AALDEF is the first legal rights organization on the East Coast serving Asian Americans. At AALDEF, Ms. Huq co-directed the South Asian Workers Rights Project. The first project of its kind in New York City, SAWRP enforces the rights of low-wage South Asian workers including cab-drivers, domestic workers and construction workers.
Ms. Huq is one of the founders of South Asian Workers Rights Project (SAWRP). Championing the rights of the working class has deep roots for Ms. Huq, it runs in the family. Her father, Farhad Mazhar, after immigrating with his family to the U.S. decided to return to Bangladesh to continue his ideals to fight the social ills of his country.
After graduating from Columbia University in 1993, Ms. Huq worked as the Domestic Violence Coordinator at Sakhi for South Asian Women, a New York-based organization dedicated to ending violence against women. Ms. Huq then attended Northeastern University School of Law. She has served on Civil Rights and Immigration Law committees on the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and is a Board Member of the New York Civil Liberties Union. She is a part-time lecturer at the Labor Center at Rutgers University where she teaches Employment Law. Born in Bangladesh and raised in The Bronx, New York, Ms. Huq tries to connect her community based work in New York with international human rights issues.
