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English
Issue 5 (October)
Dear Friends,
We are pleased to send you this issue of our eNews reporting on a number of events that have given us and our colleagues around the world cause to celebrate.
Rabéa Naciri, president of l'Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc/Rabat, our partner organization in Morocco, informs us that through the collaboration of numerous NGOs, the text of a landmark reform bill that will greatly enhance the status of women in the family and society through changes in the personal status code (Moudawana) has been submitted to the Moroccan Parliament. Once the bill becomes law, an event expected next month, we will post the text on WLP's web site.
Two of our colleagues in the Middle East have been appointed to important and pivotal positions in the governments of their countries. Asma Khader, founder of our partner organization SIGI/Jordan and a foremost defender of women's human rights in her own country and internationally, was appointed Minister of State and Government Spokesperson in Jordan. Bouthaina Shaaban, a long time member of our network and an advisor for WLP's leadership program, was appointed Minister of Expatriates in the Syrian Arab Republic. Their appointments promise to advance the project of introducing new kinds of participatory, democratic leadership to their respective governments. In view of the resurgence of religious extremism, the work of these women leaders and their colleagues in non-governmental as well as governmental positions is an important factor in building an atmosphere of tolerance and moderation. We congratulate our friends and the governments that are privileged to benefit from their wisdom, dedication, and good sense.
We are jubilant that Nobel Peace Prize recipient Shirin Ebadi has been recognized for her defense of women's and children's rights in Iran. One of the first women in a Muslim majority society to be appointed a judge, Shirin lost her position when the Islamic theocracy was established in Iran after the revolution. However, she has continued to struggle for the rights of women, focusing on honor killings and on increasing the minimum age of marriage for girls, which had been reduced from 18 to 9 after the revolution. She has continued to work as an attorney and represent political prisoners and their families. She courageously maintains that there is no conflict between faith and freedom in Islam and that oppressive laws are in conflict with the letter and spirit of the religion.
We send our most heartfelt congratulations to these leaders for their achievements and to our network across the Global South, especially in Muslim majority countries. It is our belief and the oft-repeated opinion of our colleagues themselves that their individual achievements are owed to the work of all and the honors are a recognition of the justice of the struggle for women's rights across the world.
Best Regards,
Mahnaz Afkhami
President
Women's Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace
In this Issue
- Articles
- Latest News
Latest News
Asma Khader Chosen for 2003 UNDP Poverty Eradication Award
WLP partner Asma Khader was selected by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for the 2003 Poverty Eradication Award for her efforts to advance the Millennium Development Goals in the Arab region. Ms. Khader is founder of the National Network for Poverty Alleviation, an association of government and non-governmental organizations dedicated to eradicating poverty in Jordan. A human rights activist and lawyer, she is Coordinator of the Sisterhood Is Global Institute/Jordan and a member of the Arab Lawyers Union, the Arab Organization for Human Rights, and the Executive Committee of the International Commission of Jurists. Elected to the Permanent Arab Court as Counsel on violence against women, she is a leading advocate of the campaign to outlaw honor killing. Ms. Khader is one of five awardees to be honored at the 7th annual Poverty Eradication Awards ceremony at UN headquarters on 29 October. Congratulations Asma!
Iranian Lawyer and Activist Shirin Ebadi Awarded Nobel Peace Prize
Human rights and democracy activists everywhere celebrated on October 10 as Shirin Ebadi became the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. For the past three decades Ms. Ebadi has steadfastly worked to improve Iranian women's legal rights and to protect the rights of the child. She is founder and head of the Association for Support of Children’s Rights in Iran. “As one of the first female judges in the Muslim world, as a writer on issues of women's and children's rights, as an advocate for human rights, and as a special attorney for dissidents and political prisoners, Shirin has conducted a courageous struggle for justice for the abused and the oppressed,” said WLP President Mahnaz Afkhami. “This prize represents all that she stands for and that other like-minded women in Muslim majority countries are struggling to achieve.” Ms. Ebadi is the eleventh woman to receive the award, the last three of whom were human rights activists.
Order Your Copy of WLP’s Multimedia Package on Leadership
WLP’s multimedia learning package, Leading to Choices: A Multimedia Curriculum for Leadership Learning is available for order. The package provides an interactive, scenario-based curriculum for developing advocacy, communications, and facilitation skills, and may be used by women's human rights activists, democracy advocates, and educators. The multimedia package includes Leading to Choices: A Leadership Training Handbook for Women, three learning guides, and three videos featuring women leaders from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The course materials were developed by WLP in cooperation with our partners in ten countries. Visit WLP's online store to order your copy.
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Issue 5 (October) )
Workshops in Afghanistan and Cameroon Evaluate Leadership Learning
WLP's partners the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) and Community Education and Development Services (CEDS) recently conducted leadership workshops in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Cameroon. Both AIL and CEDS also conducted their first evaluation workshops with women who had previously participated in leadership training courses using the Leading to Choices curriculum. The evaluation workshops are designed to measure improvements in women's ability to exercise leadership and to determine how participants' leadership skills have led to positive changes in their families and communities, improvement in the effectiveness of women's advocacy efforts, and development of local and regional networks.
International Leaders Prioritize Human Security at WLP Conference “Clash or Consensus”
Washington DC - More than 250 activists, academics, policy-makers, and organizational and religious leaders from over 20 countries gathered at WLP's human security conference, "Clash or Consensus: Gender and Human Security in a Globalized World" on October 8-9, 2003. Organized in collaboration with the Global Fund for Women, the conference provided a forum for women leaders and human security experts from the Global South - particularly from Muslim societies - to explore ways to discuss and define human security goals and challenges from a perspective that is people-centered.
While the concept of security has been traditionally concerned with the security of states and the shoring up of borders, the notion of human security encompasses the social, political, economic, and cultural needs and rights of individuals and communities in our increasingly interconnected societies and provides a viable framework for achieving sustainable societal change.
