FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 18, 2017
Contact:
Kimberly Schor
Phone: +1-301-654-2774
Email: kschor [at] learningpartnership.org
(BETHESDA, MD) The international secretariat of Women’s Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace (WLP), an official partner of the Women’s March on Washington (WMW), will march with participants from the U.S. and around the world, on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. WLP is also rallying its grassroots partners across the world in solidarity with the Women’s March Global (WMG) to give voice to and support shared principles in sister marches and actions of solidarity.
“Our team here in Washington, DC and our partners around the world see the Women’s March as an important step in energizing and strengthening the global women’s movement. Our partnership of twenty independent women’s human rights organizations on four continents has as one of its goals: to bring the voice of women from societies that are usually not represented or heard to the global feminist dialogue. The March is a great step in that direction,” said Mahnaz Afkhami, founder, President and CEO of WLP. “We partner with the Women’s March because we believe that the aspirations of women across the world include the common goals of equality, tolerance, democracy, human rights, justice, and celebration of diversity. These goals are highlighted in WLP’s charter--values we all share.”
WLP’s partnership of women’s human rights organizations working in the Global South reflects universal values and is motivated by the promise of the global women’s movement of the 21st century: to create mutual momentum of feminist efforts by unifying around shared goals based on universal human rights while acknowledging that the obstacles faced by women in different countries are not cookie cutter issues. “Our future is related to how we can respect the rights of everyone and the diversity between each other. Jordanian women’s rights are very much linked to women’s human rights all over the world. We think of this as one movement,” Asma Khader, leading human rights lawyer and CEO of WLP’s partner in Jordan, Sisterhood is Global Institute-Jordan (SIGI/J) said. Andrea Romani, Program Director at WLP’s partner in Brazil, Cidadania, Estudo, Pesquisa, Informaçao e Açao (Cepia) stated: “Women's human rights are a central issue for democracy and social justice. This universal principle applies to all cultures and has guided Brazilian women in our struggle for equality, dignity and full citizenship. The more we can unite in spite of our differences, the more we advance towards acceptance of diversity." Joy Ngwakwe, Executive Director of WLP’s partner in Nigeria, Center for Advancement of Development Rights (CEADER) asserted: “When women are excluded from democratic processes the society operates at just half its capacity and development becomes sporadic.”
WLP’s partners are based in Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Turkey, and Zimbabwe and also include diaspora Iranian scholars and activists.
Social media:
Twitter: @wlp1, #WomensMarch, #WhyIMarch
Facebook: Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP)
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