Issue 23 (Spring 2009)

Zainah Anwar, Musawah Project Director
Opening Speech at the Musawah Conference, Kuala Lumpur, February 2009

Read the Musawah Framework for Action.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Good morning.

Welcome to Kuala Lumpur and welcome to this Global Meeting to launch Musawah, a Global Movement for Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family.

This is a historic event. This is a groundbreaking event. We have here today about 250 participants from 47 countries. We are activists, academics, policy makers, Members of Parliament, judges, entrepreneurs, professionals – all leaders, all shakers and movers, with the courage of our convictions to demand and create a better life and a better world. Who says Muslim women are oppressed, discriminated, silenced and victimised? We are not and we refuse to be.

For decades now, we, all of us here, living in Muslim countries and minority communities in different parts of the world have been pushing for law reform to recognise equality between men and women, and to protect positive provisions in our laws against attempts to roll back the rights we have gained.

Yakın Ertürk, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women
Presentation at the Musawah Conference, Kuala Lumpur, February 2009

The universal human rights discourse, which I believe has deep roots in the struggles of oppressed people in Western as well as non-Western societies, is a dynamic and evolving system stimulated by demands for justice and freedom based on ethical reasoning. As such, it has captured the aspirations of people everywhere and there is a growing convergence around its core values--inherent in human dignity, justice, non-discrimination, equality, fairness and universality.

All member states of the UN are a party to at least one, if not more, of the human rights instruments; wars are now fought in the name of human rights; globalization and neo-liberal economic policies are opposed by people on ethical grounds on the basis of this or that 'rights-based' approach; many multinational corporations find it indispensable for their long term interests that they are perceived as respectful of human rights.

Since the 1980s, women’s rights activists have worked with the existing human rights framework to expand the vision of rights to respond to the specificities of violations of rights common in women’s experiences. In this respect, human rights theory and practice has expanded from a narrow liberal understanding towards a more comprehensive one and considerable transformations have taken place in terms of demystifying the public/private dichotomy that historically harboured the private sphere from public scrutiny. The doctrine of state responsibility has also changed from negative to positive responsibility and states are now accountable for acts of violence against women, whether perpetrated by the state itself or by private actors, in the public or in the private sphere.

Photo: Musawah

Alia Hogben, Executive Director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women
Presentation at the Musawah Conference, Kuala Lumpur, February 2009

Thank you for including the Canadian Council of Muslim Women in this vital discussion of EQUALITY WITHOUT EXCEPTION.

Surprisingly, equality is a very misunderstood term. I describe it as:
Treating all people equally, while accepting their individuality.

It is not limited by gender, race or religion. It is about respect and dignity. It does not mean being the same or identical, as it is accepting of diversity amongst individuals. And it does not mean that women want to be like men.

Equality has to be substantive. Laws must ensure opportunities and choices for full participation, as a citizen, in the political, social and economic life of society.

It is an unequivocal value and must never be sidelined by the use of other concepts such as equity or complementariness. It is equality and no less.

The Canadian Council of Muslim Women is an organization of believing women, and our premise was "equality without exception" when we advocated for changes in our laws so that NO religious laws would be applied in family matters.

Mahnaz Afkhami, President and CEO of WLP
Presentation at the Musawah Conference, Kuala Lumpur, February 2009

Over a decade ago I edited a book titled Faith and Freedom, subtitled Women’s Human Rights in the Muslim World. The contributors, coming from across the Muslim world and beyond, discussed the lives of over half a billion Muslim women living in diverse geographical, social, and cultural conditions. They agreed that though the women they studied were different from one another, they all shared one over-arching characteristic: for most of them modernity meant conflict—a spectrum of values and forces that compete for their allegiance and beckon them to contradictory ways of looking at themselves and at the world that surrounds them. The most intractable contradiction they face is between the demands of living in the contemporary world, and the requirements of tradition as determined and advanced by the modern Islamist world view. At the center of this conflict is the dilemma of Muslim women's human rights—whether Muslim women have rights because they are human beings, or whether they have rights because they are Muslim women. At the center of this dilemma is woman in the family—her rights and her obligations. The conclusions they then drew still hold; the challenges and the potentials still exist, though both have become more pronounced since then because of the global events in the past two decades. The challenges we face have been exacerbated, but our potential and capabilities have also increased dramatically. Faith and Freedom, my subject today, addresses these issues.

Common thread in successful family law campaigns: holistic approach, persistence, coalition building, & involving all sectors of society.
11:09 PM Feb 15th from web

Bhikkuni Dhammananda (Thailand) is rocking the house with mini stories. Imagination is our power she says.
8:47 PM Feb 14th from web

Nadia Ait Zai's (Algeria) conclusion focused on the citizenship framework as key for achieving equality.
8:22 PM Feb 14th from web

Sana Benachour's session provided a historical and insightful overview of how personal status laws were constructed.
8:20 PM Feb 14th from web

Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell and Sir Ketumile Masire, former President of Botswana, Sierra Leone, 2007. Photo courtesy of the Club of Madrid.

Kim Campbell, Former Prime Minister of Canada

Be a student of your own society, and understand that enlightened men may be your best allies. When I traveled to Sierra Leone supporting women and their political involvement, I went with Sir Ketumile Masire, former President of Botswana. He was 82 years old at the time. I was the woman who had broken through the glass ceiling. I was the example of what you could accomplish. But he was the respected, male, African leader who was speaking to the people who were not persuaded by me. He kept saying, "If you don't get the women engaged, you are walking on one leg. You've got to do this."

That is why you need to look for your allies where you can find them. Understand that some men will be on your side. Don't let the struggle become a male versus female. There are men and women who get it, and men and women who don’t get it. Always make it about making your society better.

The Sierra Leone women had this song they would sing. "Side by Side." They wanted to work with the men, side by side. Not ahead, not behind, side by side.

The Right Honourable Kim Campbell is a tireless advocate for women's advancement around the globe. She shared stories and lessons-learned with WLP staff in a recent interview. Ms. Campbell was the nineteenth and first female Prime Minister of Canada in 1993. She also held the cabinet portfolios of Minister of State for Indian Affairs, Minister of Justice and Attorney General, and Minister of National Defense and Veterans' Affairs.

• Earth Peace Revisited, a video made by an 11-year old where Pink Panther ruminates over human rights and wrongs.

Honorable mentions:

• Bouquet for UDHR video from Cameroon
• Honor Killing video from Palestine

Thank you participants. Congratulations winners.

To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the Young Women’s Learning Partnership (yWLP) program asked "What Does Human Rights Mean to You?"

Contestants submitted two-minute videos on YouTube that answered this question. The first place winner is taking home a personalized, tiny, and totally-cool Flip Mino digital video camera.