International Symposium - Leading to Change: Eliminating Violence Against Women in Muslim Societies

"Violence against women is an obstacle to the achievement of the objectives of equality, development, and peace. Violence against women both violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of their human rights and fundamental freedoms. The long-standing failure to protect and promote those rights and freedoms in the case of violence against women is a matter of concern to all States and should be addressed...In all societies, to a greater or lesser degree, women and girls are subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse that cuts across lines of income, class, and culture." -Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women

PRESENTED BY
Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP)
with the support of the
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
WHEN
March 1, 2005
9:30 AM On-site Registration
WHERE
The Church Center
Plaza Room – 2nd Floor
777 UN Plaza
New York, NY

SYMPOSIUM

Violence against women, a manifestation of the historically unequal power relations between men and women, today remains one of the primary obstacles to empowering women and achieving peace and security for all. Women have been systematically deprived of knowledge and skills that might help them to become better equipped to protect themselves against violence, including knowledge of the existing laws, religious texts, positive cultural resources, international injunctions on human rights, and the demands made by other women for rights in their community and elsewhere. In the WLP Symposium, speakers will address major challenges to eliminating violence against women and girls and discuss grassroots, national, and regional measures needed to raise awareness, initiate reform legislation, and create synergy for ongoing efforts to prevent violence and to promote women's human rights.

SPEAKERS

Speakers at the Symposium will include women activists, scholars, and policy-makers from Muslim-majority societies and experts on violence against women including:

• Hafsat Abiola (Nigeria), Founder and Executive Director, Kudirat Initiative for Democracy
• Mahnaz Afkhami (Iran/USA), Founder and President, Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP)
• Zainah Anwar (Malaysia), Executive Director, Sisters in Islam
• Charlotte Bunch (USA), Founder and Executive Director, Center for Women's Global Leadership
• Yakin Ertürk (Turkey), UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Its Causes and Consequences
• Hilary Fisher (United Kingdom), Director, "Stop Violence Against Women" campaign, Amnesty International
• Noeleen Heyzer (Singapore), Executive Director, UNIFEM
• Ayesha Imam (Nigeria), Chief of Culture, Gender, and Human Rights Branch, UNFPA
• Asma Khader (Jordan), Minister of Culture & Government Spokesperson, Jordan
• Amina Lemrini (Morocco), Board Member, Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc, Rabat
• Rabéa Naciri (Morocco), President, Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc, Rabat
• Jacqueline Pitanguy (Brazil), Co-Founder and Director, CEPIA: Citizenship, Studies, Information and Action
• Sakena Yacoobi (Afghanistan), Founder and President, Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL)

Women’s Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace (WLP) empowers women and girls in the Global South to re-imagine and re-structure their roles in their families, communities, and societies. WLP achieves this goal through providing leadership training, supporting capacity building, and helping women use new technologies to generate and receive information and knowledge. WLP is an international, non-governmental organization in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.