Women
without Borders has the great opportunity to participate in the Trust
Women Conference in London organized by Thomson Reuters Trust Law
Foundation and the International Herald Tribune. This year's
conference focus is „Putting the Rule of Law behind Women's Rights“
- an issue that couldn't be more up to date.
After
a brief video message by Aung San Su Kyi, the theme of today,
“Culture and Law”, was introduced by Nobel Peace Prize laureate
and Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi. She highlighted the problems that
arise for a society and especially the women in it when its culture
and its legal system contradict each other. The many different
speakers, such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born activist, Sima
Samar, the remarkable Chairwoman of the Afghan Independent Human
Rights Commission and the Academy Award winning documentary filmmaker
Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, highlighted the dangers that a dual legal
system, one formal, another ruled by entrenched traditions, poses to
an equal society –what happens, when culture “clashes” law.
Women
around the world have been faced with severe violations of their
rights, ranging from forced (child) marriage to acid attacks, FGM and
honor killings, just to name a few. Also, they have been denied
education, emancipation and a life that is equal in rights to their
male peers. In their arbitrariness, many of the practices that
inhibit women's emergence have been justified with culture and
sometimes religion, making them thus impalpable to foreign critics.
However,
aside from the destitute situations in many countries, there were
also positive narratives to be heard. Mercy Chidi, for example, of
Tumaini Girls Rescue Centre in Kenya, told the delegates about a
petition that was filed in October on the behalf of hundreds of
Kenyan girls to force the police to investigate and prosecute rape
cases they say have been ignored. They subsequently sued the
government for failing to protect them from rape, a historic moment
in Kenya. Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy told the story of a young Pakistani
woman that tries to challenge the mindset of rural Pakistani
communities by asking them simple questions.
The
general consensus of this first day of the conference was that women,
who had been affected in any way by a violation of their basic
rights, do not want to be designated as victims. They want to take
action within their societies in order to prevent other women and
girls from suffering similar fates or to change the way of history in
their societies.
Another
exciting and inspiring day is awaiting us tomorrow, with the focus on
human trafficking.
- Lea von Martius
- Lea von Martius
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