Tools for Activists

Child, Early and Forced Marriage: A Multi-Country Study

30/07/2015

In 2012 WLUML conducted a study to inform the activities of the WELDD projects against forced marriage in Afghanistan, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, and Sudan. The study was then documented in this report which was submitted to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for its report on preventing and eliminating child, early and forced marriage.

International roundtable: Building feminist leadership capacity

11/06/2016

The Building Feminist Leadership Roundtable (May 21-22, 2014, Kandy, Sri Lanka) was organised by WELDD, a four-year project (2012-2015) jointly implemented by Shirkat Gah – Women’s Resource Centre (SG), the Institute for Women’s Empowerment (IWE) and the international solidarity network, Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML). In 2014, WELDD was working in partnership with some 50 local partners in Asia, Africa and the Middle East and engaging activists in 20 countries, almost double the originally envisaged 12.

Violence against Women Legitimised by Arguments of ‘Culture’ – Thought from a Pakistani Perspective

14/12/2015

Farida Shaheed examines violence against women legitimised by arguments of culture from a Pakistani perspective.

Frequently Asked Questions About ‘Honour Killing’

17/11/2015

An “honour killing” is a murder committed against a woman for actual or perceived “immoral” behaviour that is deemed to have breached the ‘honour code’ of a household or community. These so called ‘honour codes’ are the product of deeply rooted patriarchal social and cultural prejudices, whereby women are perceived and forced to bear all responsibility for maintaining communal honour.

Frequently Asked Questions About Whipping

10/11/2015

Whipping which refer to the judicial punishment by which a person is lashed with a long, heavy rattan or a whip. Historically, whipping has been used as a punishment in almost every religious and cultural setting, from Ancient China, Rome and Greece to Mayan and Indigenous American communities, to the Judeo-Christian and Islamic contexts.

Frequently Asked Questions about Stoning

09/11/2015

Stoning, or lapidation, refers to a method of capital punishment in which a group throws stones at the person they want to execute. Although the practice has been documented in many religious and cultural traditions, stoning is often associated with Islam. Stoning is a grave and serious violation of International Human Rights Law and it is also a highly debated issue among Muslim religious clerics, and there is no consensus within the global Muslim community over the validity of the practice as “Islamic Law.”

Culturally Justified Violence Against Women (CVAW)

02/11/2015

The UN "Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women" (UNDEVAW) affirms that "States should condemn violence against women and should not invoke any custom, tradition or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination." Culturally–justified Violence against Women (CVAW) is precisely this:acts that are explicitly justified or condoned through a misuse of cultural, religious, or traditional beliefs.

Women's Organisations in the West Asia Region: A Needs Assessment

11/01/2014

This needs assessment, conducted over the period of July-November 2013, outlines the capacity needs of women’s organisations and activists in the West Asia region in the face of continuing conflict following the revolutionary upheavals of 2011. Based on both primary and secondary research, Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) presents here some of the obstacles to the development of women’s organisations in ten countries in this region, as identified by participants in this study, and presents recommendations as to how it can help address these deficits in future programmes.