Endorse WLUML's nomination of Zarizana Abdul Aziz for new UN Working Group

Women Living Under Muslim Laws is nominating WLUML board member Ms. Zarizana Abdul Aziz from Malaysia as the most knowledgeable and experienced candidate for the Asia representative of the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and Practice. You can find a copy of Zarizana Abdul Aziz’s CV here: http://www.wluml.org/sites/wluml.org/files/CV_Zarizana%20Abdul%20Aziz_2010.pdf and instructions on how to make your endorsement follow.

The selection for the Working Group is made by a committee within the Human Rights Council (HRC). They will then forward the name to the President of the Human Rights Council and the HRC will decide. Given the politics of the countries sitting on the Council, it is important they have enough good choices from which they can select a candidate, and as a respected advocate of human and women's rights, WLUML believes Ms. Zarizana Abdul Aziz is a strong candidate. 

How you can endorse the nomination

Your endorsements should be emailed or faxed to the HRC Secretariat and copied to WLUML. You can also send the WLUML-ICO your short endorsements, which we can compile and send to the HRC. The deadline for nominations is 3 December, and although we hope you are able to send yours promptly, you can continue to send endorsements after that date. HRC Secretariat: Email: hrcspecialprocedures[at]ohchr.org (cc.wluml[at]wluml.org); Fax: +41 (0)22 917 9008

Suggested endorsement note:

I endorse the nomination of Zarizana Abdul Aziz. Zarizana is a respected advocate of human and women's rights and has been working on legislations, law and policy reform for the last 24 years. She has worked with governments, intergovernmental organisations, the court and the civil society on gender auditing laws, law and policy reform and domestication of international human rights norms and is sensitive to different cultural and geographical contexts and specificities.

Zarizana has undertaken academic research, missions and trainings of and outreach to civil society advocates and government officials. She has excellent skills in bridging differences. She holds a degree in law from the University of Sydney, Australia and Master in Law focusing on Human Rights from Columbia University, USA, where she was also a human rights fellow. 

We have no hesitation in endorsing the nomination of Zarizana Abdul Aziz to the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and Practice. 

Yours sincerely

....

Background:

On 1 October 2010, The Human Rights Council adopted a resolution in which it established for a period of three years a Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice. The mandate of the working group would include finding ways to help States to fulfill their commitments to eliminate discrimination against women. Mandate holders will be appointed during the 16th session of the Human Rights Council which takes place in March 2011 and the group’s first report is scheduled for the 20th session of the Council in June 2012. There are 5 vacancies for members to the Working Group, one from each region from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Caribbean and Latin America, and Western European and other States.