Our Voices: Empowerment

We are pleased to announce that WLUML board member, Ms. Zarizana Abdul Aziz, has made it through the second round of Human Rights Council (HRC) consultations and is on the short-list for the Asian member of the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and Practice. WLUML would like to thank those of you who endorsed Ms. Abdul Aziz's nomination; WLUML is now appealing to you to contact your governments and urge your support for her candidature. Please do urge your governments regardless of whether they are members of the HRC. You can find embedded a list of the current member states of the HRC and the Report of the Consultative Group. For your country's Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office at Geneva click here.

In this Groundviews interview, the interviewer asks WLUML Council member, Chulani Kodikara, about affirmative action, and also whether for example, the entry of telegenic females sans political acumen to parliament in any way helps advocacy on stronger female representation. Pegged to this, he also questions her about substantive equality, that goes beyond, in her own words, the classical liberal notion of formal equality which assume that removing formal barriers, for example giving women the right to vote and be elected to political office, is sufficient to give women equal access to political institutions.

Womankind is an indigenous local NGO based in Garissa, in the North eastern province of Kenya. Here in an audio interview Executive Director, Hubbie Hussein Al-Haji, talks to WLUML about WomanKind's need for material and moral support in their struggle against culturally and religiously justified violence and discrimination towards girls and women in Kenya.

This video is a joint action between the National Union of Saharawi Women and Ana Arenas Moreno as a recognition of their incredible work and efforts during their 34 years in exile. It intends to raise awareness and advocate for the rights of the Saharawi people, especially of the women, to help them to strengthen international relationships and support their twiza, their social collective and solidarity movement.