Category: News

The escalating violence on the streets of Sudan is a conscious and lamentable decision made by the regime, which is now apparently trying to stem the protests and hide its human rights violations by blocking access to the internet in Sudan. The popular momentum behind the protests in Sudan has been clear to see. Journalists […]

We add our voice to the #JusticeForNoura campaign. It is a great injustice that Noura Hussein has been convicted and faces the death penalty. Noura is strong young woman, who has been turned by injustice and inequality into a victim many times over. She is a victim of forced marriage, of child marriage. She is […]

On the one day the world sets aside for women, I do not feel like celebrating. How can I when it is women and girls who continue to suffer disproportionately in crisis and conflict? Bombs  smash into the homes and families of Ghouta, leaving women to pick up the pieces. The livestock of Somali nomads […]

  Extremism and intolerance in the Maghreb and Sahel region are putting the safety and security of the community at risk. What can rights activists do to challenge these threats? Civil society groups and religious institutions from across the region met in Tunis last week to discuss how they can make communities resilient against extremism. […]

The Sisters Arab Forum has launched a short filming revealing the shocking impact of conflict on Yemen’s women.  The film tells the stories of three women from Saada, Taiz and Hodeidah.  Each must deal with the human cost of war: experiencing violence, displacement with their children and the loss of their parents, and the trauma […]

The freedom to express oneself and impart information and ideas through any media are fundamental human rights. Freedom of the press is – alongside a strong civil society – an essential means of holding power to account and giving voice to the community. It is unacceptable that journalists in Tunisia report being subjected to harassment, intimidation and […]

Yemeni civil society organisation the Sister’s Arab Forum for Human Rights completed their workshop on Women and Peace in Yemen and Strategic Planning  in Alexandria today. The four-day workshop was organized by the Arab Sisters Forum for Human Rights in cooperation with the Swedish Institute in Cairo and Karama. The workshop aimed to continue the […]

Women human rights defenders have welcomed the Dutch government’s demand for an investigation into the murder of Libyan human rights activist Salwa Bugaighis. At a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday, the Netherlands demanded that Salwa’s murder be investigated and prosecuted. This is a remarkable step as such calls are usually reserved for […]

Bigotry is at the heart of much of the equality we face across the world, read our CEO Hibaaq Osman on the need to address all forms of racism and prejudice. Libya’s Slave Markets Show We Must Challenge Racism Wherever We Find It

The decision of the US government to move its embassy and recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is a shattering blow to the peace process and to the dignity of Palestinians. We support our Palestinian partners and condemn the US administration’s decision unreservedly. This announcement represents a serious and deeply harmful break from international […]

Leading experts met in Cairo today to discuss how women’s rights and protections for women can be secured in constitutional drafting processes. The discussion brought together 24 participants to pay particular attention to Yemen, and understand what can be learned from the recent experience in the Arab region. The event was co-hosted by Karama and […]

On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we start the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, read our CEO Hibaaq Osman’s article to mark the occasion: To End Violence Against Women, We Must Fight All Forms Of Oppression

Read our CEO Hibaaq Osman in the Independent today on the  movements to abolish laws that allow rapists to escape punishment by marrying their victim: Laws that allow rapists to marry their victims come from colonialism, not Islam

Some time ago I attended a meeting of women’s rights activists from across the Arab region. We were in Cairo to discuss the great threats that women faced at the time ― the murder of human rights activists in Libya, the escalating war in Syria, the growing threat of a full-scale civil war in Yemen, […]

This weekend we pay tribute to the life of Libyan human rights defender Salwa Bugaighis. A lawyer, politician and activist, Salwa was a key figure in Libya’s recent history, first in the Benghazi protests that led to the revolution and then in the early stages of democratization. In an act that became symbolic of Libya’s […]

نحيي نهاية هذا الأسبوع ذكرى المناضلة الليبية والمدافعة عن حقوق الإنسان سلوى أبوقعيقيص. كانت سلوى، المحامية والسياسية والناشطة، شخصية رئيسية في تاريخ ليبيا الحديث، بداية من  احتجاجات بنغازي في أولى أيام الثورة إلى المراحل الأولية من التحول الديمقراطي. في حادثة صارت رمزا لتعثر العملية الانتقالية في ليبيا والسقوط في الفوضى، اغتيلت سلوى في 25  يونيو […]

A country’s national day affords its people a chance to look back at their past, and consider where they might be headed to in the future. Many Somalilanders celebrating independence day today will remember the first, it took place just 26 years ago on 18 May 1991. The struggle they remember today was bloody. In […]

A country which long ago became a hell for civilians can sink further still. Even after six years of the most brutal conflict imaginable, the pictures of children struggling to breathe after the chemical attack in Idlib still have the power to shock. Perhaps the most remarkable thing is that a country which long ago became a […]

Read Zahra’ Langhi of the Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace on the “women travel ban” in the Independent: This is the other travel ban against Libyans that people aren’t talking about

Gadhafi was toppled 6 years ago. When recalling that period I feel the smell of multiple cigarettes being inhaled at lightning speed and (prepaid) Nokia phones ringing constantly. Women and girls were  constantly searching for Gaddafi-tanks who were being moved and hidden, printing leaflets and organising demonstrations. By the same token most women became DIY […]

The news that President Trump has started to enact his promised Muslim ban has struck at the very heart of our family. To hear that newborns are having background checks at immigration, that the president’s spokesman claims that 5-year olds pose a grave threat to America itself, I fear that I will never be able to return, to […]

Karama and its partners have called for greater protection for human rights defenders after the brutal assault and detention of Yemeni activist Ali Al-Dailami.  A widely-recognised advocate for human rights, Al-Dailami was subjected to a vicious ordeal as he passed through a checkpoint by Yemen’s Ministry of Interior in Sana’a on 25 January. This is not the […]

On the day that the great and the good prepare to congratulate Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos on his award of the Nobel Peace Prize, it would seem rude to act the party pooper. The recognition for Colombia’s remarkable journey towards peace is well deserved. The concerns being raised on the issue credibility are not […]

Women leaders from across the Arab region used the launch of the Arab Human Development Report in Beirut to highlight the importance of the women, peace and security agenda. A panel of experts told the launch that the region will not be able to build peace and achieve global development goals if it continues to […]

Across the region women are seeing the gains they thought they had secured wiped out. As any scientist will tell you, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and the same is true of political movements. Five years ago, the Arab world witnessed an unprecedented explosion of protest and political action. A […]

Dutch politician Harry van Bommel has been striving for peace and security in the Arab region for many years. A member of the influential Foreign Affairs Committee, Van Bommel taught as a lecturer before entering the Dutch House of Representatives in 1998. At the start of the 16 Days of Activism to end violence against women, we […]

  The debates on who would will lead the United Nations ended yesterday like they always do – behind closed doors with a man winning. The former prime minister of Portugal, António Guterres, emerged on Wednesday as the choice of the Security Council to serve as the ninth UN Secretary-General. Despite months of campaigning and much […]

This article was original published on Huffington Post on March 17, 2016.  For five years, women have protested, fought, delivered aid, brokered peace and documented atrocities on the ground in Syria. Yet, when Syrians tried to end the war, women were sidelined. They have been largely absent from the negotiating table in rounds of failed […]

This article was originally published on Yahoo! News. UNITED NATIONS (AP)(March 15, 2016) — An activist who is on the board of women advising the United Nations special envoy for Syria on peace talks said Tuesday that women should be at the table actively taking part in negotiations. Mouna Ghanem, one of 12 members of […]

This article was originally published on IPS News online. UNITED NATIONS, Mar 17 2016 (IPS) – “When it comes to peace talks, women have a special stake,” said Gloria Steinem while discussing current peace talks in the Middle East. Steinem, a prominent activist, joined the 60th annual session of the UN Commission on the Status […]

For the Muslims, Christians, Jews and followers of other Abrahamic faiths that make up over half the world’s population, the founding gender myth is that of Adam and Eve. In the beginning, man is created in perfection, but in order to enjoy the companionship of woman he had to give something up. Some scriptures are […]

The dramatic fall in the price of oil has had some unusual effects on the petro-economies of the Persian Gulf. Countries like Saudi Arabia have grown dependent on importing cheap foreign workers to do the jobs its citizens won’t. Now, traditional sources of domestic labor like South Asia have become uneconomical in straightened times. Saudis […]

From UN Website

As talks to bring an end to nearly five years of conflict in Syria continue, it is essential that we learn the lessons of Iraq, Libya and the Arab revolutions if there is to be lasting peace. To rebuild stable state institutions after conflict, you need to make sure that everyone is able to take […]

This op-ed was originally published by The Independent on January 29, 2016. As the war in Syria approaches its fifth year, the toll it has taken on the country’s women has been particularly brutal. Four million Syrians have sought refuge abroad, while a further 7.6 million have been displaced internally. Though the refugees reaching European […]

Our CEO writes today in the Independent on the impact of war on the women of Syria. This is the brutal effect of war on the women of Syria

This article was originally published at Huffington Post online. On Human Rights Day last year, activists across the world united in demanding justice for Salwa Bugaighis, the Libyan human rights defender murdered as she returned from voting in that country’s general elections. A year on there has still been no serious investigation into this appalling […]

For the next 16 days, activists across the world will be joining UN Women in global efforts to end violence against women and girls, starting on November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, leading up to Human Rights Day on December 10. For those of us working on this cause in […]

Originally published in Huffington Post on November 17, 2015. The UNDP recently held its Resilience Development Forum (RDF), looking at how the international community can support the many millions of Syrians displaced by civil war. It has taken over four years of conflict but delegates at the RDF at least now recognized that only a […]

Originally published on The Huffington Post on November 3, 2015. Last week, talks to bring an end to the Syrian civil war finally restarted. Since the conflict began over four and and a half years ago, more than 9 million people – nearly half of Syria’s population – have been forced to flee their homes […]

Originally published by Middle East Eye on October 13, 2015. UNITED NATIONS, United States – Men have a poor track record in bringing peace to the Middle East. Could women do any better?    The answer to that question, according to women peace activists from the region, is an emphatic “yes,” and on Tuesday they took […]

Originally published by Cihan on October 14, 2015. A leading advocate for women’s rights in Syria said on Tuesday (13 Oct) during a press briefing in New York, more focus should be placed on empowering women to restore the future of her country, as “there will be not enough men” left to do so because […]

Originally published by France 24 on September 28, 2015   Amassing the world’s movers and shakers in one place, the UN General Assembly makes it easy to assess the global ratio of men and women in power. Hibaaq Osman, a women’s rights advocate from Somalia, is doing just that. “Look at how many people are […]

This op-ed was originally published online on The Huffington Post. June 26, 2015 – A year ago today, what many saw as Libya’s last chance for a democratic future ended in the kind of tragedy and violence that has marked the country’s recent history. Many thousands had been expected to vote in the general elections […]

Cairo, Egypt (June 23, 2015) – Arab States and the United Nations have a long way to go in order to meet their international obligations for the protection of women in conflict, a consultation with leading women activists and experts has concluded. Women from across the Arab region met in Cairo earlier this month as […]

The original article was posted on The Huffington Post on April 17, 2015. Following the murder of nearly 150 students in the Kenyan city of Garissa by the terrorist group Al-Shabaab, local leaders sought to lay the blame entirely at the feet of Kenya’s large Somali refugee population. The attacks of Al-Shabaab have been portrayed […]

The article was originally published by Thomson Reuters Africa. For the full article, please click here. UNITED NATIONS, March 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Too much talk and too little action by the international community are exposing women human rights defenders in some Arab states to great risks as the security situation deteriorates, advocates said […]

Originally published by The Associated Press and printed in The New York Times, ABC News Online, and others. Click here to see the full article. 13 March 2015 – Women’s rights groups on Friday demanded an international investigation into the killing of a Libyan activist who had become a symbol of her country’s efforts to […]

This op-ed was originally published by Hibaaq Osman on The Huffington Post online. Please see the full article here. December 10 marks Human Rights Day, an opportunity for the world to recognize and celebrate global progress towards human dignity. For 2014, the United Nations has taken the theme of “Human Rights 365”, underlining the fundamental […]

The original article was published on The Huffington Post by Hibaaq Osman.  November 25, 2014 – Ending violence against women isn’t just about saying no to violence; it’s about saying yes to women’s right to control their own bodies and minds. The 25th November marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. […]

The original op-ed was published by Hibaaq Osman in The Huffington Post here. Women activists from across the world are gathering in New York City this week to mark the anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325. This agreement is one of the cornerstones of the international women’s rights movement and was rightly described […]

RFI’s Zeenat Hansrod spoke to Hibaaq Osman on sexual violence in situations of conflict. Somali born Hibaaq Osman is the founder of the NGO Karama, which mean dignity in Arabic. The NGO, headquartered in Cairo, works towards ending violence against women. In London, a Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict opens on Tuesday […]

RFI’s Zeenat Hansrod spoke to Hibaaq Osman on rape as a weapon of war   Somali born Hibaaq Osman is the founder of the NGO Karama, which mean dignity in Arabic. The NGO, headquartered in Cairo, works towards ending violence against women. In London, a Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict opens on […]

This op-ed was originally published on Politics Home. Ahead of this week’s summit to end sexual violence in conflict, the Lib Dem peer appeals for a coordinated and integrated approach to tackling the appalling crimes. This week, Foreign Secretary William Hague and Angelina Jolie, Special Envoy for the UN, will co-chair a three day Global […]

Op-ed by Hibaaq Osman, originally published online in The Huffington Post on May 12, 2014. Weeks after nearly 300 schoolgirls were abducted from their boarding school in Chibok, in the northern state of Bono in Nigeria, we are only now hearing condemnation from international and religious leaders. In two videos released in recent days, a group […]

Karama Founder Hibaaq Osman speaks about the response of the Nigerian government and international community to Boko Haram’s mass abduction of school girls in Chibok in Nigeria.

  Op-ed by Hibaaq Osman, originally published online in The Huffington Post. Last week, I could only watch on television news as soldiers herded scores of my countrymen on to trucks like livestock, to be driven to detention centers. Women carrying babies struggled to climb onto the cumbersome vehicles, built not for carrying humans but […]

Op-ed originally published on The Huffington Post. For the full article, please click here. 3 April 2014 – For two weeks last month, women’s groups from across the world met in New York to discuss what 21st century international development has done for women at the 58th session of the United Nations Commission on the […]

A regional conference aiming to address social and women’s issues in conflict-ridden areas kick started Tuesday in Jordan’s capital Amman. The conference is sponsored by the Arab League, the European Union, the United Nations Development Programme, and Karama, a regional NGO. Women’s rights groups from Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Morocco are also among the […]

Op-ed originally published in Fokus magazine online. For the full article, please click here. There is need for action over words. To date, conventions and standards about women’s rights have been strong in text, but they have failed to actualize measurable, tangible changes in the countries that have adopted them. Three years ago, an uprising […]

A regional conference aiming to address social and women’s issues in conflict-ridden areas kick started Tuesday in Jordan’s capital Amman. The conference is sponsored by the Arab League, the European Union, the United Nations Development Programme, and Karama, a regional NGO. Women’s rights groups from Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Morocco are also among the […]

This article was originally published by Ahram Online. Marrakech, Morocco – (January 21, 2014) The Arab Spring has inspired women in the Middle East to obtain greater rights, according to participants in a regional training in Morocco aimed at furthering women’s rights and gender equality. Latifa Jbabdi, a Moroccan activist for human rights and women’s […]

Op-ed by Hibaaq Osman originally published on The Guardian online Talks have commenced to bring an end to the civil war in Syria that has killed more than 100,000 and forced almost 2.4 million men, women and children to flee the country, while millions more have been displaced internally. As is so often the case […]

Excerpt from the article, which originally appeared on Al Jazeera America: Gender-based violence among victims of Syria’s civil war is increasing. Since the start of the conflict in 2011, more than two million refugees have fled the country, most of whom have sought shelter in neighboring Lebanon and Jordan. According to a U.N. Women study, child […]

Excerpt from the article, originally published on Passblue.com: The frustration for many international feminist groups is that women are reduced to being marginal observers at negotiations or cut out at the top threshold. The movement for inclusion on Syria involves UN Women and such groups as the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the […]

(WOMENSENEWS)– If peace starts breaking out in troubled parts of the Arab world, women there want to be ready to help rebuild and reshape their societies. “We need to guarantee that women have a platform through which they can engage in any meetings for peace and security. They should not ask for permission to participate,” […]

AMMAN — The advances achieved in safeguarding women’s rights over the past few years are at stake if no action is taken to protect them amidst regional uprisings, women activists said on Saturday. Women’s rights activists participating in a regional training course and discussions on the “Role of Women in Peace and Security” stressed that […]

WASHINGTON — Imagine the gruesomeness of it. Dead bodies cut into from the side. Organs removed, harvested, leaving the remains of something — someone — whose corpse no longer resembles a human shape. This is just one of the stories three Syrian women shared Thursday in a Capitol Hill roundtable hosted by Rep. Carolyn Maloney […]

One women’s advocate says the treatment of women is the greatest indicator of how much a government values democracy. Hibaaq Osman, the founder of Cairo-based women’s rights nonprofit Karama, joined HuffPost Live at the Aspen Ideas Festival to discuss the relationship between women’s rights and a government’s commitment to its people. She mentioned that governments […]

Amman/Oslo, 8 July 2013: The message was clear from more than 20 Arab think tanks who gathered at a regional forum in Amman last week organized by the UNDP Oslo Governance Centre and the Foundation for the Future, in cooperation with UNDP’s Regional Centre in Cairo. Think tanks need to be independent, better linked to […]

The Arab media sector, now more than ever, should assume its role as the “fourth estate”, reflecting the reality, analysing it and highlighting differing points of view, HRH Princess Basma said. Speaking at the opening of the 10th Arab Women Media Conference on Thursday, Princess Basma, who is the honorary chairman of the Arab Media […]

Women’s e-news, March 14, 2013 UNITED NATIONS (WOMENSENEWS) – Egyptian female activists are looking for a better constitution and members of the Syrian opposition are concerned about the violence committed by all sides of that conflict against women. Worsening violence against women in Tunisia is also troubling. The long and difficult process of democratization is […]

Policymic, March 13, 2013 Far from the media image of passive victims, women in the Middle East were in many ways the driving force behind the recent wave of revolution. “They were the initiators,” said Zahra Langhi, co-founder of the Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace. “The wives, mothers daughters of prisoners were the first to […]

UN Radio, March 7 Women from around the world have gathered at United Nations headquarters for the annual session of the Commission on the Status of Women. The theme for this year’s session is "Elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls." One of the participants in the meetings is Nehad […]

UN Radio, March 6, 2013 Peace must come from within Syria and peace-bulding has to include men and women from all political spectra. The view was expressed by Dr. Mouna Ghanem who works as a deputy for the President of the "Building the Syrian State" movement in Syria, considered the first opposition movement established in […]

Huffington Post, March 5, 2013 NEW YORK, NY — As thousands of women from all over the world gather at the United Nations in New York this week to mark the 57th anniversary of the Commission of the Status of Women [CSW], also attending will be some conservative NGOs who’s rhetoric is damaging, unproductive and […]

Five women activists and practitioners from the Middle East and North Africa discussed the challenges to women’s security in MENA countries in the post-Arab Spring period. The panelists were part of a larger delegation from the region brought together by Karama, a regional NGO working on capacity building of women for peace and security in […]

Speakers: Fatemah Khafagy, Ombudsperson of Gender Equality, Egypt and Zahra Langhi, Cofounder, Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace, Libya discussed the topic “Women’s Rights and the New Arab Constitutions” on March 4, 2013 at the Council for Foreign Relations. The conversation, moderated by Isobel Coleman, Senior Fellow and Director, Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initiative of […]

Blog post by Isobel Coleman, March 4, 2013 This week at the Council on Foreign Relations, I hosted two women’s rights leaders visiting New York from Libya and Egypt for the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The two leaders, Zahra Langhi and Fatemah Kafaghy, are participating in the CSW as part of […]

With the eyes of the U.S. media and lawmakers on Capitol Hill focusing on Thursday’s hearing into the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi which claimed the life of Ambassador Chris Stevens, I find myself in Tripoli for a three-day conference titled, “Libya Platform Peace: National Reconciliation, Security and constitution.” Among those attending: President […]

By Hibaaq Osman Jordan, in partnership with UN Women, is hosting a three-day conference (February 10-12) titled, “The Arab regional consultation on gender equality — freedom, tolerance and solidarity: a call from the women in the Arab region”. The meeting is held to shine light on the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were first […]

AMMAN — Arab women have played an active part in the changes sweeping the region in the Arab Spring transition, but they should ensure their place in the post-conflict rebuilding process, activists said on Monday. “Women have been frontliners in the course of events witnessed in the region… the wall of fear is destroyed now […]

Karama organization in partnership with UN Women opens groundbreaking consultation on gender equality and human rights in Amman, Jordan Leading women activists from Syria, Libya, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen and Egypt among those attending UN Women sponsored two-day event calling for tolerance and solidarityFebruary 10, 2013 Amman, JORDAN – The Karama organization announced […]

Cairo, Egypt — It’s been nearly two years since Syria’s dictator Bashar al Assad began his brutal assault on hundreds of thousands of people in Syria, a country of over 20 million people. Since the Arab uprisings began, women from Damascus to Aleppo have played a critical role in trying to build a better future […]

“I never thought in my lifetime I would see a revolution unfolding under my eyes. It was a moment of uncertainty and excitement,” said Hibaaq Osman when she sat down with DLD Women to speak more in-depth on the Egyptian revolution in February and the essential contributions of youth and social media. In her reflection, […]

A four-woman delegation from Jordan, including NGO representatives from Karama and its partners the Arab Women’s Organization and SIGI, participated in the Pre-Session Working Group of the CEDAW Committee at the UN this week sharing their concerns and identifying gaps in Jordan’s efforts to implement the articles of CEDAW and uphold the rights of women. […]

The Huffington Post recently published this op-ed by Karama CEO and Founder, Hibaaq Osman: Glued simultaneously to the TV, Blackberry, laptop, and my own windows, I watched Arab politics come back to life just a few short weeks ago. As someone who has devoted her life to promoting women’s human rights and political participation, I […]

Karama founder and CEO Hibaaq Osman was featured in this February 26 article from IPS News: The momentous events of Tahrir Square, Egypt also signify a huge step forward for gender equality in the region, women’s rights activists said Friday. Nora Rafeh Refa Tahtawi, a youth activist who participated in the Tahrir protests and is […]

From the Jordan Times: AMMAN ––– Despite being the main victims in regional armed conflicts, women are still excluded from playing a role in conflict resolution and peace negotiations, women’s rights leaders said on Tuesday. During the closing meeting of the Arab Women’s Intellectual Organisation, discussions focused on the impact of armed conflicts on women […]

Karama Founder and CEO Hibaaq Osman was recently featured on the Voice of America’s Somali website, in a podcast of her interview conducted with VOA journalist Houssein Aden regarding the status of Somali women and their fight for expanded rights. The interview can be accessed at VOA’s website here (in Somali), and is summarized (in […]

By Laila Azzeh for the Jordan Times AMMAN –– HRH Princess Basma on Wednesday underscored the significant role Arab women play in “influencing the formation of media discourse”. In her address at the opening of the 8th Arab Women Media Conference titled, “Arab Media, Women and their Strategic Role in the Elimination of Violence”, the […]

by Karama Founder and CEO Hibaaq Osman Appeared in Common Ground News, 27 July 2010 Cairo – In Somaliland’s 26 June presidential elections, voters were faced with a pivotal choice in determining their future prosperity, security, freedom and peace. On that date, which marked the 50th anniversary of Somaliland’s independence from British rule, citizens voted […]

Appeared in the Jordan Times 6 June 2010 By Laila Azzeh AMMAN – Legal experts and women activists on Saturday underlined the importance of the Family Protection Law as a step in the right direction, although they said the legislation did not live up to their expectations. During a training workshop to raise awareness on […]

The UN is creating a unified body to promote gender equality – and who better to lead it than an inspirational Arab woman? By Hibaaq Osman Appeared in the Guardian, Comment is Free 28 May 2010 When the history of the global struggle for women’s equality is written, 2010 may be remembered as the year […]

Op-ed by Karama Founder and Chair Hibaaq Osman Appeared 30 March 2010 in Common Ground News Cairo – In the halls of the United Nation’s New York bureau, officials have been considering a proposal to unify the UN’s many organisations promoting women’s equality and rights into a single “gender entity”. This entity would have a […]

Op-Ed by Hibaaq Osman, Founder and Chair of Karama Appeared 28 March 2010 in Bikya Masr Last month saw a setback for integration of Arab women in the workforce when members of Egypt’s State Council, the country’s highest legal authority, voted overwhelmingly to ban female law graduates from joining their ranks. While women have served […]

To read this story on the NGLS website click here. 1. How have efforts to implement the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) in the Arab region evolved since Beijing? Has this been satisfactory?

‘The Dignity of Women’ brings us the voices and views of women working to end violence against women in the Arab region. In collaboration with Karama organisations, the 5050 section of openDemocracy is providing a platform for their knowledge and experiences, increasing Arab women’s participation in global debate through articles, podcasts and blogs. We are […]

From August 30 to September 1 2012, Karama and the Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace (LWPP) convened a group of 37 Libyan activists, as well as two members of the General National Congress, in Tripoli to develop women’s and youth strategies for influencing the Libyan constitutional drafting process.  After intense discussion and debate, the participants […]

By Adam Makary Al Jazeera English conducted an interview with Hibaaq Osman, the chair of Karama, on March 8, International Women’s Day. In many countries women are active participants in the political process and have made progress toward some economic equality. However, women’s rights to life, to physical integrity, to health, to education, to freedom […]

by Hibaaq Osman, founder of Karama (‘Dignity’) and the Arab Women’s Fund Cairo, June 4th 2009 In the Middle East, people are used to good words not amounting to anything, so we have to be careful with our expectations. However, if there is one man who is going to change the relationship between the Muslim […]

In 2011, France campaigned to ban niqabs — face veils worn by Muslim women — in an effort that center-right President Nicolas Sarkozy said was critical in ensuring women’s rights. Much debated and contested, the veil ban — which affected only 2,000 women out of 5 to 6 million Muslims living in France — was […]

Brussels, Belgium — In today’s so called ‘digital’ world, it occurred to me that there are four truly important digits that should be at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Those for digits are 1325. They have almost become part of my everyday vocabulary, and here’s why. Every day I wake up and devote my time […]

By Simba Russeau CAIRO, May 18, 2011 (IPS) – Women have been taking leading roles in the Arab uprisings of Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, Morocco and Bahrain – shattering many decades old Western myths that Arab women are powerless and enslaved. “It’s really unfair to ignore history and to try to misinterpret the reality,” founding […]

Following capacity-building consultations with a range of Libyan and international legal experts, activists, and youth campaigners, the Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace is  launching a national campaign entitled “Libya Nadet” (Libya’s Call) to demand fair distribution of electoral districts without compromising the democratic political process. Specifically, the campaign calls for the electoral distribution of districts […]