This report is based on a Musawah research project on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (‘CEDAW’ or ‘the Convention’) that examined States parties’ justifications for their failure to implement CEDAW with regard to family laws and practices that discriminate against Muslim women. The research project reviewed documents for 44 countries with Muslim majority or significant Muslim minority populations that reported to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (‘CEDAW Committee’ or ‘the Committee’) from 2005 to 200.

Millions of girls have entered school in Afghanistan, since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. It is one of the few good news stories of the last nine years. However, the deteriorating security situation and the international community’s focus on stabilization and counter-insurgency rather than on long-term development means this good news story is in danger of turning bad. A new approach from both the Afghan government and donors is urgently required to hold onto the gains that have been made.

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This report by the UK Gender and Development Network (GADN) answers frequent questions about violence against women and girls.

General Assembly Adopts 52 Resolutions, 6 Decisions Recommended by Third Committee on Broad Range of Human Rights, Social, Cultural Issues

Introduction

From early on after the inception of Direct Approach it was identified that a key issue facing ME women within the community was Forced Marriage and Honour Based Violence.

It was, however, recognised that this was an exceptionally complex area and any work in the field should be approached with a high level of sensitivity.

Control and Sexuality examines zina laws in some Muslim contexts and communities in order to explore connections between the criminalisation of sexuality, gender-based violence and women’s rights activism. The Violence is Not Our Culture Campaign and the Women Living Under Muslim Laws network present this comparative study and feminist analysis of zina laws as a contribution to the broader objective of ending violence in the name of ‘culture’.

Download chapters:  Introduction - /, Ch.1 Criminalising Sexuality - , Ch.5 Pakistan - .

This documents the experiences of people accused of violating Sharia laws prohibiting "seclusion" and imposing public dress requirements on Muslims. The "seclusion" law makes association by unmarried individuals of the opposite sex a criminal offense in some circumstances.

Summary: This paper deals specifically with faith-based organizations (FBOs) delivering services with the aim of contributing to the debates on religious organizations’ engagement with questions of gender. The paper presents no conclusions or generic findings about this heterogeneous group of actors; instead, by flagging a series of conundrums, it questions the ways in which FBOs have been framed as positive agents for the advancement of gender equality.

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Sisters in Islam acknowledges that the Qur’an has prescribed punishment for the crimes of theft (sariqah), robbery (hirabah), adultery (zina) and slanderous accusation of zina (qazaf). However, Hudud Allah in the Qur’an is a much broader concept, which is neither confined to punishments nor to a legal framework, but provides a comprehensive set of guidelines on moral, legal and religious themes. “The bounds or limits set by God” (2:229)which should not be transgressed, embody all that God orders or forbids, and are not limited to certain punishments as in the Hudud law. The Qur’an uses the term hudud in relation to fasting, inheritance and family laws, in addition to using the word in its general and wider meaning, which embodies all God’s teachings and laws. Unfortunately, provisions under fiqh (human juristic thought and interpretations) have reduced this broad comprehensive concept to mean quantified, mandatory and invariable punishment. Not only that, the Quranic prescription for four offences has been expanded to six in fiqh formulations (to include apostasy and drinking of intoxicants).