For immediate release Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace - TopicsExpress

For immediate release Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace launches a Charter of Libyan Women’s Constitutional Rights After a series of workshops and wide consultations since 2013 on the Constitution, Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace (LWPP) launches a Charter of Libyan Women’s Constitutional Rights. LWPP has been working on building consensus about the Constitution’s most controversial issues such as the role of sharia & international Conventions in the Constitution as well as charting women’s priorities and rights. Last November 2014, Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace organized a roundtable of Libyan experts to discus Women’s Rights in the Constitution between Sharia & International Conventions. The workshop convened a number of female civil society leaders, youth activists, judges, legal experts, academics, religious leaders from the League of Libyan Ulama and Al-Azhar, and the head of the Civil Rights Committee in the Constitutional Drafting Committee. A basic theme in the workshop was the possibility of reconciliation between Sharia & International Conventions through creating platforms of mutual understanding and common word between human/women’s rights activists and religious leaders. The workshop covered the theoretical Islamic issues along with the Libyan legal and social context. The meeting ended with a set of recommendations constitutionalizing women’s rights in the Libyan Constitution. These recommendations constituted the bulk of the Charter of Libyan Women’s Constitutional Rights. The workshop was followed by another consultation meeting on the 14th of January where LWPP convened again civil society activists, legal experts with the Head of the Civil Rights Committee in the CDA. Participants made a critical (rights approach) reading of the draft of the Constitution. Dr. Al-Badri outlined that what has come out was not a draft. It’s rather a compilation of proposals by the committee of the CDA. He also highlighted that the committees’ proposals or chapters are conflicting. Thus there is no homogeneity in the draft of the Constitution. LWPP continued since its wide consultations with female civil activists and lawyers from a wide spectrum of ideological and cultural backgrounds on the draft of the Charter of Libyan Women’s Constitutional Rights. According to Zahra’ Langhi, Cofounder & Director of LWPP, “ The Charter was inspired by the principles of equality & dignity rooted in Islamic Sharia along with universal principles of human rights. Most importantly it is a Charter drafted by the local voices. It’s a Charter by Libyan women for Libyan women.” The Charter of Libyan Women’s Constitutional Rights covers women’s civil rights, rights to peace & security, social & cultural & economic rights, and political rights. Shahrazad Kablan, Education & media consultant and a member of the drafting team of the Charter, explaining why she took part in Charter, The constitution is the framework by which we ensure and protect justice, the common good, the general welfare and posterity for all men and women. Hanan Dakhil Ghosheh, a freelance writer and activist who was part of drafting the Charter noted, To me, the Constitution represents a watershed opportunity to push the reset button surrounding the debate on Libyan womens rights and our struggle for equality and social justice. It will either catapult us forward so we may join the rest of the modern world as our starting point or set us back at least another generation or two. A link to the full version of the Charter of Libyan Women’s Constitutional Rights https://dl.dropboxusercontent/…/CHARTER%20OF%20LIBYAN%2… A link to a short film on LWPP’s campaign Together We Will Write Our Constitution: https://youtube/watch?v=gIauhZOqpMA&spfreload=10