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Sudanese journalist Lubna Hussein was honored by Karama and the Arab Women’s Fund with the 2009 ‘Mahfoutha’ Sindiyanat El-Karama Award for challenging a decency law in Sudan which forbids women from wearing pants. Standing trial in September 2009, Ms. Hussein faced a punishment of 40 lashes and one month in prison.

On December 13-14, in Cairo, Egypt, the Alliance for Arab Women, Karama and UNIFEM held a regional consultation meeting to evaluate the achievements and challenges faced in the Arab region since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995 by 185 states at the UN World Conference on Women. The regional meeting included 235 women’s rights leaders and civil society representatives from fourteen countries and concluded by outlining future priorities in the Arab region towards the fulfillment of the Beijing Platform for Action.

Fifteen years later, the Beijing + 15 regional consultation convened to issue a Regional NGO Shadow Report evaluating the Arab states' fulfillment of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Karama, UNIFEM, The Alliance for Arab Women and the League of Arab States are hard at work in Cairo on several year-end events: a consultation with representatives from 22 Arab countries on progress towards the Beijing Platform for Action and a two-day conference commemorating 30 Years of the CEDAW Treaty to End Discrimination Against Women.  The events will conclude with Karama’s presentation of the Sindiyanat El Karama Award to Lubna Hussein, a Sudanese journalist who was harassed and imprisoned for wearing pants.  

CAIRO, EGYPT, December 9, 2009 –  On December 15-16, 2009, in celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Karama, together in partnership with UNIFEM and the League of Arab States, will host a Regional CEDAW Celebration for the NGOs in the Arab region to launch a retrospection on the history of CEDAW advocacy in the Arab region, as well as to form commitments for the future.