News
UN Women Born! Civil Society Celebrates Creation of Gender Equality Entity After Four Years of Advocacy
New York
30 June 2010
The Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign celebrates the United Nations General Assembly resolution, agreed to on 30 June and to be formally adopted by the General Assembly on Friday, 2 July, to establish “UN Women”—the new gender equality entity at the UN. This move has been sought by women’s organizations and other civil society organizations around the world since the UN established a System-Wide Coherence Panel for UN Reform in 2006.
An Emblem of Hope in Somaliland
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 to change the current regime that they feel has been growing increasingly ineffectual and promote a new party through the election of opposition leader Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, who was inaugurated on 27 July.
Brochures Printed in Braille for the Blind to Raise their Awareness on the Law of Protection against Domestic Violence
In an initiative, the first of its kind in Jordan and neighboring Arab countries, the General Federation of the Young Women's Christian Associations (YWCA) of Jordan, in cooperation with the Cultural Forum for the Blind, and supported by Al-Karama Organization, launched posters and brochures, printed in Braille, explaining the provisions of the Law on Protection against Domestic Violence No. 6 of the year 2008 and the procedures of protection contained therein. Provisions were simplified by experts in law and representatives of civil society organizations, both blind and sighted, to be accessible to affected groups and parties that ensure the protection of families.
Progress Report on Realm Work in Jordan
The Karama movement in Jordan signed agreements with the working groups in charge of these realms to implement their proposed solutions to ending violence and discrimination against women at the national level. After initial disbursement of funds for action plans in Jordan, the implementing groups reported on their progress in achievement of project objectives in the realms of economics, politics and law, during the first phase of each group’s projects.
Following is an update on progress at the ground level in Jordan detailed by realm.
Economic Realm
Promoting the societal awareness of the importance of women’s participation in the economic field.
Project Objectives
The project aims at achieving the following targets:
- Raising societal awareness of the importance of women’s participation in the economic domain.
Let an Arab woman lead way at UN
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 when the United Nations began living up to its full potential. The general assembly is currently studying reforms to the tangled web of agencies, offices and programmes that work to promote women's equality in order to create a single "gender entity" with an expanded budget, led by an executive at the rank of under secretary-general.
Karama in the Jordan Times: Initiative seeks to raise awareness on Family Protection Law
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 law’s provisions, organised by the Karama Organisation in cooperation with the Cultural Forum of the Blind and the Young Women’s Christian Association, participants noted that some of the articles have yet to be fully applied, hindering efforts to eliminate domestic violence in the Kingdom.
Female State Council judges must lead the charge for full rights
Op-Ed by Hibaaq Osman, Founder and Chair of Karama
Appeared 2 April 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 as judges in Egypt since 2002, this news is a stark reminder that the story of women’s full equality in Egypt’s professional sphere is often two steps forward, one step back.
Arab Woman to Head UN’s New Gender Programme?
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 greatly increased budget – exactly how much is still being debated – and would be headed by an executive at the rank of Under-Secretary General.
Launching the Activities of the Realms
Karama supports many national action plans promoted by our partners in the education, law, culture, media and economic realms in order to study the socio-economic dimensions of violence against women and analyze its manifestations in society in all fields, These initiatives are key in cultivating social forces to challenge violence against women and empower women to participate as a major party in this confrontation.
After holding several preliminary meetings to discuss the action plans and drafting of the work protocol among partner organizations in each realm, Karama partners carried out several activities. The following shares details of work proposed, developed and implemented with Karama’s support, listed by realm.
Economic Realm
Measuring the Economic Cost of Violence against women
Karama's Oral Statement at the 54th Commission on the Status of Women
The following is the text of Karama's oral statement, which was approved for a High Level Plenary at the 54th Commission on the Status of Women:
On behalf of the Middle East Caucus, we commend and welcome the Commission’s call for the intensification of efforts by governments to fully implement the Beijing Platform for Action 15 years after its adoption by 189 governments, CEDAW and its Optional Protocol, the Millennium Development Goals, and other international standards to enact gender equality and women’s empowerment. There still remains a wide gap between the commitments made by Arab governments to these international agreements and their implementation.