Karama In the News
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
UN NGO Liaison Service Interviews Hibaaq Osman
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?
Karama on openDemocracy
'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 grateful to Hivos for funding this editorial project.
Empowering women in the middle east
Hibaaq Osman on dignity and violence in the middle east.Listen Now
International Women's Day: Ending Violence Against Women
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 from violence, remains largely unfulfilled.
Nowhere is this more evident than for women living in poverty.
International Women's Day, March 8, is an occasion marked by women's groups around the world.
From Cairo: What I Heard in Obama's Words
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 world and the US, everyone is now betting on Obama.
I have been working on human rights and US foreign policy in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, from one Bush to another Bush, Clinton and now Obama—four presidents in all during my adult life. Today, Barack Hussein Obama eclipsed all the presidents of the past.
The five reasons why: