Women rights are Universal!

Women Rights are Human Rights!

The Middle Eastern Center for Women’s Studies –

The Declaration of the First Annual Conference

Improving women’s status, and creating a just and equal life for them have always been a profound aspiration of egalitarian and progressive movements and women generations in this century. Women have continuously struggled throughout this century to get their demands met. We have a history behind us, history of facing challenges, fighting, gained achievements and advancements.

Still, there is huge tasks before us to secure our demands are met, huge tasks left to us to gain the universal rights of women living in the Middle Eastern countries.

We believe in the universality of women’s rights. We believe that secularism and the separation of religion from the state are the basic pre-conditions for women’s liberation in the Middle East. We demand complete social, economic and political equality of men and women.

Through constructive informative debates on women’s situation in the Middle East, we announce that women should continue the struggle to achieve:

1. # Abolition of the current Personal Status Code (sharia), replacing it by a secular and egalitarian family law.
2. # Abolition of honor-killing laws. Recognition of honor killing as a grave crime.
3. # Banning all decrees aiming at punishing and criminalizing prostitutes. Active fight against prostitution by eliminating its economic, social and cultural grounds, and fighting against sex trade. The dignity of prostitutes should be preserved and their lives and works should be de-criminlised.
4. # Prohibition of imposing the Islamic dress code and veil on women and girls. Freedom of clothing.
5. # Prohibition of interference of authorities and family members in the private lives of women and their personal, emotional and sexual relationship.
6. # Prohibition of any form of segregation of women and men in public places.
7. # Abolition of any restriction on the right of women - single or married - to work, travel and choose the place of residence at will.
8. # Equal political rights for women, rights to vote and to be elected, form women organizations, affiliation to political parties without any restriction. Supporting and encouraging non-governmental women’s rights groups.
9. # Secure full and unconditional equality of rights of women and men in employment, wages, insurance, education and family affairs.
10. # Immediate end to the Economic Embargo imposed on Iraqi people by the West, which has had and continues to have a devastating effect especially on children and women’s lives in Iraq.
11. # End to the war, and suppression and repression of Israeli government. Recognition of the Independence of Palestine, which guarantees a just peace in the region.