Islamic Relief launch campaign to tackle violence against women (Photo: Ahmed J Versi/Muslim News)
Abdul Adil
Islamic Relief launched a major faith-inspired advocacy campaign to tackle all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG), both internationally and domestically.
Islamic Relief is using the campaign to take a proactive stance against all forms of VAWG, including domestic abuse, sexual violence, human trafficking, forced and early child marriage, female genital mutilation and so-called “honour” killings.
The “Honour Her” campaign calls upon the UK Muslim community, as well as imams, to mobilise, raise awareness and take action on this issue within their congregations.
Imran Madden, UK Director of Islamic Relief, said they are committed to “ending violence against women and girls worldwide as part of our core mission to save lives.”
“As part of our work, which is firmly rooted in the Islamic principles of justice and equality, we aim to challenge the religious and cultural misconceptions that allow violence against women and girls to occur in the countries that we work in.”
Muslim scholar Shaykh Fahim, said, “If anyone thinks that violence against women or girls is acceptable they must know that any kind of violence against women, girls or weaker people is haram (forbidden) and is condemned in Islam.”
One of the ambassadors of the campaign, Muslim blogger and model, Mariah Idrissi, said she was lending her support to the campaign using “my profile as an influencer. Our voice is important as we are able to reach young people using social media.”
She said it was important “to end violence against women and girls around the world as gender-based violence is virtually taboo in the Muslim world and isn’t often spoken about in our community. By bringing this to global attention, we are making a powerful statement about our collective power as women and as Muslims.”
At a major UN conference on women’s rights in March, representatives of Islamic Relief Worldwide publicly called on Muslim faith leaders, governments, institutions and civil society actors to commit to establishing gender justice globally.