v1E3z

Mobilizing Faith for WomenEngaging the Power of Religion and Beliefto Advance Human Rights and DignityReport on the June 2013Human Rights Defenders ForumOne Copenhill453 Freedom ParkwayAtlanta, GA 30307(404) 420-5188Fax (404) 420-5196www.cartercenter.org

ContentsPreface .................................... 3Executive Summary. ........................ 5Opening Remarks .........................16Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter ........16Mona Rishmawi, Representative of Navi Pillay,U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights . 20Panel Sessions ............................24Panel I: Aligning Religious Life WithEqual Dignity and Human Rights ..........24Panel II: Trafficking as Modern-Day Slavery ..32Panel III: The Normalization of Violenceand Impact of War on Women ............38Panel IV: From Local to Global: ConnectingReligious Study, Action, and Advocacy .....44Presentations .............................51Molly Melching, Founderand Executive Director, Tostan, Senegal ....51Bacary Tamba, Tostan ...................59Dr. Samira Al-Alaani Abdulghani andJeremy Courtney, Preemptive Love Coalition . 62Frances Greaves, Voice of the Voiceless .....67Claudia Furaha Nfundiko, EpiscopalCommission for Justice and Peace ..........69Zainah Anwar, Sisters in Islam and Musawah . 71Fulata Moyo, World Council of Churches ....74Cheryl Deluca-Johnson, Street Grace .......76Pastor Paul Palmer, Atlanta Dream Center ...79Sister Simone Campbell, NETWORK .......82Remarks of His Eminence Sheikh Dr. OsmanNuhu Sharubutu, National Chief Imamand Grand Mufti of the Republic of Ghana ..84Working Groups Report ...................86Plenary Panel: Sacred Texts and Women’sRights: Women’s Struggles in Religion forSelf-Affirmation, Recognition, and Dignity ..92Professor Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza .......92Dr. Laurie Zoloth .......................96Dr. Ziba Mir-Hosseini ...................101Acknowledgments. .......................105Appendices ..............................107Appendix A: Agenda ...................107Appendix B: Biographies ................109Appendix C: Declaration ................119Appendix D: Statistics ..................123Appendix E: News Coverage .............127

PrefaceBy Jimmy Carter, Former U.S. PresidentAfter World War II, the nations of the worldgathered together to form the United Nations inan effort to prevent the kinds of wars and massiveviolations of human rights that devastated so muchof the world during the first part of the century. TheU.N. charter asserted that only self-defense in case ofimminent attack would justify a decision to go to war.Those same governments also created the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The declarationwas an affirmation that all people are equal in allaspects of life and have a right to mobilize with othersin order to make this promise come true within theirown societies. In the decades since, the UDHR andother treaties derived from its principles have servedas a global bill of rights, spurring many to press forgreater freedom, but this struggle is long and subjectto setbacks.The most notable disappointment in this struggleis that women and girls, half of the world’s population,are often not regarded in their society as fullpeople, with rights equal to men and boys. Some ofthe historic human rights movements, therefore, didnot include a focus on the rights of women but rathersidelined this question because of a larger politicalstruggle. This was true in the U.S. civil rights movement,in the South African anti-apartheid movement,and, more recently, during the Arab Awakening. Weknow also that war and other forms of violence affectwomen in horrific ways long after the bullets stopflying and that resorting to war instead of diplomacyconveys a message to society that violence is anacceptable way to solve difficult problems. The globalprevalence of domestic violence and sexual assault,accompanied by weak government responses, showsthat society too readily accepts these abuses as aTom EnglandParticipants gathered for the 2013 Human Rights Defenders Forum.The Carter Center 3

Mobilizing Faith for Womennormal way of life. This suggests that the twin promisesmade to humanity in 1948 are being eroded.While women’s rights have advanced in manyareas in recent decades, serious challenges remainin almost every nation. Two major factors that stillprevent women from enjoying full human rightsare the exclusive authority of men in many highlypatriarchal religious and belief systems and the overallnormalization of violence in society that permeatesthe family, community, and our foreign policy. TheCarter Center convened the 2013 Human RightsDefenders Forum, titled Mobilizing Faith for Women,to explore these questions and generate dialogue andaction to support those who are struggling to espousepeace and to advance the rights of girls and women,especially in the realm of religion and belief.One participant asked the question: “If women areequal in the eyes of God, why are we not equal inthe eyes of men?” The courageous leaders who joinedus are determined to raise this question and to bringanswers to their communities, engaging sacred textsas a source of legitimacy for their work. We wereencouraged by the good work that many are doing,but it was also quite striking that entrenched attitudesand beliefs that women are inferior or different inGod’s eyes are still so prevalent.I hope that readers will take the time to considercarefully the testimonies of those who gathered at ourforum and consider how they might respond to thisprofound exploration through individual or collectiveaction. The Carter Center and I are grateful to thoseparticipants and to all others who have been engagedwith us on this issue over a number of years.4 The Carter Center

Executive SummaryCall to ActionJune 27–29, 2013, religious leaders, scholars, andactivists joined former U.S. President Jimmy Carterand the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner forHuman Rights at The Carter Center for the 2013Human Rights Defenders Forum on the themeMobilizing Faith for Women: Engaging the Power“The abuse of women andgirls is the most pervasiveand unaddressed humanrights violation on earth.”— President Carterof Religion and Belief to Advance Human Rightsand Dignity. Building on earlier forums, which hadexplored the bases for human rights within religioustraditions, participants pursued an ambitious agendawith the goal of mobilizing religious and politicalleaders to advocate for the human rights of womenand girls. The forum was preceded by a day of workshopsthat allowed experts to delve deeply into howscriptural interpretation by mostly male religious leadershipaffects the rights of women globally. PresidentCarter shared his hope that the conference wouldresult in every individual speaking out and marshalingwhatever influence they can bring to address the issueof human rights abuses against women.In his opening remarks, President Carter noted,“The abuse of women and girls is the most pervasiveand unaddressed human rights violation on earth.”Testimony during the forum supported his assertionthat communities of faith and religious leaders havea unique opportunity to make a difference in thefight for women’s equal treatment and freedom fromviolence around the world. Various faith leaders,advocates, and scholars reported both experiencesof human rights abuses against women and effortsto work from within their faith traditions to addresssuch abuses. The participants shared findings andTom EnglandParticipants listened to Benjamin Warsaw perform a piano selection to open the forum on Friday, June 28, 2013.The Carter Center 5

Mobilizing Faith for Womenrecommendations that were synchronous and overlappingacross geographic, cultural, and faith traditions.Examining sacred texts and sharing testimony frommany countries, participants grappled with the difficultquestions that emerge when attempting to reconcilethe ideals and practices of religion and humanrights principles throughout the world.Tom England“Religious leaders must stand upand demand that the state investin the infrastructure needed.”— Mona RishmawiMona Rishmawi, representative of the U.N. HighCommissioner for Human Rights, observed in heropening remarks:The place of religion in our societies and in thestate today, particularly in the Middle East, isthe determining issue for our future. The issue ofwomen’s rights is the main battleground to determinewhere the identity of the state is going. If weget women’s rights right, we get everything right. Ifwe do not get women’s rights right, everything willdisintegrate.Rishmawi emphasized human rights as our claims asindividuals against the state. She reflected on theresponsibility of the state to protect citizens and itsfailure to do so for women:The state has not invested in protecting womenagainst violence. Religious leaders must stand upand demand that the state invest in the infrastructureneeded — streetlights, police training, andprosecution against violators, among others. TheUnited Nations Human Rights Council has calledupon all governments to prioritize such actions.Finally, she called on religious leaders to stand up andspeak out against violence and discrimination againstwomen, as this is clearly contrary to the concepts ofjustice and human dignity at the core of religion.President Jimmy Carter and Mona Rishmawi from theOffice of the High Commissioner for Human Rights openedthe 2013 Human Rights Defenders Forum.Responding to the Call:Working from WithinParticipants framed violence against women as aproblem that has a detrimental impact on each part ofsociety and on all members of the community: men,women, and children. The issue has deep implicationsfor the daily life and health of community members,mandating that religious and traditional leadersadvocate for their communities and pressure the stateto deliver on its duty to provide for the safety andsecurity of women. Participants agreed that religiousleaders have the power and responsibility to promotepeace and human rights, including women’s rights,6 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenTom EnglandPresident Carter and Karin Ryan of The Carter Center have worked together on many human rights issues.President Carter greets Molly Melching, founder of theorganization Tostan.Tom Englandfrom their institutional platforms. The religiousleaders in attendance embraced this call, givingexamples of work that many are already carrying outand requesting organizational support and training ininternational human rights frameworks so they maylearn to more effectively lobby their governments toaddress abuses in their respective countries.Tostan, the Senegalese organization, was representedby former Parliamentarian Bacary Tamba andfounder Molly Melching. It was the inspiring story ofTostan’s astonishing successes in eliminating harmfultraditional practices such as female genital cuttingin thousands of villages in Africa that undergirdedthe dialogue among participants. The foundation ofTostan’s success is community-based, consultativeapproaches championed by religious and traditionalThe Carter Center 7

Mobilizing Faith for Womenleaders and fostered by many women and menworking together in these communities. Throughreinterpretation of religious texts and communitydialogue, Tostan’s transformative outcomes werepresented at the beginning of the discussions, demonstratingthe potential for engaging religion, ratherthan avoiding it, as a force for social transformation.Participants from various countries reported thatconservative clergy are generally receptive to promotionof faith-based justice but struggle to bring alongtheir conservative congregations. Leaders cited thisissue as a major challenge with which they needscholars’ help. Engaging the media, reaching outthrough online platforms, and communicating inlocal languages were cited as key tactics for reorientingmainstream religious discourse toward supportfor women’s rights. Working with the religious establishmentis possible and essential. As Dr. Salah-eddinElgawhary of the Biblioteca Alexandrina emphasized,progressive religious interpretation has to come fromwithin the schools of religion for it to be a viableforce for change in community practices. Workingfrom within requires understanding local contexts andconstituencies.This point was driven home by Alhaji KhuzaimaMohammed Osman, executive assistant to theNational Chief Imam of Ghana, who expressed thedifficulty for religious leaders in his context to workTom Englandeffectively with those who do not appear, accordingto local standards, to comply with the principles orconduct they espouse. “We find that those humanrights defenders who claim they are Muslims areoften not living up to certain Muslim expectations,which makes us feel backed against a corner,” he said,going on to contend, “This is an issue that needs tobe addressed in order to encourage Muslim leaders toengage.” This statement led to a robust dialogue withother participants, making it clear that such sensitivitiesand challenges are serious but can be overcome.Within such contexts, some institutions are makingprogress. Representatives of the Grand Imam ofAl-Azhar, Sheikh Dr. Ahmad al-Tayyeb, head of theoldest center of Islamic learning in the world, wereeager for collaboration and acknowledged the needfor more concerted effort on the part of leaders andinstitutions. For example, they highlighted their workto consult both religious and secular women’s organizationsin the drafting of a forthcoming declarationon women’s rights and committed to increasing thenumber of women scholars at Al-Azhar.The inspiring story of Tostan’sastonishing successes ineliminating harmful traditionalpractices such as female genitalcutting in thousands of villagesin Africa undergirded thedialogue among participants.President Carter stands with Imam Mohamed Magid,president of the Islamic Society of North America, andMolly Melching, founder of Tostan.Modern-Day SlaverySpeakers addressed various faith-based efforts tocombat human trafficking, which moderator AarondeCreighton described as similar in severity to thetrans-Atlantic slave trade because of the number of8 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenTom EnglandThe National Chief Imam and Grand Mufti of Ghana sent a delegation to the conference. Pictured here with (center)Chief Zanzan Karwor of Liberia are (left to right) Rashidat Muhammed, Chief Sidiq Gimala III, Alhaji Khuzaima MohammedOsman, and Abdul Basit Rufai.lives destroyed by the practice. The conversationaddressed the role of religious communities, whichhave tremendous influence in either stigmatizingvictims of sex trafficking or serving them. Pastor PaulPalmer of the Atlanta Dream Center also challengedleaders to consider the most fundamental driver of sextrafficking: demand. Pastor Paul lamented: We havenot taught our boys and men that we need to honorall girls and women as our sisters. We have failed inreligious leadership because we have assumed that thisis just what young men are going to go through.Fulata Moyo of the World Council of Churchescalled on religious service organizations thatencounter victims of human trafficking not toinstruct victims — in one case a young girl who waspregnant — to accept their fate as divinely ordained.Cheryl Deluca-Johnson of Street Grace in Atlantadescribed efforts to increase criminal penalties forthose who purchase sex from minors, which theinternational community agrees is the most effectiveway to combat trafficking. In the past, criminalizingthe victims has taken up the majority of law enforcementresources. The new consensus asserts thatshifting the focus to the arrest and robust prosecutionThe Carter Center 9

Mobilizing Faith for WomenTom England(Left to right) Ambassador Abdelrahman Moussa, Dr. Abdel-Dayem Nossair, and Dr. Mahmoud Azab represented theGrand Imam of Al-Azhar.of traffickers, pimps, and customers can be the basisof a common movement in which religious leaders,people, and institutions can play a decisive role.Normalization of ViolenceWhile our age may not be comparatively moreviolent, our acceptance of violence and inequality insociety is in stark contrast to the rejection of its legitimacyby the global community in 1948. PresidentCarter reminded the forum that with the signing ofthe U.N. charter the world affirmed a commitmentto “regain faith in fundamental human rights, in thedignity and worth of the human person, in the equalrights of men and women.” The signatories to thecharter agreed on two basic promises: the end of warand the universal attainment of human rights. “Aswe have had vividly brought to us in this meeting,both of those promises have been violated,” PresidentCarter reproached, linking the prevalence of violenceagainst women to the widespread approval of violenceas a method for resolving differences in society. Asillustrated in this report, participants’ testimoniesrevealed the truth of this claim throughout society.From the battlegrounds of the Middle East to thestreet corners of Atlanta, participants agreed andshared suggestions about ways communities of faithmight help rectify the normalization of violence insociety by “normalizing peace” through dialogue andrespect for human rights.In 2000, the international community officiallyrecognized the disproportionate impact of war onwomen with the adoption of U.N. resolution 1325,10 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womeneven as we continue to document gender-basedviolence in conflict and gain unprecedented clarityon the causes and consequences of this aspect of thedisparity. Several forum participants shared storiesof the grave health and safety conditions in Iraq andAfghanistan following the U.S.-led invasion andoccupation of those countries. In particular, the incidenceof congenital birth defects implies the use ofradioactive munitions in civilian areas, with a patternthat implicates the U.S. military in causing andfailing to redress these terrible impacts. Participantstestified to the degenerative effects of persistentinsecurity on the very fabric of society, community,family, and even self. Iraqi pediatrician Dr. SamiraAl-Alaani shared the experience of the women ofFallujah, “Iraq’s Hiroshima,” where couples’ dreamsof parenthood have been invaded by fear due to theprevalence of congenital birth defects. Participantsfrom the Democratic Republic of the Congo andLiberia also testified about the horrific impact onwomen and girls of the wars that raged in their countrieswhile the world mostly ignored the underlyingcauses of those conflicts.“In 1948, the U.N. charterpromised the end of war andthe universality of humanrights, and both of thosepromises have been violated.”— President CarterPresident Carter acknowledged the major role ofthe United States in normalizing war, since in the last60 years this country resorted to war in almost everyaltercation rather than relying on peaceful negotiation.He presented the death penalty as anotherexample of using extreme violence as a solution forsociety’s problems, citing the fact that the UnitedStates is one of four countries that lead the world innumbers of executions. President Carter interpretedthe state’s use of excessive violence as tacit approvalof the use of violence in society. Mild reaction toviolence against women results in the perpetuationof a culture that implicitly and explicitly condonessuch acts. As Rishmawi discussed, the legal frameworkfor addressing justice for women is very shallow. Thepreceding are examples of how the state has failedin its obligation to protect citizens who are women.The result is that living with the threat of violence isnormal for most women.Religion as a Resource forWomen’s Rights WorkParticipants resoundingly dispelled any latent notionthere are inherent contradictions between the principlesof human rights and religion. Mona Rishmawicited two verses from sacred text that support thisposition beautifully. The Bible says: Glory andhonor and peace be for everyone who does good, theJew first and also to the Greek, for God shows nopartiality. From the Qur’an, she shared the verse thatsays: And their Lord responded to them: Never will Iallow to be lost the work of any among you, whethermale or female. “The Qur’an is clear there are parityand equality,” Rishmawi declared.Participants explained that positioning religionsin opposition to the principles of individual humanrights results from the selective use of scripture thatignores its comprehensive message of justice andpeace. The often-cited verse on polygamy in theQur’an — which creates an allowance for multiplewives to address a particular social need of the timebut also cautions against potential injustice — is a caseof such partial reading, suggested Zainah Anwar.Sister Simone Campbell of NETWORK and Nunson the Bus provided an example of the effect of thepoliticization of religion in the discussion of heradvocacy of the Affordable Care Act. She noted thatthe opposition of the U.S. Conference of CatholicBishops stemmed from their ideological identificationwith the singular issue of opposing abortionThe Carter Center 11

Mobilizing Faith for Womenand contraception. Campbell described the conflictas “straight politics,” revealing that even the strictseparation of church and state in the United Stateshas not exempted religion from being co-opted forpolitical gains. Reframing the issue as one of citizenship,she declared, “As a person of faith in ourdemocratic culture, I expect to use my voice and to berequired to use my voice, and our text mandates thatI use my voice!”“It is incredibly important thatwe demand that there be spacefor women’s voices to be heard,because too often those whocontrol policy never have todeal with the consequencesof their policies, but womenoftentimes do have to dealwith the consequences.”— Sister Simone CampbellThe moral and religious imperative for participationis echoed by the work of Musawah, a globalmovement for equality in the Muslim family, foundedby Zainah Anwar and Dr. Ziba Mir-Hosseini. Theyand others asserted that women’s voices and women’sexperiences of living Islam — as well as the realityof the condition of women living in Muslim societies— must be sources of legitimacy and authorityin defining what religion means. The forum providedthe opportunity for representatives of Musliminstitutions to publicly commit to including femalescholars in their work. Imam Mohamed Magid ofthe Islamic Society of North America responded toMir-Hosseini’s call for an inclusive dialogue in whichwomen’s voices are respected equally, stating, “This isnot supposed to be a conversation of men only; cometo our next meeting in Cairo [at Al-Azhar] and havea voice.”Building Inclusive DialoguesRishmawi emphatically supported discussions of therelationship between religion and the state, assertingthat they are the only way to settle the place ofreligion in society. However, she underlined thatsuch discussions have been circumscribed by fear ofintimidation and fear of reprisal. Indeed, participantsshared the very real threat of harm that human rightsdefenders, especially women, face in contexts suchas Afghanistan. In Muslim contexts, human rightsdefenders have, in some cases, become reluctant toshare information about violations inside their owncommunities for fear of helping outsiders to deridetheir community, fuel stereotypes, and even bringon foreign intervention. For these reasons, it is vitalto work actively to open up public space that is safefor dialogue, as violence threatens to close this spacecompletely, participants warned.Rishmawi raised the issue that as human beingsnone of us have a monopoly over the truth and thatmuch of the diversity of human experience has beenexcluded from shaping our religious and politicalinstitutions when authority figures have preservedthe mantel of absolute truth. Frances Greaves fromLiberia highlighted the importance of establishingsafe spaces for revealing such diverse truths, arguing,“To consolidate peace, you and your society must faceyourself and face reality.” The participation of womenin Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commissionpaved the way for female representation in Parliamentand the election of a female president, women whohave fought for and achieved a rewriting of the lawsand the narrative around violence against women inLiberia.Reacting to Al-Alaani’s call for transparencyand investigation into the types of weapons used bythe United States and coalition forces in Fallujah,Campbell stated: It is incredibly important that wedemand that there be space for women’s voices to beheard, because too often those who control policy12 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womennever have to deal with the consequences of theirpolicies, but women oftentimes do have to dealwith the consequences. The forum was credited asan unusually safe space that allowed deep and, attimes, controversial dialogue to occur. The desirefor this conversation to be sustained in some formwas palpable.Contesting Religious MeaningIn his opening remarks, President Carter pointed tomale circumscription of women’s religious leadershipand service to God within religious institutions. Hecited the position of some that women are inferiorin the eyes of God and suggested that such views areperpetuated through the misuse of sacred texts thathave been distorted to justify the dominance of men.Dr. Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza discussed thisaspect of religious debate in her remarks:Throughout the centuries, the Bible has been usedboth as a weapon against and as a resource forsubjugated women. The Bible has been invokedboth for and against women’s struggles for accessto citizenship, public speaking, reproductiverights, theological education, or ordained ministry.Consequently, no serious reform of society in theinterest of women’s emancipation will be successfulif it does not also seek to advance the reform ofreligion and of sacred scriptures.Men’s perception of women as inferior has beeninstitutionalized as if it were fact. In some cases, ithas been confused with divine law and used to excuseboth violence and discrimination against women andthe failure to protect. Participants reflected that inthe early histories of each religious tradition womenwere integral contributors and respected members ofthe religious community. President Carter cited thestatement of the Apostle Paul from Galatians 3:28:“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave norfree, nor is there male and female, for you are all onein Christ Jesus.” Carter referred to Romans 16, wherePaul describes half of the heroes of the early Christianchurch as women apostles and priests. Participantsreferenced similar stories from the early texts andtraditions of Islam and Judaism, rejecting the notionthat patriarchy is core to the faiths themselves.Participants from the Democratic Republic of theCongo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan cited theco-opting and politicizing of religion as contributorsto conflict. In addition, as Rishmawi asserted,those responsible for implementing human rightsprotections often use religion as an excuse for theirfailure. She pointed to the conflation of religion withculture — or ideals with practices, as others framedit — arguing that while the principles of religion maybe divine, culture is very much a worldly, humancreation. Participants discussed several examples,including female genital cutting and “honor killings,”as cases in which religion has been manipulated toexcuse acts explicitly contrary to religious values.In Islamic law, any practice that is harmful to thehuman body is forbidden, and there are heavy (somewould say impossible) burdens of proof required forthe conviction of adultery. However, people havemisused certain texts, removing them from both theirhistorical context and the moral context of the principlesof the religion.“There is neither Jew norGentile, neither slave nor free,nor is there male and female, foryou are all one in Christ Jesus.”— Galatians 3:28Responding to the plenary panel on the liberatingpossibilities within theology, Jeremy Courtney ofPreemptive Love Coalition in Iraq astutely interrogatedthose gathered, asking how we can reformtheology while it is the framework through whichmany of us understand and live in the world.Mir-Hosseini asserted that we must separate idealsfrom practice in both religion and human rights. Wemust be willing to look at realities on the groundThe Carter Center 13

Mobilizing Faith for Womenand allow them to “interrupt” our theological andacademic investigations, according to Dr. LaurieZoloth. All participants repeatedly emphasized thepower of religion to aid in the pursuit of peace andin support of justice, despite its frequently beingco-opted to justify harmful practices and inequalities.“We must normalize thepossibility for us to say wewere wrong, to say we aresorry, and then act to repairwhat we have broken. If ourpolitical leaders won’t lead theway, then at least our religiousleaders must come forward.”— Jeremy CourtneyParticipants listen to testimony on the potential ofmobilizing faith for women. (Left to right) Larisa FriesenHall, Palwasha Kakar, Ambassador Abdelrahman Moussa,and Mossarat Qadeem.Tom England Melinda HolmesIn this report, there are numerous examples ofthe work being done to promote women’s rights andsocial justice both inspired by and working throughreligious mandates. Hauwa Ibrahim, a practicinglawyer in Nigeria, noted that while the law is importantin the pursuit of justice for women, humility isan immensely powerful resource for winning overreligious and traditional leaders, as their heartsare opened by the stories of women. A number ofparticipants agreed that confrontational advocacy,which has proved effective in pressing governmentsto change abusive policies, is not effective in thereligious context given the profound reach thatreligious leaders enjoy in the personal lives withintheir communities. While not deploring robust publicadvocacy, a balance of approaches was suggested.Courtney reflected on the lust for revenge after theattacks against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001,that drove him to support the Iraq war, resolving:“If we are to normalize peace, we must normalizehumility. We must normalize the possibility for us tosay we were wrong, to say we are sorry, and then act14 The Carter CenterChief Zanzan Karwor of Liberia reflects on deliberations.

Mobilizing Faith for Womento repair what we have broken. If our political leaderswon’t lead the way, then at least our religious leadersmust come forward.”Rishmawi described the role religious leadersshould play in holding the state accountable for itsresponsibility to protect, saying: “Religious leadershave a duty to explain the true spirit of religion. Theyhave a duty to explain to people that protecting life isthe core of religious values.”Commitment to ActionThe energy throughout the forum reflected participants’recognition of their shared struggle and itspower to unite rather than divide. Forming anemergent community of believers who are workingto advance human rights for all from within a religiousframework, the forum included participantswith diverse institutional positions that ranged fromleaders of national religious institutions to reformscholars to media and activists. Forum participantsresolved that remedying the prevalent disconnectamong these institutional platforms was one of themost important mandates emerging from the group’sdiscussions. Dr. Laurie Zoloth invited activists tojoin the next meeting of the American Academy ofReligion and submit requests for research based onwhat they see needed on the ground.Furthermore, all participants saw the inclusion ofmen as allies and partners as vital. In the strugglefor women’s human rights, men have diverse rolesto play. As Shiekh Omar Ahmed Tijani Niass of theTijani Sufi Order in Senegal noted, “Equality betweenwomen and men in the Qur’an is clear. I have asuggestion for men: They need to support women bysometimes just being silent.” Spoken by a prominentmale religious leader who guides many millions ofcongregants, such remarks have an instrumental valueand highlight how both silence and voice need to beemployed strategically by men seeking to advance thecause of social justice for women.The following pages illustrate the solutions andresources that participants generated through threedays of exchange and challenging engagement acrossfaiths, disciplines, and perhaps most importantly,institutional positions. From religious leaders toactivists and from reform theologians to communityorganizers, those present negotiated with empoweringand problematic texts and with examples of successand cases of desperate failure. As President Carterconcluded in his opening remarks: Child marriage,the physical abuse of women, women’s slavery, andgenital cutting are all excessive human rights abusesthat exist in the world in direct contravention of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights and, in myopinion, in direct contravention of the basic premisesof every great religion.“Equality between women andmen in the Qur’an is clear. Ihave a suggestion for men: Theyneed to support women bysometimes just being silent.”— Shiekh Omar Ahmed Tijani NiassParticipants held fast to the liberating potential ofreligion and the power of faith to drive the work forwomen’s rights — not only because turning away isnot an option for believers, as Zainah Anwar related,but because reconciling religion with the pursuit ofwomen’s human rights and dignity is an effectivestrategy for change.The Carter Center 15

Opening RemarksI can’t think of a better way to start the discussionthan with the beautiful music by Benjamin Warsaw.I think it brings to all of us the realization that thereare things common to all human beings, the beautyof music that transcends artificial barriers betweennations and between people. I’ve been touched bythe beauty of this music this morning, as I felt youall have also. It’s also a great pleasure to me to befollowed on this program by Mona Rishmawi, whowas designated many years ago as a hero at TheCarter Center, when she represented one of the mostcourageous efforts I have known around the world tobring peace between the Palestinians, who have beendeprived of their rights every day, and the Israelis.President Jimmy Carter opened the 2013 Human RightsDefenders Forum, asserting that abuses of women are themost pervasive and unaddressed human rights abuses ofour time.16 The Carter CenterFormer U.S. President Jimmy CarterTom EnglandAl-Haq and B’Tselem worked side by side with her.Mona, we are proud to have you here.“This morning we are going tobe discussing the most pervasiveand unaddressed humanrights violations on earth: theabuse of women that persistsin almost every country.”— President CarterThis morning we are going to be discussing themost pervasive and unaddressed human rights violationson earth: the abuse of women that persists inalmost every country and for which there is a greataversion among male leaders, and even some femaleleaders, to admit that it exists, that it is serious andtroubling, and that it can and should be addressedcourageously. It’s not easy to do, as all of you know,particularly those of you who are heroes here, whocome from countries where the abuse is so flagrantthat it is difficult even to point out the abuse youyourself have experienced.Our goals today are to educate and mobilizereligious leaders and political leaders around theworld — and to strengthen and inspire forum participantsso that when we go back home we’ll all havebeen given new commitment and inspiration to try toaddress this evil that exists so prominently throughoutthe world. We also need publicity — and we havehad a number of interviews and have new mediapresent — to let the world be reminded of the abuse of

Mobilizing Faith for Womenwomen. In itself, this would be a good result, and it isalready being accomplished with this conference.Also, I think it is good for us to be reminded of theincompatibility between certain religious practiceson the one hand — as espoused by religious leaderswho try to convince their own fellow worshipers thatwomen are inferior in the eyes of God — and humanrights on the other. Many great religious traditionshold an ordination by men that women are not fit toserve God on an equal basis. They are precluded frombeing priests, pastors, and chaplains, while men areconsidered to be worthy to hold those positions in theservice of God. In some cases, there are even moregross abuses of religious scripture and texts, from theQur’an and the Bible, including the Old Testamentand the New Testament. Singular verses can beextracted and distorted to justify the dominanceof men.“Article 16 says, ‘Men andwomen of full age, without anylimitation due to race … havethe right to marry and to founda family.’ What is the keyphrase there? Of full age! Weknow that girls of 8 or 10 yearsold in many countries, withthe approval of religious ortraditional leaders, are forced tomarry against their will with nocontrol over their lives at all.”— President CarterI have here a copy of the Universal Declarationof Human Rights, and I would hope that all of youwould get a copy and carry it with you. It spells outa commitment that was made back in 1948 by theIn his opening remarks, former U.S. President JimmyCarter emphasized the promises made by the internationalcommunity in the 1948 Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights.countries of the world, led by the wife of our formerpresident, Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the preamble,it points out the equal and inalienable rights of allmembers of the human family and the foundation forfreedom, justice, and peace in the world. It goes onto say: “Whereas the people of the United Nationshave in the charter reaffirmed to regain faith infundamental human rights, in the dignity and worthof the human person, in the equal rights of menand women,” and have determined “to promotesocial progress and better standards of life in largerfreedom …”It goes on to point out in Article 2 that “everyoneis entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forthin this declaration, without distinction of any kind,such as race, color, sex, language, religion, politicalor other opinion, national or social origin, property,birth, or other status.”Article 4 says, “No one shall be held in slaveryor servitude,” and we know there are millions ofpeople in this world who, in effect, are slaves soldby trafficking and that 80 percent of those slavesare women. Of the women sold into slavery, about80 percent are sold for sexual abuse by men. ThereTom EnglandThe Carter Center 17

Mobilizing Faith for Womenare many articles in the declaration, but I wanted topoint out these because they are so important to usgathered here.Article 16 says, “Men and women of full age,without any limitation due to race … have the right tomarry and to found a family.” What is the key phrasethere? Of full age! We know that girls of 8 or 10 yearsold in many countries, with the approval of religiousor traditional leaders, are forced to marry againsttheir will with no control over their lives at all. Wealso know that there are some heroes, particularly inSenegal in the area where Tostan works, that havenow persuaded 6,000 villages to agree to do away withgenital cutting, another severe abuse of girls’ rights.“Marriage shall be entered into only with the freeand full consent of the intending spouses.” That’s thehusband and the wife; not just the dominant husband.Article 21: “Everyone has the equal right to takepart in the government of his country.” We knowthat even in the most advanced countries womenare deprived of an equal opportunity to serve in theirgovernments. We now have the highest number ofwomen serving in the U.S. Congress in history, andwe are up to 18 percent of the members of the U.S.House and Senate.Article 23: “Everyone, without any discrimination,has the right to equal pay for equal work.” Theemployers of America, looking at the religious ordinationthat women are not equal, don’t feel constrainedto pay women equally for the same work that a mandoes. In our country, women in the workforce get anaverage of 77 percent as much as men do.Article 25 says, “Motherhood and childhood areentitled to special care and assistance,” and Article26 states that everyone has the right to education.These are paragraphs from the Universal Declarationof Human Rights, and every country is sworn toimplement these principles of equality in their laws,customs, and treatment of men and women, andthey are not doing it. Quite often their excuse fornot doing it is that religious leaders say that womenare inferior.I happen to be a Christian, and I read the Bibleand teach the Bible every Sunday in my hometownchurch. In my church, we have a man pastor and awoman pastor. We have six deacons — half of themare women — and my wife is perhaps the most famousBaptist deacon in the world. But in the SouthernBaptist Convention, there is a policy that womencannot be pastors, deacons, or chaplains. At someof the Southern Baptist university seminaries, it isprohibited for a woman to teach a class in which boysare students. We know that the Catholic Churchordained back in the third or fourth century thatwomen cannot serve as priests. They can be teachersor nurses, but they can’t be priests.“Another very important globalfactor that contributes towomen’s abuse is the approvalof violence as a way to resolvedifferences in our society.”— President CarterThis was not the case in the early Christianchurch. Paul said that there is no difference in theeyes of God between a Jew and a gentile, or betweena slave and a master, or between a man and a woman.And when he wrote to the Romans in Chapter 16, hepoints out the heroes of the early Christian church,almost half of whom were women who were apostlesand priests. Later, when men took over, they beganto express their opinion, which has now becomealmost law, that a woman is not equal in the eyesof God. This leads to much of the abuse of women.In marriage, some men consider their wives to beinferior to them and they, therefore, sexually andeconomically abuse their women almost as slaves. Insome countries — Christian, Islamic, and others — thelaws preclude women from serving as equals. Weknow about Saudi Arabia, where a woman has notbeen given the right to drive an automobile and sofar has not been permitted to vote in elections. That18 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenmight change in the near future; we hope so. Thereis progress being made in the world, very reluctantlyin most cases, but it’s not an all-pervasive change orimprovement. The point is that the voices demandingthese changes are very few and far between. They aresometimes very timid, because people who speak outare considered to be traitors of the male-dominatedpolitical and economic leadership.“When we accept war as alegitimate way to resolvedisputes — or when weexcessively use violence as apunishment for crimes — it saysthat violence is acceptable.That’s another factor thathurts women, because they aremost affected by violence.”— President CarterAnother very important global factor thatcon tributes to women’s abuse is the approval ofviolence as a way to resolve differences in our society.We in this country have been guilty of almostconstant warfare for the last 60 years: beginning inNorth and South Korea and going on to Vietnam,then into Bosnia-Herzegovina, and more recently,Iraq and Afghanistan. In between, in almost everycountry where there has been an altercation, we havedecided to go to war instead of negotiating peacefullyto resolve disputes. Some countries still permit thehorrible use of execution, of the death penalty. NoWestern European country has the death penalty,and only one country in Eastern Europe, Belarus,does. Canada doesn’t have it either, but the UnitedStates does. Our country is one of four nations onearth where there are the most executions. When weaccept war as a legitimate way to resolve disputes — orwhen we excessively use violence as a punishmentfor crimes — it says that violence is acceptable. That’sanother factor that hurts women, because they aremost affected by violence.I think almost every family around here is awareof this problem. When I was governor of Georgia,we had a houseguest who was raped, and she toldRosalynn and me about her abuse. We encouragedher to name her abuser, but when she talked tothe prosecuting attorneys in DeKalb County, theystrongly encouraged her not to do so, to let her rapistgo free rather than submit her to the inevitablederogation of her character and the abuse of the trialthat might be forthcoming. In the great universitiesof Atlanta today, it is standard policy not to prosecutemale students who have raped women; this needs tobe corrected. Atlanta, of which I’m very proud, isalso one of the central trading posts for trafficking inslavery of women.We’ve made some progress, but the progress ishalting and quite often pursued without enoughcourage and commitment. I hope that one of theresults of this conference will be for every one ofus, individually, to speak out forcefully and usewhatever influence we can marshal to bring aboutimprovements in the treatment of women. It grievesme very deeply to see this continue, and I’m veryproud of those of you who are heroes in your owncountries. Child marriage, the physical abuse ofwomen, women’s slavery, and genital cutting are allhuman rights abuses that exist in the world in directcontravention of the Universal Declaration of HumanRights and, in my opinion, in direct contravention ofthe basic premises of every great religion.The Carter Center 19

Mobilizing Faith for WomenMona Rishmawi, Representative of Navi Pillay,U.N. High Commissioner for Human RightsThank you very much, President Carter, for thestimulating and fascinating presentation. It is very,very hard to take the floor after you. I must say I amextremely touched and very moved to be in the presenceof President Carter. I was here 24 years ago asyoung Mona Rishmawi. I met President Carter andMrs. Carter, who I’m extremely happy to see again,and, of course, Karin, to receive the Human Rightsaward with another organization, a very good Israeliorganization called B’Tselem. The award resultedin a lifelong friendship between me and my bestfriend in the world, Zahava Gal-On, the Israeli whoreceived the award then. At the time, it was notreally common to recognize Palestinian talents; it wasactually very unusual. President Carter made a courageousmove in acknowledging us and our work at thetime we most needed it. I think, like many people andhuman rights defenders in the world, we owe a lot tohim for that recognition.I am here today as a U.N. official, representing theHigh Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay,who really wanted to be here but can’t because sheis in Vienna commemorating the 20th anniversaryof our office. I would like to again acknowledgePresident Carter, who came to the World Conferenceon Human Rights in Vienna and battled — along with2,500 other human rights defenders — for the creationof that office. He personally came to the meetingand lobbied the U.S. government and the U.N.secretary-general to convince them to take a positiveposition on the creation of the Office of the HighCommissioner for Human Rights to be the voice ofvictims. Without him, I don’t think we would havean Office of the High Commissioner for HumanRights, and we are extremely grateful for that. Sincethen he has been working with the Office of the HighCommissioner for Human Rights and with all thehigh commissioners, who have been to The CarterCenter, working on the promotion of human rightsand standing up for human rights defenders, an issuethat President Carter has championed throughouthis career.Today’s purpose is to look at faith, women, andhuman rights. Let me share with you some remarksthat come from my own experience: my backgroundas a woman raised in Middle Eastern countries,having lived most of my life in Palestine and Egypt,where I studied and for which I have a strong affinitybecause half of my family is Egyptian. I now live inIn her opening remarks, Mona Rishmawi, representativeof the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, calledon religious leaders to speak up and hold the stateaccountable for its obligation to protect women.Tom England20 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenSwitzerland, so I am one of those who belongs toevery place in the world, and my comments todaycome from that experience.The place of religion in our society is a big topic.It has always been there, but today we see it as adetermining issue for our future. Everywhere I go,particularly in the Middle East, I see the issue ofwomen’s rights as the main battleground on whichto determine the direction of the state. If we getwomen’s rights right, we get everything right. If wedo not get women’s rights right, I think everythingwill disintegrate, and we will have a real problem.Discussions about the role of religion in the state,especially in cultures like ours, are appropriate. I haveno problem with the discussion; actually it is a verygood discussion provided it is a discussion in whichpeople raise their views without fear of intimidation,reprisal, or being mocked on television and in themedia. This is fine; we have to settle these issues inour society. We have to settle the place of religion inthe state, and the only way to go about it is to discussit. There is no other way; we have to discuss it. Butif fear and intimidation enter the picture, we will runinto problems.We are all human beings; nobody has, I wouldsay, monopoly over the truth. We are not God; weare just his servants. We are not God, so we cannotpretend to be God and be the only ones who knowthe truth. Let me share two verses from the Bible andthe Qur’an that say the same thing. The Bible says,“Glory and honor and peace be for everyone whodoes good, the Jew first and also the Greek, for Godshows no partiality.” God loves everybody. In theHoly Qur’an, an even clearer verse that is extremelynice says, “And their Lord responded to them: Neverwill I allow to be lost the work of any of you, whethermale or female.” The Qur’an is very clear: There areparity and equality there.Allow me to say a few words about where I thinkthe discussion stands today. We have a total imbalancein our legal system with regard to women’sissues. When it comes to protection against violence,we have very shallow frameworks. When it comes topromoting practices that could lead to discrimination,we have ample rules. It is a fact that violence is anormal way of life for many women. It is a sad reality.When you walk in the streets, the hassle and harassmentyou get from the age of 2 or 3 are incredible. Ifyou walk into a police station, the story that PresidentCarter told is the story of many women throughoutthe world. If you speak about your abuser, you aremocked and are accused of being immoral. The lawenforcement agents don’t work to protect you; theywork against you; the system works against you.Often, the streets are dark, and women cannot walkfor fear for their safety. Many girls even fear goingto the bathrooms in schools because they cannot beprotected from violence. Violence against women,and girls more profoundly, is a normal way of life formany people. The state has invested very little untilnow toward addressing this problem.“I don’t see why religiousleaders are not standing up;why religious leaders cannotsay, ‘For God’s sake, hasslingwomen in the streets is a sin; it’sagainst human dignity.’ That iswhat we need. There is nothingin any religion that says you canhassle women in the streets.”— Mona RishmawiHuman rights are our claims against the state. Asa human rights person, I put a lot of emphasis onthe state. I don’t see why religious leaders are notstanding up; why religious leaders cannot say, “ForGod’s sake, hassling women in the streets is a sin; it’sagainst human dignity.” That is what we need. Thereis nothing in any religion that says you can hasslewomen in the streets. Why are people not standing upto say this has to stop? Why aren’t we working towardThe Carter Center 21

Mobilizing Faith for Womenbetter infrastructure where the streets are lit, wherepeople can walk in safety, where public transportationis safe? We’ve heard the story of the rapes thatjust took place in India. They convened an excellentcommission. The late Judge Verma made incrediblerecommendations, but the state put them aside anddid something else. Why would they do that whenhe has outlined exactly what needs to be done? Thestate needs to take these obligations seriously andtreat women as equal parties. Religious leaders havea big role to play because this is not a question aboutculture. This is a question about honoring everyhuman being in the country.“Women’s rights are aboutyou and me: our boys andgirls, our children, our future.It’s about our outlook on theworld not only today but30 or 40 years from now.Where do we want to be?”— Mona RishmawiViolence against women is an area in which religiousand community leaders need to invest muchmore because it’s about everybody and not one part ofsociety only. President Carter told us why they don’tdo that: because they actually think women are inferiorand that protection really isn’t necessary. Whenyou look at someone as less than a human being, thenthe abuse is fine. It’s actually a joke. When boys talkabout what they tell girls, other boys laugh. Withinthe family, the community, and the religion, thesehave to become taboos. The human rights systemutilizes integrative approaches, but for some reason itis difficult to implement them. For example, the U.N.Human Rights Council just endorsed recommendationsto address the issue of safety and security forwomen through the enactment of adequate legislation;instruction and training of law enforcement officialsto take action to protect women; and investingin infrastructure such as public transportation,sanitation facilities, street lighting, and improvementsin urban planning. Community leaders and religiousleaders have to look at this and find ways to bringthese issues into the mosques, churches, and villages,because these are the things that will make a differencein the daily lives of people.The problem is that the investment is not there;the investment is in conflating two notions that Ithink should be kept separate: culture and religion.Religion comes from the divine; it comes from God.Culture comes from us; let’s not confuse that. Cultureis us. The divine we cannot change, but we absolutelycan change culture! It comes with our progress: Somenorms that were adequate at a certain stage don’tserve their purposes anymore.The problem is that in the area ofwomen — because women are the weakest insociety — culture and religion often are confused. Inthe past in Egypt, they managed to prevent femalegenital mutilation in public hospitals, and therewas a religious fatwa that the ban was in line withreligion. When they realized that girls die from thesepractices, suffering throughout their lives and whenpregnant, the state took measures. That was very positive,but the state can do much more in this regard.For example, I don’t think any religion is in favorof “honor killings.” If anything, religion would limithonor killings, because it says in cases of adultery youneed a certain standard of proof. The issue is thatpeople believe this is their tradition. But how canreligion accept for a life to be taken on the basis ofa suspicion? Culture and religion get conflated, andthe state colludes with laws that actually give lenientsentences for these offenses, police who don’t investigate,and the community that covers it up. This iswhere we need to invest. Religious leaders have aduty to explain the true spirit of religion. They have aduty to explain to people that protecting life is at thecore of religious values.These practices of violence and oppressive culture22 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenlead to one result: Women fear to be part of thepublic space. Tell me which country today can affordto have half its society unengaged in its economic andpolitical life? In a time of economic oppression, in atime where competition over influence is so high, weneed every part of the society to play its role. Womendon’t feel protected to play the role they need to play:They protest and group themselves in organizations,but the majority of women still fear to be in thestreets and in public places and are harassed at workand paid less. To remedy these problems and aggression,the state needs to do much more, and religiousand community leaders have a bigger role to playthan they are playing right now.Let me conclude by saying I don’t think women’srights are only an issue of women: Women’s rights areabout all of us. Women’s rights are about the dignityof every person. Women’s rights are about you andme: our boys and girls, our children, our future. It’sabout our outlook on the world not only today but30 or 40 years from now. Where do we want to be?If we want to be confined as our people were 1,000years ago, that’s a choice. We can make that choice,but it has a price. If we want to go backward, that’sa choice. If we want to go forward, that’s anotherchoice. And if we choose to go forward, we have tomake different decisions today to bring everybody onboard to respect the dignity of every human person.We all have things that we can do within oursphere of influence. President Carter has showed theway. Throughout his career, he has done whatever hecan within his sphere of influence in whatever positionhe was sitting. He has lived for his convictions.I think it is important that one lives for his or herconvictions and moves things forward with a vision ofwhere we want to be in the future.The Carter Center 23

Panel IAligning Religious Life with Equal Dignityand Human RightsModerator: The Rev. Dr. Andrea WhitePanelists: Bacary Tamba, Zainah Anwar,Sister Simone CampbellThe panel Aligning Religious Life With EqualDignity and Human Rights at the Carter Center’s2013 Human Rights Defenders Forum addressed theneed for greater connection between the wonderfulmessages of equality in our sacred texts and the realitiesof women’s lives in the world. Panelists sharedtheir experiences and challenges working in threedifferent corners of the world: Bacary Tamba fromSenegal, national coordinator for Tostan and formerparliamentarian; Zainah Anwar from Malaysia,founder of Sisters in Islam and Musawah; and SisterSimone Campbell from the United States, founderof NETWORK and the Nuns on the Bus movement.Moderator Rev. Dr. Andrea White of EmoryUniversity opened the discussion by quoting feministtheologian professor Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza:“Readers of sacred texts need to learn how to claimtheir spiritual authority to assess both the oppressiveas well as the liberating imaginations of the particulartext and their interpretations.”“If men and women are equalin the eyes of God, why are wenot equal in the eyes of men?”— Zainah AnwarThe panelists discussed what it means to engagetexts in this way as a method for pursuing justice andequality. “If men and women are equal in the eyes ofGod, why are we not equal in the eyes of men?” askedZainah Anwar of Sisters in Islam as she addressedthe forum. Why is there a disconnect between themessages about justice in our sacred texts and therealities of women’s lives in our world? Indeed, howRereading PolygamyThe Qur’anic verses on polygamy [QS 4:3] say:And if you fear that you will not deal justly withthe orphan girls, then marry women of yourchoice, two or three or four. But if you fear thatyou will not be just, then marry [only one] orthose your right hand possesses. That is moresuitable that you may not incline [to injustice].When rereading the sacred text from a feministperspective, we are driven to ask why onepart of this verse has become a popular referenceas a source of law to justify men’s rightsto polygamy, while the recommendation toavoid injustice by marrying only one woman isignored. Sheikh Mustapha Ibrahim of Ghanaillustrated the need for open deliberation onmatters of religion that are inclusive of women’slived experiences. While declaring that “we allagree that Islam is very clear; we are all equalbefore Allah Almighty,” he demonstrated thesensitivity religious leaders develop when theytarget something they consider a tenet of faith.He justified polygamy on the basis of historicalcontext, relating how Islam enforced limits andconditions on marriage when, at the time of therevelation, war and conflict left many womenwidowed with limited economic opportunitiesand no state protection, and he asserted thebelief that polygamy was intended to be in theinterest of women.24 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenreligious texts are understood is pivotal in shapingthe practices, traditions, and laws of societies aroundthe world. While inspiring altruism and the pursuitof social justice, sacred texts also are used to justifyviolence and discrimination. How can we encourageinclusive scholarship and interpretation that honorthe central message of justice in the world’s majorfaiths and traditional belief cultures? For, as Anwarremarked poignantly, “God is not God, if God isnot just.”“God is not God, ifGod is not just.”— Zainah AnwarText and Love to Share: RereadingSacred Texts for Women’s RightsAnwar founded Sisters in Islam to work for a women’srights framework within Islam in Malaysia by leveragingthe just and empowering messages present inthe sacred text. Musawah, which she co-founded withDr. Ziba Mir-Hosseini, is a global movement seekingto work for equality and to expand this approach toother Muslim contexts. While acknowledging theimportant role for religious leaders in changing socialnorms, she highlighted the prevalence of cases inwhich religious leaders have aided unjust policiesand authoritarian regimes, justifying oppression onreligious grounds. The Qur’an is considered the wordof God, and thus Islamic law is often defended asTom EnglandMona Rishmawi (right) listens to Sister Simone Campbell of NETWORK share the story of the struggle of American Catholicsisters to carve out space for faith-driven social justice activism within their religious context.The Carter Center 25

Mobilizing Faith for Womeninfallible. However, as Anwar asserted, “This is aconstructed myth, a myth that must be broken,” forthis law is based on specific understandings and hasbeen determined by human interlocutors.Anwar and her colleagues are practitioners of“Islamic feminism,” which — although a highlycontested and often-rejected label — attempts todescribe efforts to reread the Qur’an through a feministor gender-sensitive lens. Instead of depending on“what men said it said,” Anwar and her colleaguesstarted asking rights-based questions of the text. Theyfound that the text is very liberating. The Qur’anhas many messages of justice and compassion, of menand women with equal rights and responsibilitiesbefore God. Then, they questioned, “Why shouldTom EnglandLiving Polygamy TodayZainah Anwar referenced a study that Sisters inIslam conducted with over 1,000 husbands, firstand second wives, and children of polygamousmarriages, which found that polygamy’s negativeemotional, social, and economic impactwas felt by all family members and lasted fordecades. The testimony of Ella Musu Coleman,an activist from Liberia, illustrates these experiences:One wife, who was in a traditional polygamousmarriage, shared with Coleman that whileshe was working very hard to support the entirefamily — brushing the trees, cutting the harvest,selling it in the market — her co-wife was dotedon. After learning about her rights in a workshopwith Coleman’s organization, the woman askedher husband to support her with the farming.The reality today is that polygamous marriagetends to impact families negatively. “Even menare miserable,” Anwar related. Sheikh OmarAhmed Tijani Niass of Senegal emphasizedthat polygamy is permissible but not obligatoryand that it is subject to stipulations thatshould ensure it is mutually desired and sociallybeneficial. The just intent of religious doctrineis being lost in practice and sometimes deliberatelyabrogated with the misuse of excerpts ofsacred text.Zainah Anwar of Sisters in Islam speaks about reading theQur’an with a feminist lens.men’s messages, men’s experiences, and men’s realitiesdefine how we should live our faith?” Realizing theoverwhelming domination of pro-patriarchal interpretation,Sisters in Islam asserts that women’s voicesand women’s experience of living Islam — as well asthe actual impacts of the law on women — must be asource of authority and legitimacy in defining whatreligion means and how law is articulated.Realigning religious life with the divine messagesof justice and equality can be achieved by creatinga culture of public debate on matters of religion andthe meaning of equality. Sisters in Islam started thisdebate in Malaysia. “We were just eight women.How did we open 1,400 years of patriarchy basedon religion? We did this by using the media. Westarted by writing letters to the editor on contentiousissues,” she related. “We need to share with thepublic that there are diverse opinions within Islam,diverse interpretations in religion. If Islam is going tobe used as a source of law in public policy, there hasto be public discussion and debate; public law mustbe open to public debate.” Male religious leaders areoften insulated from the realities facing women and26 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenare slow to recognize and admit the abuses happeningwithin their own communities. Yet when faced withthe facts, they can be powerful allies in aligning practicewith the ethical message of justice inherent inall religions. “Many feminists reject religion becausethey believe that religion is inherently unjust andpatriarchal. Religion is not a source of change andliberation,” said Anwar. “But, as a believer, that is notan option for me. I need to reconcile my faith andmy feminism.”Standing Between God andthe People: Re-examiningReligious AuthorityPublic debate can upset the status quo in religiousinstitutions that are traditionally hierarchical. AsCampbell related, “Public action creates internaltension.” Women’s perspectives are often formedby community-level experience, as caregivers toloved ones, organizers of charity, and deliverersDr. Mahmoud Azab discusses the position Al-Azhar hastaken to encourage protection of the rights of youth,women, and minorities, given the more central role ofreligion in politics since the Egyptian Revolution beganin 2011.Tom Englandof humanitarian relief. Campbell shared how herorganization, NETWORK, leveraged the grassrootsauthority derived from the historic role of Catholicsisters in setting up the first health care systems in theUnited States. The organization was founded to advocatefor systemic change, responding to their bishop’scall “to move from doing charity to doing justice.”The U.S. health care system founded by womenis now controlled by men and serves more togenerate profits than health. In 2010, NETWORKwas involved in supporting the health reform billbefore the U.S. Congress, citing the fact that morethan 52 million people in the country living withouthealth care is immoral. Though the CatholicHealth Association also supported the bill, the U.S.Conference of Catholic Bishops came out in opposition,causing what media called the first such publicpolitical divergence within the Catholic community.Campbell’s experience confirms Rishmawi’sassertion that the real fight is about culture, notfaith. “Catholic bishops have become ideologicallyidentified with the so-called pro-life movement inour country — which is actually more like pro-birththan pro-life,” she said. While the bishops objectedon the grounds that the bill will allow federal fundingof abortion, Campbell and others did not read thatmeaning in the bill. She argues, “It was straight politics.”The bill passed, and the Affordable Care Act isnow law.In 2012, the Vatican censured NETWORK —along with the Leadership Conference of WomenReligious, the association of leaders representingthe majority of Catholic sisters in the UnitedStates — accusing them of refusing to promote churchdoctrine that opposes abortion and gay marriagebut rather promoting “radical feminist themes.”Campbell’s response was, “What an honor”! Whilethe notoriety came as a shock, she was able to turnthe moment into a resource for their mission. TheLeadership Conference of Women Religious hadto carry out difficult work with the leaders of theirfaith, so NETWORK, as an organization not directlyconnected to the Vatican, took up the public mantle,giving them space for that work. This leveragingThe Carter Center 27

Mobilizing Faith for Womenof relative institutional positions allows them to“stand where people are and move the mission as faras possible.”Tom England“Joy is released when wetouch the pain of our time.”— Sister Simone CampbellDetermined not to allow the rift with the bishopsto interfere with NETWORK’s larger mission,Campbell created Nuns on the Bus, a road tripacross the country to draw attention to the largerissues where there is common agreement betweenthe sisters and the bishops. The bus tour focused on“comprehensive common sense [and] compassionateimmigration reform” and then on speaking out againstCongressman Paul Ryan’s proposed budget, whichslashes services for the poor. The sisters were aidedin this effort by a letter from their bishop declaringthat the Ryan budget failed the basic moral test. Inreflecting on the importance of standing with theoppressed and marginalized in society, Campbell liftedthe hearts of the participants, saying, “Joy is releasedwhen we touch the pain of our time.” It was a statementthat reverberated with many for the rest of theconference. In conclusion, Campbell offered that“women’s leadership has surprising things happeningto it in my faith tradition” and, “As a person of faithin our democratic culture, I expect to use my voiceand to be required to use my voice, and our textmandates that I use my voice”!Mainstreaming Male AlliancesInclusive public discourse and the empowerment ofwomen in spheres of leadership are central to thereorientation of religious institutions to promotewomen’s rights and social justice for all. As SheikhOmar Ahmed Tijani Niass recommended, “Menneed to support women in the issue of equality bysometimes just being silent.” With men occupyingShiekh Mustapha Ibrahim, a member of the delegation ofthe National Chief Imam of Ghana, discusses the effect ofpolygamy on families today.the most powerful positions in government, business,and religious institutions the world over, active alliancesare key and, at times, need to take the form ofconsciously leaving space for women to lead. Tamba,a former parliamentarian and national coordinator forTostan in Senegal, reflected on the futility of juxtaposingmen and women: “This is a fight for humanity.It is a problem for all of us human beings to change.”No man exists in a vacuum, nor does a communityexist independent of its female members, insistedTamba. Tostan operates on the principle that thewelfare of women, mothers, wives, and sisters impactscommunity well-being, a common value that oftensubordinates individual rights. Through dialogue andeducation, Tostan has helped communities redefinewomen’s rights as a central aspect of communityhealth, eliminating the practice of female genitalcutting on that basis.Women are often equally implicated in the perpetuationof harmful practices such as female genital28 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womencutting. Tamba shared that at first his work againstthe ancestral practice was strongly opposed by hiscommunity, which reprimanded him, saying, “Stoptalking about that; you are a man; it is none of yourbusiness. This is holy; we cannot discuss this”! Evenhis family begged him to stop his advocacy, afraid ofpeople’s wrath. Yet, he continued with convictionthat came from knowing that there is no passagein the Bible or the Qur’an that mandates femalegenital cutting. Tamba emphasized the importance“Men need to support womenin the issue of equality bysometimes just being silent.”— Sheikh Omar Ahmed Tijani Niassof education to redress ignorance, arguing, “All religionswill be well-practiced if people are educated.”His work, he says, “stirs up the earth”: The groundis the spirit of the people, and personal convictionactivates change.Tamba articulated three types of norms — social,legal, and personal — emphasizing the potency ofindividuals who make choices based on personalmoral conviction. This sentiment is reflected in hisown choices. When questioned on the motivationof men to work against what can be viewed as theirown male privilege and about his own motivationto take the risk in pursuing social change, Tambaresponded, “I do this because I believe it is a problemfor everyone, men and women.”As Mona Rishmawi, representative of the U.N.High Commissioner for Human Rights, asked in heropening remarks, “Why is it that religious leadersTom EnglandElla Musu Coleman, seated next to Chief Zanzan Karwor, shares her organization’s efforts to empower women to asserttheir rights within polygamous traditional marriages in Liberia.The Carter Center 29

Mobilizing Faith for WomenTom Englandthe “war on terror” has led to an erosion of the legitimacyof the human rights mandate. Tamba remindedthe group that “anywhere you find war, rights aretrampled,” and since decisions to go to war are madeby men, it is men who must make a greater effort toseek peaceful ways of resolving conflicts.“Religion is not free frompower, and culture is not freefrom power. When we speakabout religious leaders, theyare a product of their culture,and this culture is patriarchal.Patriarchy existed long beforethe coming of religion.”— Dr. Ziba Mir-HosseiniShiekh Omar Ahmed Tijani Niass reminds the group thatpolygamy is not an obligation in Islam and should onlybe permitted under certain conditions that guarantee therights of women entering into such marriages.cannot stand up for women and say violence is asin?” Dr. Ziba Mir-Hosseini, an Islamic scholar andco-founder of Musawah, asserts, “Religion is not freefrom power, and culture is not free from power. Whenwe speak about religious leaders, they are a productof their culture, and this culture is patriarchal.Patriarchy existed long before the coming of religion.”Mir-Hosseini and Imam Mohamed Magid spokeabout the challenge of confronting the commonperception that human rights has become a toolfor promoting Western interests. The internationalcommunity’s mild response to the aggressive wars andabuses perpetrated by the United States in pursuit ofThere are positive examples of leadership withinreligious institutions. President Carter commendedthe involvement of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, thehistoric center of Sunni religious learning in Egypt, inadvocating for full freedoms in Egypt’s Constitutionand pushing forward a declaration on women’s rights.In these efforts, the Grand Imam has collaboratedwith Pope Tawadros of the Egyptian Coptic OrthodoxChurch, civil society, women’s rights organizations,and activists, respectively. President Carter stated,“The Grand Imam is under tremendous pressurefrom more conservative forces in his faith, but heis courageous.”Opening Space, Removing ViolenceSpace for inclusive, public debate on the relationshipamong social norms, public policy, and religion isimperative. Yet media around the world, which aremore interested in conflict than in positive stories,are left to frame the discussion. Part of the problem30 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenis that women, and also men, are afraid of enteringpolitics and being in the public eye. As Ritu Sharma,president and founder of Women Thrive Worldwide,shared, “The other side has guns, zeal, and power.They will use violence.” She illustrated how realthe fear is for women, from activists in Afghanistanand Iraq who receive threats every day to those whofear backlash from news media if they speak out oncontroversial issues in the United States. Campbell,while traveling the country with Nuns on the Bus,found that “while all faiths tell us ‘fear not,’ society iscontrolled by fear — fear of the other, fear of attack.”Sharma responded, “Yes, scripture talks to power,but when power has a gun, how do we strengthen,protect, and inspire our nonviolent movements tostand strong in the face of the zealous, radical movementson the other side?” Anwar highlighted theimportance of opening the space for public debatebefore it is completely closed by violence in placessuch as Pakistan and Afghanistan where “death awaitsyou.” Every time Sisters in Islam is publicly attacked,they use it as an opportunity to widen public awarenesson those controversies, eventually garnering ahuge public constituency and public resonance totheir work.Rishmawi contended that “it will all be sorted outthe moment violence is finished.” In the meantime,human rights defenders exhibit extraordinary braverydriven by their faith. Exemplifying this, Campbellsaid, “My heart has broken for people who have experiencedinjustice. And when my heart is broken, whatis fear to me? Living for me, in a Christian context,is living out the Gospel. Jesus was all about going toplaces where people ache and hurt, so how can I not?Too often we focus on the fear and less on the need.Faith is always about walking, willingly, into trouble.”“Yes, scripture talks to power,but when power has a gun,how do we strengthen, protect,and inspire our nonviolentmovements to stand strong inthe face of the zealous, radicalmovements on the other side?”— Ritu SharmaThe Carter Center 31

Panel IITrafficking as Modern-Day SlaveryModerator: Aaronde CreightonPanelists: Pastor Paul Palmer, Dr. FulataMoyo, and Cheryl Deluca-JohnsonThe panel Trafficking as Modern-Day Slavery: Peopleof Faith Arise focused on the responses of religiouscommunities to human trafficking, in particular ofwomen and children for sex. “The issue of humantrafficking is one that concerns every country onearth, and Atlanta, in particular, is a major hubbecause we have the busiest airport in the world,”Karin Ryan of The Carter Center stated in herintroduction, drawing the link between the globalsignificance and local resonance of this problem.The panelists, Pastor Paul Palmer, founder of theAtlanta Dream Center; Cheryl Deluca-Johnson ofStreet Grace; and Dr. Fulata Moyo of the WorldCouncil of Churches discussed how they each haveused the resources their faith offers, both personal andcommunal, to guide their work.Moderator Aaronde Creighton of Street Graceopened the session by transporting us to Goree Island,an infamous point of departure for African slaves inDakar, Senegal, where President and Mrs. Obamavisited recently: “A photographer captured an imageof the Obamas at the ‘door of no return.’ Many peopleTom EnglandAaronde Creighton, moderator of the panel Trafficking as Modern-Day Slavery: People of Faith Arise, listens as FulataMoyo of the World Council of Churches gives her remarks.32 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenthink there is no contemporary trafficking problemand that the trans-Atlantic slave trade was the endof large-scale human trafficking. Today, at any onetime, there are approximately 2.4 million victimsof human trafficking worldwide. According to theUnited Nations, this is a $32 billion criminal enterprise.Victims, 75 percent of whom are women andgirls, are treated as products and commodities. Many,unfortunately, have walked through their own doorof no return.” The dehumanization of women and theproblematic expressions of masculinity that facilitatethese issues were themes that ran throughout theforum. Participants emphasized that religious leadershave a responsibility to defend the most downtroddenamong us, and they engaged in a discussion of thefaith-based resources that each has used in their work.Creighton declared, “If there was ever an opportunityfor the faith community to come together and endmodern-day slavery, it is now.”“If there was ever an opportunityfor the faith community to cometogether and end moderndayslavery, it is now.”— Aaronde CreightonScripture As a Manual for Daily LifeMoyo, leader of the Women in Church and Societyprogram of the World Council of Churches, works ondeveloping understandings of scripture and theologythat will help member churches take part in raisingawareness against the dehumanization of women.She related the origins of her intimate relationshipwith the Bible, which started with her childhood inMalawi: “My mother did not have much education,but she had a Tumbuka translation of the Bible nextto her pillow. The first thing she did every day wasread the Bible. Seeing how it influenced her decisionsover and over again, I realized that to her the Biblewas contextually an African book. It was a manualfor daily life. It answered her questions.” Moyo, whohad never identified with Christianity because as achild of her father’s third wife she was not acceptedby the church, explained that when she becamecurious about the book, her mother told her to readit for herself. As a result, Moyo had to take herown meaning from the text, a lesson for which sheis grateful.This interaction of an individual with thetext — the reader relating the author’s experienceto his or her own life — is “contextual Bible study,”the brainchild of liberation theology. Moyo sharedan experience that helped her see the potential andthe need for working with the scripture. In Thailand,during a group visit to a center for women and girlswho have been rescued from trafficking, she met ayoung girl who was pregnant. She had been abusedby three successive men who had first promisedher transportation. The emptiness in the girl’s gazehaunted Moyo. Those ministering to her wereteaching the value of forgiveness that they understoodfrom scripture, without listening to what she feltor needed.Moyo was troubled by this, believing that the girlneeded compassion and support rather than insensitivereligious lessons. She believed that using themethodology of contextual Bible study, alternativescriptural understandings that resonate more stronglywith individuals’ experiences can be generated.During Bible study following this visit, the groupread the book of Ruth as a text on the trafficking ofwomen and girls, asking questions about the deprivationthat leads women to risk their lives to becomevictims of trafficking. A participant reflected thatRuth and Naomi were two women who sufferedfrom deprivation. They were so deprived that Naomiinstructed young Ruth to “lay at the feet of Boaz,”according to the scripture, which in Hebrew means tooffer oneself for sexual relations. Naomi could be seennot unlike the traffickers — especially the womenwho facilitate trafficking — because most of them arealso very desperate, and they feel that they have noThe Carter Center 33

Mobilizing Faith for Womenchoice but to use someone else. This is an exampleof the powerful relevance of scripture to the lives ofthe suffering.There is a powerful message of love at the centerof the faith traditions. Palmer spoke about theinspiration and sustenance he gains from his readingof this message in scripture. The Bible says, “Theywill know you by your love for one another — notjust loving others in the faith world, but loving theunlovely.” This principle drives the work of the Outof Darkness program at the Atlanta Dream Centerfounded by Palmer. The group goes to neighborhoodsand befriends those who are being sold on the streetfor sex, which Palmer sees as an opportunity to reachinto a world that seems destitute. He says, “I am anadvocate not only for women and boys in the sexindustry, but for everyone who seems to have beenforgotten.” He emphasizes the need to take immediateaction as individuals when needed to redress theplight of humanity. He concluded, “It is a duty of allof us as Christian leaders to suffer the consequences,to step into uncomfortable situations. As SisterSimone Campbell said, ‘Some people and some thingsare worth dying for. If you have to step into dangerbecause you have a call from God and a duty to loveothers, so be it.’”Preaching to PerpetratorsMoyo ended her remarks with the questions, “Do youhave Ruths and Naomis in your community, and whatare their stories?” and “As a faith community, whatdo you do about their stories?” The answer is thatperpetrators and victims are in all of our communities.Deluca-Johnson shared how in her experience, peoplein the United States tend to think their communitiesare insulated from such problems. However, the datashows that buyers are often from affluent communities.This finding helped the Atlanta coalition deviseTom EnglandAaronde Creighton (left) of Street Grace introduces Pastor Paul Palmer and Cheryl Deluca-Johnson.34 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenstrategies to crack down on demand through moresevere criminal penalties for pimps and customers.The example she presented was that in 2000, thecriminal penalty for selling a 12-year-old childwas only a $50 fine and a misdemeanor. Throughcollaboration with religious communities, the Georgialaw was changed in 2011 to increase the penalty topotential fines up to $100,000 and up to life in prisonfor anyone who would traffic a child.Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite asked, “What are themost compelling passages and principles on whichreligious leaders can preach, because the buyers arein our pews and our congregations on the weekends.”She said that the inclination to blame and shame isnot, in her experience, an effective strategy. “Buyersdo not wake up and think they want to go out andbuy children. They start with something else, perhapspornography or their own abuse as children,” Palmerresponded, indicating that this is a broader struggleagainst abusive expressions of masculinity.“It is a duty of all of us asChristian leaders to suffer theconsequences, to step intouncomfortable situations. AsSister Simone Campbell said,‘Some people and some thingsare worth dying for. If you haveto step into danger becauseyou have a call from God and aduty to love others, so be it.’”— Pastor Paul PalmerUncontrolled lust was identified as a struggle forwhich our society and religious leaders have failedto prepare men. Panelists cited examples of waysthe objectification of women has become culturallyacceptable. In workshops preceding the open forum,delegates explored in depth the question of masculinityand the oppressive masculine customs that oursociety has accepted as inevitable. Molly Melchingsaid that though everyone would say they are againstsex trafficking, it is accepted on some level andexcused, using the fallacy that men are “just like this.”Citing this as a failure of religious leaders, Palmerasserted, “We have not taught men that we need tohonor women as our sisters. We have failed in religiousleadership because we have assumed that this isjust what young men are going to go through. Take astand and say ‘No more.’”“We have not taught men thatwe need to honor women asour sisters. We have failed inreligious leadership becausewe have assumed that thisis just what young men aregoing to go through. Take astand and say ‘No more.‘”— Pastor Paul PalmerImam Magid highlighted that Islam is strong onthis issue, with verses of the Qur’an designated againstany abuse or exchange of money in sexual relations.The Islamic prohibition on sexual relations outsideof marriage and focus on controlling one’s sexualimpulses can be seen as strategies for confronting theproblem of uncontrollable lust. However, the focus onstrict control of sexuality has been frequently targetedas a driver of sexual harassment and misconduct byyouth. This position reveals the societal assumptionthat men do not have self-control and cannot controltheir lust. As a society, we need to resurrect awarenessthat lust is not the same thing as love.The Carter Center 35

Mobilizing Faith for WomenTom EnglandStrategies for a World on FireThe work that many of the participants do is highlycontroversial in many religious communities. Asan example, Ruth Messinger noted the projects theAmerican Jewish World Service runs to support sexworkers as part of its anti-trafficking campaign. “Wehave to answer ethical questions about how we cansupport this,” Moyo responded. “We live in a world ofsuch disparity that the only commodity some womenhave is their body. If we cannot change that disparity,then we have no option but to be on the streets withthose women as well as with women who are in thepews.” As Messinger stated, “The world is burning,”and in such a context people make decisions theywould never make if they had true choices.Pastor Paul Palmer of the Atlanta Dream Centerspeaks about the failure of faith leaders to address theuncontrollable lust that drives men to buy sex.Tom England“We live in a world of suchdisparity that the onlycommodity some women haveis their body. If we cannotchange that disparity, thenwe have no option but tobe on the streets with thosewomen as well as with womenwho are in the pews.”— Fulata MoyoFulata Moyo of the World Council of Churches explains apowerful example of how sacred texts can be read to helpus understand and address deprivation and dehumanizationof women.Imam Magid illustrated the global scope of humantrafficking, drawing the connection to the “legalizedtrafficking” of the Middle East, where the freedom offoreign workers is in the hands of their employer andsponsor. Residence laws in many countries enablethe employer to hold the employee’s passport, restricttheir movement, and deport them at any time. Theseworkers enter a country legally but are often sexually,physically, and psychologically abused by those whoemploy them, with little to no recourse to the law for36 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenprotection. Refugees are particularly vulnerable tohuman trafficking and abuse, and host countries arereluctant to prosecute their own citizens for abuses.“I have seen children rescued as victims of war, onlyto be abused by those who were supposed to protectthem,” Imam Magid related, calling for legal reformto enable the prosecution of those who victimize refugees.Deluca-Johnson advised thinking of legal reformas a part of a holistic process to change social norms,because laws should reflect the ethics of society.The delegates agreed that bringing together broadcoalitions of faith communities requires focus onnarrow issues of agreement. This strategy is powerful,for it allows groups divided by doctrine to collaborateon shared imperatives. As an example, Larisa FriesenHall of Sojourners cited the coalition of evangelicalsthat came together around immigration reform: “Asurprising group initially came together on a narrowissue, and eventually we were able to expand toaddress a broader issue.” Similarly, Street Gracehas been able to mobilize many churches aroundthe narrow topic of domestic minor sex trafficking,achieving success by making sure the language useddid not dishonor or alienate any church who wantedto collaborate. There are competition and politicsamong faith-based organizations, but by forgingunlikely partnerships we can open the possibility ofdialogue about those differences and find commoncause. “The only opponents we have are men andwomen who are buying sex with children and withadults as well,” Creighton said, concluding the panelwith a quote from 18th century abolitionist WilliamWilberforce: “You may choose to look the other way,but you can never again say you did not know.”The Carter Center 37

Panel IIIThe Normalization of Violence andImpact of War on WomenModerator: Rev. Dr. Susan ThistlethwaitePanelists: Claudia Furaha Nfundiko, FrancesGreaves, Dr. Samira Al-Alaani Abdulghani,and Jeremy CourtneyThe Normalization of Violence and Impact of Waron Women panel explored examples that illustratehow violence has been accepted as normal in society.Challenges in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,Imam Mohamed Magid reflects on ways religiousinstitutions and leaders can pressure their governments touphold human rights laws.Tom EnglandLiberia, and Iraq were presented by panelists ClaudiaFuraha Nfundiko of the Episcopal Commission forJustice and Peace in the Democratic Republic of theCongo; Frances Greaves, founder of Voice of theVoiceless in Liberia; Iraqi pediatrician Dr. SamiraAl-Alaani Abdulghani; and Jeremy Courtney,founder of the Preemptive Love Coalition. Rev. Dr.Susan Thistlethwaite, a senior fellow at the Centerfor American Progress and professor of theology atChicago Theological Seminary, moderated the discussionin which participants from many countries addedexamples of insights, drawing important connectionsabout the impact of war and militarizationacross regions.Thistlethwaite began by describing a “just peace”concept developed by Christian theologians, laterdeveloping into a global interfaith book outlining10 steps that increase peace, reduce violence,and promote justice. The courageous work of thepanelists, she suggested, exemplifies such practices.Thistlethwaite said, “This I know from decades as apeace activist: that violence loves the lie. It calls warsecurity. It calls missiles peacekeepers. It calls thebattering of women submission or God’s will. In the“just peace” practice, we must say, ‘No, you are nottelling the truth. The truth about war is that it has anexacerbated impact on women. Militarism is undeniablya women’s issue, as it is an issue for all those whoprofess peace.’”The panel was brought together to discuss thenormalization of violence and war in our society,yet what emerged was a dialogue that delved intothe deepest recesses of human nature, examiningthe role of trust and truth, humility, and forgiveness.Both state and individual violence were examined,along with the role of the individual in taking astand against both. Advocating for peace does not38 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenTom England(Left to right) President Carter, Rev. Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite, Dr. Samira Al-Alaani Abdulghani, and Jeremy Courtney hearreactions to the presentations of the panel The Normalization of Violence and the Impact of War on Women: How toNormalize Peace and Human Rights.require special skills or expert knowledge but simplyconviction, as the extraordinary life work of thesehuman rights defenders illustrates. The moderatorquoted Nelson Mandela, someone who grew up undernormalized violence himself, who said that “a saintis a sinner who keeps on trying,” introducing thespeakers as those who just keep on trying.The Impact of War on WomenAs a stark example of the untold impact of waron women, Al-Alaani, a pediatrician at FallujahGeneral Hospital in Iraq, testified as a witness andmessenger from “Iraq’s Hiroshima,” as she describedit. Al-Alaani illustrated the crisis facing her city,relating the story of Fallujah’s mothers: Womenin Fallujah have different educational levels anddifferent ideologies, but they all share the same fear:congenital malformation.“Sexual violence is being usedas a weapon of war, and thebodies of women are consideredopen for use and abuse.”— Claudia Furaha Nfundiko“Due to the wars, death, blood, sanctions, andpoverty, people in Iraq have not had a chance toeducate themselves and become enlightened. Insuch a society, the mother suffers the blame, eitherexplicitly or implicitly, for bearing a malformedchild.” Fourteen percent of newborns in Fallujah areborn with various kinds of congenital birth defects,she said. She indicated that research has shown highnumbers of birth defects have been caused by the useThe Carter Center 39

Mobilizing Faith for Womenof depleted uranium munitions during the assault onher city, creating over half of the already high infantmortality in Fallujah. The result, she said, is “thedream of being a mother turning into a nightmare.”Incredulous that her country hasearned the label “rape capitalof the world,” Nfundiko relatedthat the beautiful culture anddiversity of the Congolesepeople are being manipulatedto fuel the war instead ofbeing valued for its richness.Claudia Furaha Nfundiko declared that in theDemocratic Republic of the Congo, “Sexual violenceis being used as a weapon of war, and the bodies ofwomen are considered open for use and abuse.” Sheshared that rape has touched entire communities,targeting men and boys also, but mostly women, whorisk pregnancy and ostracism for both themselvesand their “children of the enemy.” Incredulous thather country has earned the label “rape capital ofthe world,” she related that the beautiful cultureand diversity of the Congolese people are beingmanipulated to fuel the war instead of being valuedfor its richness. Untapped by the Congolese peopledue to lack of infrastructure and functioning governance,the natural abundance of the Congo is beingexploited by corrupt officials, militias backed by U.S.allies — including neighboring Rwanda and othernations — as well as by foreign corporations, some ofwhich have become complicit in financing the wareconomy. Nfundiko called on faith leaders to act,citing how women from different faiths and religiousorganizations have come together to appeal for peace.While the Catholic Church, the largest religiousinstitution in the country, has initiated programs toassist victims of sexual violence in three of the provinces,much more is needed. She asserted, “It is timefor religious leadership to take a stand and advocatefor justice and peace.”Truth TellingFrances Greaves, founder of Voice of the Voiceless,detailed the role women played in bringing an end tothe Liberian civil war and the work of her organizationand others to ensure the inclusion of women inthe peace-building process. Greaves emphasized theimportance of their participation in the Truth andReconciliation Commission for changing attitudesabout sexual violence. The truth is often uncomfortable,she suggested, but “to consolidate peace, youand your society must face reality,” she insisted. InLiberia, Greaves worked to raise the voices of womenso that they could testify about the gruesome actsof violence that were perpetrated against them andother members of Liberian society.“To consolidate peace, you andyour society must face reality.”— Frances GreavesWe must empower people to tell their own truths,for as Pewee Flomoku of the Carter Center’s Liberiaprogram remarked, “We who speak on their behalfwill not always be around to speak for them. Theymust have the opportunity and platform to speakfor themselves so their voices are heard forever.”The institutional incorporation of gender justice,so vital to the healing of Liberian society — fromhealth provisions for survivors of sexual abuse to legalreform on issues like rape and inheritance to politicalparticipation — was possible only because womensuccessfully rewrote a narrative that had excused andnormalized sexual violence in society by sharing theirown stories. It is an incomplete victory in that muchthat Liberian women have worked to change has yet40 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womento be set into law, but it is an example of what can beachieved through inclusive peacebuilding.Calling for transparency, Al-Alaani exemplifiedthe strength of individuals who speak truth to power,whatever their position may be: “On behalf of thewomen of Fallujah, I call on the U.S. and U.K.governments to disclose information regarding alltypes of weapons used during the occupation and totake the necessary measures to protect the right to lifeand health of the Iraqi people if an environmentalcontamination is found.”Tom EnglandPalwasha Kakar, a women’s rights activist fromAfghanistan, responded by revealing they arewitnessing similar systemic health problems in hercountry. Al-Alaani’s response was to say that logicallythe same impacts of war would be experiencedin Iraq and Afghanistan because these two warswere conducted by the same nations. Sister SimoneCampbell, whose organization brought a delegationof Iraqi women to speak before the U.S. Congress,articulated that space for women’s voices to be heardis vital, “because too often those who control policynever have to deal with the consequences of theirchoices, but women do.” John 8:32 says: “You shallknow the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” Weneed to hear the truth about the violence perpetratedby, and in, our own societies.”Normalizing Peace: BuildingTrust with HumilityIn times of war and conflict, as many scholars haveexamined, outsiders are often considered enemies, andsocieties tend to hold on to conservative traditionsTom EnglandDr. Samira Al-Alaani Abdulghani, a pediatrician at FallujahGeneral Hospital, details the rise in congenital birth defectsfollowing the Iraq War.Jeremy Courtney, a founder of the Preemptive LoveCoalition, asserts that humility is neccesary for thenormalization of peace, calling on religious leaders to guideus in the absence of moral leadership by our politicians.The Carter Center 41

Mobilizing Faith for WomenMelinda HolmesAlhaji Khuzaima Mohammed Osman, executive secretary of the National Chief Imam of Ghana, reacts to the panel on theNormalization of Violence and the Impact of War on Women, calling it a “moment of truth.”and identities, defending them with intensifiedvigilance. The weight of this societal regressionfalls disproportionately upon women, who oftenrepresent the identity and projected dignity of thecommunity. This irony was discussed by the group:that wars waged in the name of promoting humanrights and democracy may have the opposite effect ofentrenching outworn and repressive cultural practices.Courtney shared that in Iraq “everyone distrustedeveryone, it seemed, at the height of the conflict,making every interaction open to suspicion and fear.”Yet, with dedicated effort, people can overcome fearto build relationships and plant the seeds of trust.Courtney related a story of what he calls “preemptivelove.” A father was forced to place his ailingdaughter in the hands of a surgeon from another sect,and “the enemy doctor,” the doctor who never shouldhave been trusted, saved her life. The father hadtaken a risk against all odds and walked into enemyterritory to love his daughter. The surgeon had takena great risk to dislodge one of his own people andprovide surgery for an outsider. Through necessity,driven by love, they were able to see the truth aboutthe other and achieve “forgiveness, reconciliation,and a normalization of peace.” Campbell respondedto Al-Alaani’s story by committing to do what shecan to raise awareness about the aftermath of the warin Iraq, saying, “When your heart breaks on behalf ofsomeone else, what is fear?”“How do we normalize peace? The corollaryquestion is ‘How can you eat an elephant?’ Answer:One bite at time. One step at a time,” Courtneyasserted. He acknowledged the desire for revenge hefelt following the attacks on the United States onSept. 11, 2001, and how that led him, as many others,to support a war of aggression that devastated the42 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Women“If we want to normalize peace,we have to normalize humility.We have to normalize the abilityto say we were wrong.”— Jeremy Courtneylives of millions of Iraqis. “If we want to normalizepeace, we have to normalize humility,” he said. “Wehave to normalize the ability to say we were wrong.”Religious leaders from Ghana and Senegal weredeeply moved by this statement, recounting theirchallenges when speaking about human rights withintheir own communities because of the suspicion thatit represents a Western concept, imposed from theoutside. The expressions of humility and truthfulnessabout the impact of America’s wars would go a longway to build trust and open the hearts of others in theeffort to build a universal movement for human rightsand peace, they said.Calling the forum “a moment of truth,” AlhajiKhuzaima Mohammed Osman reacted to this call foracknowledgment and acceptance of responsibility,sharing that many in Muslim communities arereluctant to reveal “glaring facts” about the impactof military intervention and counterterrorism policyfor fear of being labeled terrorists. The use of dronesis a clear example of the disastrous impacts, whichMossarat Qadeem described as including not only theloss of civilian lives but also the spread of fear andincreased radicalization. President Carter expressedhis agreement, condemning the use of drones as“counterproductive.”Distilling the collective sentiment of these assembledbelievers, Courtney appealed to religious leadersas “the people who should be leading this conversationabove all else, for if our religious communitiescan’t lead the conversation on this, then our religionis absolutely worthless to us.”The Carter Center 43

Panel IVFrom Local to Global: ConnectingReligious Study, Action, and AdvocacyModerator: Ritu SharmaPanelists: Imam Mohamed Magid,Professor Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza,and Dr. Laurie ZolothIn the final session of the 2013 Human RightsDefenders Forum, From Local to Global: ConnectingReligious Study, Action, and Advocacy, forum participantsattempted to capture the essential ideas, relationships,and commitments that had emerged in thepreceding days of robust exchange, profound storytelling,and call to action. The panelists were ImamMohamed Magid, president of the Islamic Societyof North America; professor Elisabeth SchüsslerFiorenza, Kristen Stendahl Professor of Divinity atHarvard Divinity School; and Dr. Laurie Zoloth,president-elect of the American Academy of Religionand a professor at Northwestern University. Inspiringand expansive in their scope, the panelists reflectedon the momentum generated by the forum and soughtto reaffirm the commitment to purpose that bindsthe forum participants and their work to each other.Moderator Sharma began the conversation by issuinga challenge to the room, asking, “What are you goingto do when you leave here today?”A Commitment to Work from WithinThe importance of working from within — as wellas across different faiths and together with secularorganizations and structures — cannot be overemphasized.Magid began by relating that “the challengefor a religious leader is to be able to address this issuein the language that their community understands,”suggesting that leaders should begin by working withtheir own colleagues, leaders, and activists on theground in their own communities. By forging a unitedvoice of activists and religious leaders through translatingconcepts and language for the local context,communities can overcome superficial differencesand create space for grappling with some of the moredifficult issues, including problematic sacred texts.Melinda HolmesPresident Carter and Mona Rishmawi listen to professor Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza present on feminist theology duringthe panel From Local to Global: Connecting Religious Study, Action, and Advocacy.44 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenMagid argues that instead of always and only turningto friendly texts, religious leaders and scholars mustaddress those texts that have been misused throughdiscussion and examination of alternative interpretations.As Susan Thistlethwaite suggested, the forumworkshops produced vibrant analyses of sacredtexts that can be the beginning of a body of workused in future trainings on religious foundations forwomen’s rights.Disadvantaged and disillusionedyouth are looking for messagesof justice and meaning toguide them, and in the absenceof compelling messages ofpeace and justice, youthwill gravitate toward thosewho give them answers andpotential for redressing theinjustices in their lives.Participants noted that religious leaders are oftenprivately supportive of their work but face real difficultyin bringing along more conservative congregations.In many cases, the tone of interpretations ortranslations of scripture and educational materialsis determined by those with the most institutionalresources. For example, due to extensive subsidiesfrom Saudi Arabia, a relatively conservative interpretationof the Holy Qur’an has become the most widelyavailable version. Though the Qur’anic Arabic textremains consistent — as Muslims believe it to be theliteral word of God — human interlocution embeddedin translation word choice and, most significantly,in annotations that relate to interpretation andhistorical context dramatically influences the readingof the text. Palwasha Kakar stressed the importanceof making available progressive writing and videosin local languages, declaring that the conference hadconvinced her to publish her work in Afghanistan,despite the real threat such exposure could cause.While tools and resources are part of the solution,respectful and inclusive discourse is vital. As Dr.Salah-eddin Elgawhary of the Biblioteca Alexandrinapointed out, “Discussion should bring forward progressiveinterpretation of the relevant scripture withoutattacking the opposite point of view. Religious interpretationhas to come from within.”Engaging with youth was highlighted as especiallyimportant considering the youth demographic bulgein many societies around the world. The need tobring forward positive religious interpretations andmessages in a way that reaches youth was acknowledgedas especially important in an age when violentand extremist voices are actively appealing to youthon the Internet. Disadvantaged and disillusionedyouth are looking for messages of justice and meaningto guide them, and in the absence of compellingmessages of peace and justice, youth will gravitatetoward those who give them answers and potential forredressing the injustices in their lives. Sharma asked:“How do you engage young people — young leaders,both men and women — in redefining Islam forthem and putting it in the context of justice for all,including women?” Participants gave various suggestions,from virtual imams and mentorship programsto a conference of university chaplains on the issue.Chief Zanzan Karwor of Liberia summed up the needfor leadership that is inclusive of women and youth:“Take time before you talk and consult with youth,women, and your people before you take action. Ifyou don’t consult with your people before you takeaction, you have a problem.”Encouraging Accountability andTransparency in Religious LeadershipThere was a consensus around the need to invest inand train leaders and for those in authority to leadtheir communities with courage. Several times, participantsreminded others of the dangers of hypocrisyThe Carter Center 45

Mobilizing Faith for Womento erode the moral authority of religious institutions,leadership, and activists. Joséphine Ngalula relatedhow Catholic priests in the Democratic Republic ofthe Congo have engaged in political activity thatlegitimizes the undemocratic system, which is perpetuatingthe conflict and grave human rights abusesoccurring in the country. She appealed for religiousleaders to uphold the moral standards they espouse.As Alhaji Khuzaima of Ghana noted, the perceptionof ethical integrity is critical to effectivecollaboration with religious communities: We wantto believe that defenders of human rights live upKey Approaches• Translate this discussion for our local contextsand into local languages.• Beginning with our colleagues, religiousleaders and activists should work together toraise a united voice.• Build partnerships within community andconsult with community members.• Include women scholars in conversations aboutreforming jurisprudence and theology.• Build the capacity of religious leaders toengage the political system and do grassrootsmobilization for human rights and nonviolence.• Promote progressive interpretations withoutattacking the opposing view.• Expand focus to include duties and responsibilitiestoward women, as opposed to a solefocus on rights.• Insist on justice; don’t just advocate.• Find common value to enable interfaith andinterdenominational work.• Always work to advance nonviolence in allareas of life — from the home to law enforcementto foreign policy — and link this idea withthe advancement of girls and women.• Expose journalists, policymakers, secular activists,and diplomats to the linkages betweenreligion and human rights.to the principles they have set up. When we meetthose who claim they are Muslims and are defendinghuman rights, and when we find that they are oftennot living up to Muslim expectations, we feel backedagainst a corner.Quite controversially, Muslim women not coveringtheir hair was cited as an example, reinforcing thepoint that perceptions of conformity with religiousmores are often the measure, even with traditionsthat are highly contested within the religion, suchas the hijab in Islam. The principle of workingwithin is worth reiterating here. In Ghana, it isdifficult for religious leaders to work with those whoappear impious based on the expectations of thatcommunity. This is a reality of collaboration; whileleaders may understand the complexities of differentpractices, they often feel they have to conform tocertain expectations.Individuals with religiousauthority have a duty to ensurethat religious communities areupholding their own principlesof equality and justice forwomen and men alike.Working with leaders to develop greater awarenessand acceptance of diverse expressions of faith andpiety is the way to shift cultural norms toward greaterinclusiveness. Progressive Islamic scholars and activistsvigorously contested this statement, and it wasagreed that continuing the conversation in the futureis necessary and desirable in order to make progress. Itwas noted that the emergence of these issues demonstratedthat participants are being deeply honestabout what lies ahead in reconciling human rightswith religion, once again returning to the importanceof proceeding with truthfulness and humility.46 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenMelinda HolmesRitu Sharma (left) moderates the panel From Local to Global: Connecting Religious Study, Action, and Advocacy with ImamMohamed Magid and Dr. Laurie Zoloth.Magid highlighted the need for transparency aboutviolence within communities and accountability ofreligious leaders for their conduct. Individuals withreligious authority have a duty to ensure that religiouscommunities are upholding their own principles ofequality and justice for women and men alike. Hegave an example of a declaration that was signed byimams after they participated in trainings on domesticviolence: “The challenge was to get this signed declarationin front of every mosque, so that when a manor a woman walked in, they would see it, making ourprivate talk public.” Such visible support for the rightsof women and other marginalized groups is incrediblypowerful. Even subtle gestures like introducingthe community to members working to prevent andredress abuses constitute important emotional supportfrom leadership and can open up public discussionabout difficult issues that are often kept silent.The need for cross-disciplinary learning was repeatedlymade clear. Dr. Sita Ranchod-Nilsson stated, “Itis important to invest in building the relationshipsbetween scholars, activists, and religious leaders,”noting that “we share goals of social, gender justice,and human rights, though our benchmarks along theway may be different.”Participants expressed the need for religious leadersto be trained in human rights and in ways to leveragetheir own civic rights and leadership platforms topressure those with political power to address abuses.Ruth Messinger articulated this recommendation:“Train religious leaders about how to mobilize others,how to move outside the top-down approach ofpreaching. Not every religious leader knows how toget people together to move on an issue.” Yet, thereare powerful bases for social justice activism presentin the texts and traditions of the Abrahamic faiths.Fiorenza asserted that we must not simply advocatebut must insist on justice. Relating the story of thePersistent Widow from Luke 18:1–8, Fiorenza said,“She battered the judge, the unjust judge, until hegot tired of her and gave her justice,” explaining thatthe common reading of this text shifts the emphasisaway from demanding social justice and toward quietresilience and prayer. It is always dangerous whenthis shift takes place. Justice is too easily forgottenin religion.”“We need to focus on dutiesrather than only on rights,roles, and responsibilities.”— Palwasha KakarThe Carter Center 47

Mobilizing Faith for WomenBuilding Partnerships and CoalitionsParticipants emphasized the reciprocal relationshipbetween rights and responsibilities that is oftenunderstated. As Zoloth declared, “I believe there areno human rights without human duties.” In societiesin which humility is emphasized in community relations,the language of rights-based advocacy can beperceived to clash with local values. “We need tofocus also on duties rather than only on rights, roles,and responsibilities,” asserted Palwasha Kakar, awomen’s rights activist from Afghanistan. Reclaimingthe language of dignity for justice and empowermentof women is necessary for, as Fiorenza related, “Inmy Roman Catholic context, dignity is used againstwomen’s rights.” If a woman is dignified, it is oftensaid, she would not behave in a certain way. But, asSharma noted, this is not a characteristic limited toreligious institutions. “We’ve seen this at work inU.S. politics — the difference between respectingwomen and empowering women. Those with powerhave often used language to deny equality in practiceby focusing on equality in principle,” she said.Others worry that a focus on duties instead of rightscontributes to a view that a person can forfeit hisor her fundamental rights if he/she does not behaveaccording to social norms. All agreed that rights andduties should be addressed together as foundation ofcommunity well-being.Part of working in diverse contexts is learning toframe issues differently for different people withoutlosing hold of principle. The normative sensibilities ofgroups vary widely depending on their lived realitiesand exposure to various legal and intellectual regimes.“Different arguments work for people coming fromdifferent liberal and conservative backgrounds,” LarisaFriesen Hall shared, and “research on messaging andhow we frame our arguments has been really helpful.I think we need to expand this research to includeways we frame the ideas from this conference fordifferent audiences.” Rashidat Muhammed, a women’srights activist from Ghana, reminded, “With such arich combination of people, we should share whatwe are doing in our own countries, using indigenousMelinda HolmesImam Mohamed Magid listens as Dr. Laurie Zoloth discusses the benefits of scholarship that is interrupted by stories fromthe field and is responsive to the informational needs of activists.48 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenmethodologies to bring peace into the lives ofour communities.”Participants agreed that an expansive list ofstakeholders — including law enforcement, judges,and teachers — should be at the table when women’srights and human rights are addressed. “Partnershipin the community is key,” Magid shared, challengingthose present to “go back home and think about thepartnerships we can create.” Building coalitions withsecular activists and organizations is one of theseimperatives. Friesen Hall reflected on the importanceof bringing in secular sisters to tell them that faithcommunities are the most organized groups in theworld. “If we don’t engage them, we are missing outon a huge opportunity,” she said. From activists tojournalists to diplomats, the religious illiteracy ofthought leaders was highlighted as a major challengeto engaging in such coalition-building. Training onthe complexities of religious life was called for toencourage responsible reporting, conduct, and policyand to encourage openness of secular actors to theliberatory possibilities of religion.Connecting Activism and AcademiaKarin Ryan and Fulata Moyo asserted that a “methodologyof human dignity” can redress such subversionof rights. Arguing that awareness of the U.N.’s humanrights system can engender greater accountability byutilizing investigators and periodic review systems,Ryan pointed out that “sometimes religious communitiesare unconnected from and even unaware of this“We need to create anew jurisprudence, a newknowledge of human rightsand women’s rights. Thisneeds to be done by womenthemselves, on the ground.”— Dr. Ziba Mir-HosseiniAction Items• Write open letters to your community.• Convene university chaplains.• Create virtual clergy and reach out throughsocial media.• Partner with religious journalists.• Train secular journalists, law enforcement,teachers, diplomats, and activists how tonavigate religion.• Create a human rights certification for clergy.• Establish council of religious leaders for humanrights.• Create YouTube channels and videos in locallanguages.• Establish a think tank for debating scripturalinterpretations.• Publish a series of scholarly works on socialjustice and women.• Reform curricula in seminaries and schools oftheology.• Establish awards for young scholars of feministstudies in religion.• Create a bibliography or clearinghouse ofresources on this topic.• Establish a people’s request for proposals toenable activists to direct scholarship.• Research different ways to frame our argumentsfor different audiences.framework.” Magid emphasized the importance ofdocuments that go beyond declarations, documentsforged with the buy-in of religious authorities, whichcan be used to hold nations and religious leadersaccountable. Dr. Ziba Mir-Hosseini asserted that toexpand the legitimacy of such regimes, “We needto create a new jurisprudence, a new knowledgeof human rights and women’s rights. This needsto be done by women themselves, on the ground.”Religious scholars spoke about the need to transformthe scholarship for a new generation of leaders. TheThe Carter Center 49

Mobilizing Faith for Womeninteraction of scholars and activists is a vital part ofZoloth’s “theology of interruption.” By engaging withthe stories of activists, the scholarship is disruptedand forced to reconcile text and tradition withlived experience.One proposed mechanism to connect activistsand academics is to develop a “people’s request forproposals.” Conservative organizations have shapedpolicy through targeted research, and by creating achannel for activists to direct research toward theissues people face on the ground, religious scholarshipcan be responsive and relevant to ongoing socialjustice struggles. Fiorenza called for the creation ofa think tank to conduct and collect such research,including a continuation of the work of the forum:debating scriptural interpretations and exploringreligions in terms of justice for women, which alwaysincludes justice for men.This call to continue the conversation wasreframed by those who are threatened in theirlocal contexts due to the conduct of their work.Mir-Hosseini articulated, “This has been an unrealsafe space. We share the same values, and we canspeak our minds. Tomorrow we go back to ourown worlds, and we will be pulled by other forces.I want this safe space to endure.” The participantsoverwhelmingly echoed this wish to conveneagain, to continue the conversation. The forumwas “a conversation about having a conversation,”Mir-Hosseini described, “and now we need to havethe real conversation.”50 The Carter Center

PresentationsMolly Melching, Founder and Executive Director, Tostan, SenegalGood morning, everyone! My name is MollyMelching — but in Senegal, my Wolof name isSukkeyna Njaay. I’m here with Bacary Tamba fromTostan, and I’d like to give you a brief presentationabout what’s happening in Senegal and the sevenother countries in which Tostan is working.Tostan’s mission is “dignity for all.” We seek toempower African communities to bring about sustainabledevelopment and positive social transformationbased on respect for human rights.Today I would like to invite you to go back withme to Senegal to share the story of a village whereTostan has worked, a village representative of manyof the communities where we work in eight Africancountries. It’s a community in which 15 years agoCourtesy of Tostanthere was no electricity, running water, school, orhealth center. And it was a place where no adult hadbeen to school. The main values of this communitywere — and still are — peace, family, and communitywell-being. They use religious scripture — Senegalis 94 percent Muslim — so it was very important forthem to follow the teachings of Islam to achieve theirgoals. They were also following customs and traditions(beliefs of their parents and ancestors) that theyfelt would help them achieve peace as well as familyand community well-being.In the African villages wherewe work, it is so importantto be part of the group, tobe part of one’s extendedfamily and social network. Noone would ever dare to dosomething that would standout or go against the group.Marième Bamba, a solar engineer and Tostan facilitator,works to electrify communities, including her home village.I want to introduce you to Marième Bamba, amember of that small community in Senegal. Shewas a participant in the Tostan program who hadnever previously attended school. She could not readand write in her own language or in French. She hadnever played an important role in community decisionmaking. She had undergone the traditional practicesof her parents and her ancestors, female genitalcutting, and she was married when she was only 14years old and had her first child at 15.To really understand Marième, we must understandThe Carter Center 51

Mobilizing Faith for Womenthe entire community in which she lives. She ispart of a larger, well-knit community that shares thesame traditional and religious beliefs important toeveryone. In the African villages where we work, itis so important to be part of the group, to be part ofTostan’s staff is 99 percentAfrican. In each countrywhere we work, we traincoordinators, supervisors, andfacilitators from that countryto implement the TostanCommunity EmpowermentProgram in people’s ownlanguage and adapt thecontent to local realities.one’s extended family and social network. No onewould ever dare to do something that would standout or go against the group. Marième would neverhave dared to refuse to obey her family. And beyondMarième’s village, she has relatives and people whomatter to her family and to her community who livein other villages, both near and far. Because Marièmeis of the Bambara ethnic group and her grandparentscame to Senegal from the neighboring country ofMali, some are as far away as Mali. These traditionsare shared not only by Marième, her family, andcommunity but by many communities of the sameethnic group who hold similar beliefs.So what happened when Marième becameeducated? What happens when people go throughthe three-year comprehensive Tostan CommunityEmpowerment Program — not in French but ina national language they speak and understandvery well?Let me explain that people often think that Tostanonly works on the issue of female genital cutting, butthat was not even an objective of our organizationwhen we started implementing our education program22 years ago. Our main goal was to provide informationin national languages to people who had beendenied education. There were so many problems inremote rural communities because people lacked goodinformation: problems related to governance, health,hygiene, child protection, the environment, andeconomic growth. When we started, there were fewgood comprehensive education programs in nationallanguages — only basic literacy learning. Peopledesperately needed good information to make importantdecisions about their future. Tostan providedthat information, and the classroom became a forumfor dialogue around possibilities for change based onnew knowledge and exchange of experiences. Theprogram constantly evolved over many years, withfeedback and input from village participants from allover Senegal and eventually from the other sevencountries where we currently implement our program.Tostan’s staff is 99 percent African. In eachcountry where we work, we train coordinators, supervisors,and facilitators from that country to implementthe Tostan Community Empowerment Programin people’s own language and adapt the content tolocal realities.During the first year of the program, we introducea five-month module on democracy, human rights,and problem-solving. Participants first discuss theirvision for the future of their community as well astheir deeper values and priorities. As in Marième’svillage, most communities cite peace, family, andwell-being as major goals for the community. Theythen discuss certain guiding principles that areimportant to helping them achieve these goals. Itis within this context that Tostan presents humanrights and responsibilities to stimulate dialoguearound their guiding principles for moving forward.We use large poster boards with colorful drawings topresent each human right in a way that will stimulatein-depth discussion.Participants come to consensus around the importanceof these human rights and responsibilities,and during the next module on problem-solving,52 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenthey discuss how to best change practices that mightviolate these human rights within their community.Participants learn that they have a right to peacebut also the responsibilities related to this humanright. Peace resonates deeply with participants,because the aspiration for peace is so important andis so embedded in most African languages. All greetingsrevolve around peace. Phrases any foreignerlearns immediately if he or she wants to fit in uponarriving in the community include: “Peace be withyou!” “Are you in peace?” “Peace only!” “Is yourfamily in peace?” “I pray that you will always be inpeace.” “May God grant you much peace.” Withinthe context of the discussion on the human right topeace, we ask what African ancestral wisdom and religiousteachings would say about this human right, andpeople agree that the religious text and traditionalteachings always call for peace and well-being.in the community. In other words, these traditionsare not seen as an end in themselves but rather as ameans to a more important end. If it is deemed not tocontribute to their deeper aspirations, why would theyperpetuate the practice?As they receive more information, many peoplerealize that customs they thought were obligations oftheir religion are not. This often comes as a surpriseto women who have left the reading and interpretationsof the Qur’an to the men in the community.When they question religious leaders, they realize forthe first time that practices such as female genitalcutting are not even mentioned in the Qur’an, letalone considered an obligation. The more informationthe participants receive and the more they openCourtesy of TostanWithin the context of thediscussion on the human rightto peace, we ask what Africanancestral wisdom and religiousteachings would say aboutthis human right, and peopleagree that the religious textand traditional teachings alwayscall for peace and well-being.When participants examine certain deeplyentrenched customs as part of the study of ways theycan promote peace, they begin to realize that manyof their practices are not leading to the goals they areseeking. Critical in this process is that people realizethat it is not the custom or practice that counts mostbut rather the contribution that custom will make toachieving the goal of peace and well-being of peopleThanks to the human rights work of Tostan, the smallvillage of Keur Simbara, Senegal, has adandoned thepractice of female genital cutting.The Carter Center 53

Mobilizing Faith for Womenup about experiences, the more they feel empoweredto take action for change.We have found that inclusionof everyone who mattersis so critical to bringingabout sustainable change.The program not only incites social empowerment,it also leads to economic empowerment during thefollowing years of the program. In order to improvehealth, the environment, and their economicconditions, people need literacy and numeracy skillsas well as leadership and management skills.Tostan uses empowering pedagogical methods tosupport the learning process. Women rehearse in theclasses so that they feel comfortable speaking outin public. They even require that the men let theirvoices be heard. This is not about excluding menbut is about promoting participation and rights forall people: men, women, and children. By includingmen, everyone becomes involved in building a societythat is more just and equitable where there are peaceand well-being for all.Tostan teaches literacy through SMS textingbecause we found that this is what people wanted tolearn and realized this was a wonderful way for participantsto practice and use their new literacy skills.Courtesy of Tostan“Tostan” means “breakthrough” in Wolof. This human rights organization, based in Senegal, promotes a three-year,nonformal education program to help rural communities create their own vision for development.54 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenThey aren’t going to be reading novels (we don’thave many of those in national languages), but almosteveryone now has a cell phone. They just didn’tknow how to do SMS texting. So Tostan developed aspecial module so participants could learn to navigatethe phone and write messages to friends and familyboth near and far. Evaluations have found that thismethod has greatly improved literacy skills.We also give value to all those African traditionsthat are positive and bring people together throughsong, poetry, and theater. The methods activelyengage everyone and get even the shyest learnerto discuss issues in a lively way. Classes are fun, sowomen love to attend after a hard day of work. Theycan express themselves for the first time, and graduallythey learn to speak out, often for the first time.The oral tradition works because it is what peopledo best. We start where they are, using culturallyfamiliar ways of learning and promoting communityconversation around issues that most people havenever before discussed publicly — issues such as femalegenital cutting, child marriage, domestic violence,and sexual abuse.The strategy for sustainable behavior changeused in the Tostan model is what we call “organizeddiffusion.” Because our participants are part of muchlarger social networks, the knowledge they learnand the changes they want to make must go beyondthe classroom if the change is to last. Even if theclass made certain decisions together, those wouldcertainly be met with much resistance if participantspromoted new behaviors upon leaving the classroom.So students start with a classroom discussionand then adopt another learner when they returnhome — a co-wife, sister, brother, husband, or maybethe religious leader or village chief. They talk aboutwhat they have learned in the classroom and thenreach out even further through community events toshare discussions that have taken place. After this,they travel to other villages to share what they havelearned with even more of their friends and relatives.Bacary Tamba spoke about his experience as thediaspora coordinator for Tostan. He went to sharenew information with relatives and people of hisethnic group, Diola, living in different countries inEurope. Tostan realized that if people in communitiesmade important decisions without includingfamily members in the diaspora, those relatives couldbecome upset when they find that traditions they leftbehind had been changed in their absence. We havefound that inclusion of everyone who matters is socritical to bringing about sustainable change.Previously, female genitalcutting was an expected practicefor all daughters. If a girl wasnot cut, she was sanctionedby the community: rejected,marginalized, and ostracized. Itwas unthinkable for a mothernot to cut her daughter. Nowthe community announcesthat as of that day, no girlwill be cut in the future.Participants also hold intervillage meetings whererepresentatives from interconnected communities andthe diaspora come and discuss issues. During thesemeetings, they often decide to hold a “public declaration”to end practices like female genital cutting andchild marriage. This is a critical event, because it isthe moment when people collectively and publiclyacknowledge that the expectations of the communityhave changed. Previously, female genital cutting wasan expected practice for all daughters. If a girl was notcut, she was sanctioned by the community: rejected,marginalized, and ostracized. It was unthinkable for amother not to cut her daughter. Now the communityannounces that as of that day, no girl will be cutin the future and if she is, there will be sanctionsenforced by the community.The Carter Center 55

Mobilizing Faith for WomenI want to emphasize that the results of our educationprogram go far beyond ending female genitalcutting. By using a holistic program, we are takinginto consideration the deeper concerns of thecommunities and their goals for better governance,education, health, the environment, and economicgrowth. We introduce and allow people to discuss andfind solutions that help achieve the well-being thatpeople who live in remote and isolated rural areas areso desperately seeking.Religious leaders speak outduring these ceremoniesand relate Islam’s point ofview, emphasizing that it isnot a religious obligation.We have achieved results in the community participationof girls and women who now are able to speakout with confidence and become engaged in issuespreviously too taboo to even mention. We have seenan increase in birth registration, which is so importantfor citizen participation, because one cannotvote, obtain an ID card, or go to school withouta birth certificate. We see improved hygiene andhealth; successful income-generating projects; andenvironmental improvement activities that includecomposting, waste separation, and use of wood stoves.Hundreds have built latrines, because they havelearned about germ transmission and understoodlatrines are necessary for preventing health problems.Communities have also ended child/forcedmarriage — a common practice in many ethnic groupsin Africa. All over Senegal, the community managementcommittees established during the Tostanprogram have stepped in to negotiate with parentswho try to take their daughters out of school, often asearly as 12 or 13, to marry. One girl is Oumou DjibouDiallo, whose parents wanted her to marry at 12 butwere dissuaded through community pressure. Theyallowed her to stay in school, and when she took herexam at the end of the year, Oumou was not only firstin her school and region, she was the number-onestudent in all of Senegal. She was given a scholarshipto attend the prestigious Mariama Ba High Schoolfor Girls on Gorée Island and has succeeded in all herexams. She is today a wonderful advocate for endingchild marriage in Africa.Tostan participants have held many declarationsfor abandonment of female genital cutting inSenegal, Guinea, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mali,Somaliland, Puntland, and Djibouti. We know thatdeclarations do not mean 100 percent compliance.We know that not every member of every communityCourtesy of TostanThe village of Sinthiou Maleme Pano announced the abandonment of female genital cutting with this ceremony.56 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenCourtesy of TostanWomen learn how to cook chapati with a solar oven. They report that when it is sunny, they cook their meals easily withoutgetting dirty or inhaling smoke. In addition, they spend less money on firewood, and fewer trees are cut down.who attends the public declaration abandons on thatday. This is only part of the process, but we havelearned that it is an essential part because it is asocial norm, a question of reciprocal expectations andsanctions. When there is a social norm in place, it isnecessary to build a critical mass toward change overtime. The declaration is a way of saying “today weare publicly declaring that a great majority of peoplebelieve that this is no longer a good thing to do.”Religious leaders speak out during these ceremoniesResults in Marième’s Village• Total abandonment of female genital cutting• One hundred percent vaccination• Construction of school• End of child marriage• Solar power and SMS technology that aidseconomic developmentand relate Islam’s point of view, emphasizing that it isnot a religious obligation.I want to congratulate the participants here todayfrom Al Azhar University, because we sent villageparticipants to Egypt to meet with them. After theirdiscussions, they returned to Senegal and travelednear and far, spreading the message that leadingauthorities of Islam told them that it was all right toabandon this practice. That was extremely importantto everyone. We feel the momentum is building andthat female genital cutting will soon be a thing of thepast, even within our generation. We really believewe are on the way.What happened when Marième and others in hercommunity became educated? In the photo of her, sheis in front of the health hut that the villagers themselvesconstructed. The community sent a participantto be trained as a health worker. Vaccination isnow 100 percent, and health has greatly improved.Participants have constructed a school with fiveThe Carter Center 57

Mobilizing Faith for Womenclassrooms for their children. They have ended femalegenital cutting and child marriage, and evaluationshave shown that the abandonment is 100 percentin this village. They also have solar-electrifiedtheir village.Marième was chosen to travel to India to train.Her husband told me, “If I hadn’t been through theTostan program, I would never have allowed her togo so far away.” She went for six months to BarefootCollege, became a solar engineer, and came back andtrained others in her community. Together, they putup 50 solar units in her village.When I went to visit, Marième said, “Molly, youmust come to the next village with me and see theunit I installed in their church. Even though we areMuslim, our village decided to donate a solar unit fortheir church because we believe that nobody shoulddiscriminate because of religion.” That is not all theyhave accomplished. A team of Tostan participantsfrom five neighboring villages traveled to 148 othercommunities to speak with their relatives, explainingwhy they had abandoned female genital cutting andchild marriage. This is what is so powerful aboutthis whole process: It is the people themselves whoare leading this movement. They have received newinformation, and they are spreading the informationto others who matter to them. They are fulfillingtheir important goals of peace, family, and communitywell-being.Marième’s granddaughter will not be married at14. She is going to school, she will finish school, shewon’t get pregnant at 15, and she will be allowed totravel and work wherever she likes.At Tostan, we believe and have seen that changeis possible within one generation, not just in Senegalbut in all the African countries where we are working.I’m pleased to open this seminar by reaffirming thepower of education. Through education, grassrootsdialogue, and collective and inclusive action — usingthe guiding principles of human rights and humandignity for all — we will be able to achieve positivechange in our world more quickly than we ever couldhave dreamed possible.58 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenIn 1983, I was chosen as the youngest personever to represent the Jola-Fonyi ethnic group ofthe Ziguinchor area in Senegal in the SenegaleseNational Assembly. A good representative, whenelected, is one that has in mind the defense of one’sconstituency, the population that has elected youto be its eyes, ears, and voice. Thus, as a member ofParliament, for five years I defended the communitiesthat had elected me to govern on their behalf.After serving in the National Assembly, I met withMolly Melching of Tostan in 2000, and we discussedmy intention to bring Tostan to Casamance. At thistime, there were serious challenges to implementingTostan’s model in Casamance, because it was anarea with an active rebellion and many land mines.Casamance is an area from which people had fled,taking refuge in bordering countries such as TheGambia, Guinea Bissau, and Guinea, and in thecapital of Senegal, Dakar. So it was difficult for anongovernmental organization to be established inCasamance, but I had a conviction. And as PresidentCarter once said: It is necessary that we know whatwe want and we know where we want to be. As aJola-Fonyi, I was trying to save my people from all ofthe evils from which they were suffering. I was alsotrying to save all my sisters: the women, who wereBacary Tamba, TostanTom Englandfacing enormous difficulties. I decided it was necessaryto go straight to Tostan to work on these issues.Each time Tostan enters a community, theyconduct a study at the beginning, in the middle, andat the end of the program. We know that in eachlocality there are other nongovernmental organizationsthat have intervened and failed, perhapsbecause of ancestral habits or practices that slowdown change. Thus, it is necessary to consider anyprevious cases in detail. At the end of each project,we must evaluate and be accountable to the peopleon the ground.Aawde means to stir up theearth to prepare it for sowing.Thus, we stir up the earth.The ground we stir up is thespirit of the people. We makethem want to come back. Wequestion them about their livesand their being but also theirparticipation in the developmentof human rights, because theyhave human rights, thoughthey might not know it yet.Bacary Tamba of Senegal speaks about mobilizing personalconviction to change social norms and end harmfulpractices such as female genital cutting.We started with 20 centers in an area nearCasamance and Bounkili, working with Tostan’sCommunity Empowerment Program. The programbuilds community capacity toward positive socialtransformation for the development of communitieswith respect to human rights. Know that whereverwar breaks out, someone’s right was not respected.If people are educated, all the religions — Islam,Christianity, and all others — will be practicedThe Carter Center 59

Mobilizing Faith for Womenproperly. I will borrow from the Islamic tradition,which emphasizes learning to know oneself, to study,and to possess knowledge in order to learn how torespect others and oneself.The community empowerment program is deliveredin two modules: Kobi, focused on preparationthrough discussion, and Aawde, focused on learningand developing skills. It is necessary to know in orderto plant. Aawde means to stir up the earth to prepareit for sowing. Thus, we stir up the earth. The groundwe stir up is the spirit of the people. We make themwant to come back. We question them about theirlives and their being but also their participation inthe development of human rights, because they havehuman rights, though they might not know it yet.This is organized diffusion:creating a snowball effectand allowing the program tospread. As we are not able to beeverywhere, we want to shareour knowledge with the entirepopulation of a village or localewhere Tostan is established.There are many rights, and imagine what theserights will do in the community. The first is the rightto life. If each person has the right to life, then howcan someone give himself or herself the right to kill?We know that the circumcision of a young girl isusually due to ignorance. Customarily, no one willknow how the girl feels. Because these were the socialnorms of the society, the family would think they aredoing what is good for the girl and for the community,so the girl can later find a husband. If one breaksdown the standards of communities, one finds threetypes of standards: social, administrative (laws thatsay this and that), and personal conviction. (BecauseI believe it is moral, I will marry only one woman,despite prevailing social standards to the contrary.This is my personal choice.).People gain understanding through education, andscience has brought change and progress. We understandthat education is also a right, necessary notonly for the boys but also for girls. We did our best toregister the maximum number of girls in school andto ensure they remained there. For future equality,women need to be able to earn diplomas, to balancethe diplomas earned by men. To achieve parity incapacity, women must gain the knowledge that willenable them to take the places that men have occupiedin their stead: to become ministers, directors,and anything else they want to be in life. For thesereasons, people should be educated.Addressing the right to hygiene and health alsomakes it possible for pregnant women to visit privateclinics in the hospitals for pre- and postnatal testing.After childbirth, this right should give the childaccess to vaccinations, and a birth certificate willenable the child to obtain a national identity card,passport, and other legal documents, which are necessaryfor full exercise of citizenship.We at Tostan believe that education is in theinterest of the community and that teaching shouldnot stop in the classes. Teaching reaches beyond thewalls of the school through several methods: A personfrom the class agrees to take a few people from thevillage and teach them what was taught that day inthe class. Teachers are allowed to teach the coursesin public places, in the village centers. Finally, wehave what is called community management, whichcontinues the program after the Tostan training iscomplete. Community management makes it possiblefor Tostan to move into other villages that do nothave the program and to share it with others. Thisis organized diffusion: creating a snowball effect andallowing the program to spread. As we are not ableto be everywhere, we want to share our knowledgewith the entire population of a village or locale whereTostan is established.Female genital cutting is an ancestral traditionwith over 2,000 years of existence; to remove this60 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenpractice from the culture is not easy. It is necessaryto speak with the parents and the community,because women from surrounding villages come tofind husbands. Our children leave the village tostudy elsewhere, and our wives leave the village towork the weekly markets, carrying with them all thisnews. They will discuss it with everyone, and I thinkthis will wake up people’s consciences and the decisionmaking will be easier afterward. In Casamance,speaking about circumcision was taboo.Nowhere in the Qur’an is itwritten that it is necessary orpermitted for women to beforced to be cut. I have not seenit. Islamic scholars are presenthere: If you see at the timeof Abraham (that one calledwith the first audience), therewas no request that his wifeget circumcised. The ProphetMuhammad had four girls andwas not requested to requirethem to be circumcised.When I started with Molly [Melching] inCasamance, I was told: “Bacary, stop! Do not speakany more about circumcision! You are a man and thatis not your business. If you continue, your belly willswell and you will die because that is a taboo subjectthat one must not speak about. Stop; leave this jobbecause people are threatening you!” Though theythreatened me, I said to myself that God is the refereeof all, because nowhere did I see in a Holy Book,nowhere in the Qur’an is it written that it is necessaryor permitted for women to be forced to be cut.I have not seen it. Islamic scholars are present here:If you see at the time of Abraham (that one calledwith the first audience), there was no request that hiswife get circumcised. The Prophet Muhammad hadfour girls and was not requested to require them to becircumcised.What is the result of Tostan’s program inCasamance? During the period of rebellion inCasamance, no one was secure because people did notknow who was a rebel and who was not. When peoplespeak to each other, it makes them stronger. Peoplewho came to the class and learned together managedto build mutual trust. The second result was withinthe families that learned to maintain their hygieneand health. The community dealt with many healthissues, like checking the water quality and cleanliness.The results are peace and health.I do this because I believe that this is a problemfor everybody, men and women; not just for women.I know change is possible. The reason behind myactions was that injustice prevailed: Female genitalcutting had become a social standard, and thus itwas forced. If you did not wish to circumcise yourdaughters, the community would judge you andyour family negatively. When I had my daughters,who are college students now, I was not convincedthat it was necessary to continue to live with thecommunity’s habits or rules. I said “No!” One has tofollow one’s beliefs and fight against injustice. Thisis why I looked to meet people who have the samebeliefs, the same philosophy and ideology. In mysearch, I found Tostan. Now, three of my daughtershave gotten married without being circumcised. Mytwo daughters, 8 and 10 years old, who still live withme are not circumcised. My granddaughters also arenot circumcised. I have taken my role as a pilgrim,because I was named the national coordinator of thediaspora for Tostan. I will find my brothers who are inItaly, Spain, France, Belgium, and the United Statesto discuss this with them: that our ancestral habitsthat they believe in, which we believe are the recommendationsof our religion, are not any longer reality.It is necessary that one make a good judgment andthink through these practices based on reason. This ishow to fight for justice.The Carter Center 61

Mobilizing Faith for WomenDr. Samira Al-Alaani Abdulghaniand Jeremy Courtney, Preemptive Love CoalitionJeremy CourtneyIn the middle of the Iraq war, my family and I movedto the country in a context of pervasive distrust.Everywhere we looked there was distrust: Everyonedistrusted someone. There were Shia militia settingup impromptu checkpoints, pulling Sunnis out oftheir cars and killing them on the spot. There wereSunni reprisals. There were Arab terrorists blowingup bombs in Kurdish cities. There were Kurdishencroachments onto other Kurds and Arabs. Therewas widespread violence across contested cities likeMosul and Kirkuk. Everyone distrusted everyone itseemed, at the height of the conflict.It was in this context that I was sitting in my hotelone day working on my laptop, and the tea guy, whohad been a friend and a connection over the previousmonths of my working in that lobby on my computer,approached me and said, “Sir, Mr. Jeremy, you’vebeen coming here for some time now. Can I ask you afavor?” I said, “Sure, go ahead.” And he said, “I havea cousin. He’s about my age, and he had a little girla few years ago. She has a huge hole in her heart,and there’s not a hospital left in Iraq now that isequipped to save her life from the bombings and thesanctions and everything that has happened. All thedoctors have fled the country. You’re an American,and you’ve come here to help. Do you think can youhelp me?”My initial response was not heroic. There wasnothing unexpected about it. It was a very typicalresponse in a lot of ways. I said, “No, I can’t help.I don’t know anything about that. I don’t knowanything about children who have heart defects. Idon’t know anything about what it would take to takea child out of the country for surgery. I don’t have anyexpertise in this.”Tom EnglandJeremy Courtney listens as Dr. Samira Al-Alaani Abdulghani, a pediatrician at Fallujah General Hospital, details the rise incongenital birth defects following the Iraq War.62 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenWith a great deal of humility — because he couldhave easily blasted me — he showed me that all itwould take was to try; that trying would be enough forhis family. So I agreed to meet with the father, anda couple of days later the father rounded the cornerof the hotel with his little 6-year-old girl in tow. Asthat little girl turned the corner and I saw her, I wasa goner. I thought about my own little girl, and thatwas it: There was nothing left to discuss. As SisterSimone Campbell said, “When your heart breakson behalf of someone else, what is fear?” The fearthat I would mess this up, the fear that I didn’t havethe expertise required to help this family, was gone.Suddenly, I had a broken heart for this family andtheir child with a broken heart, and I wanted to jumpin to try and help.Today, I am here among youas a messenger from Fallujah,or let me say, as a very closewitness of the Iraqi Hiroshima.I have decided to tell todaythe life stories of the mothersin my city: aware of who didwhat, who encouraged, whokept silent, and who paid.I took the files and began knocking around tofriends, contacts, and colleagues to try to see whatI could do. The more I dug into this issue, the moreI realized that it wasn’t just this one girl. I heardKurds saying that it was Saddam Hussein’s chemicalweapons that had played some role in drasticallyincreasing the number of children in the city ofHalabja who are born with these types of birthdefects. The more I investigated and the more Ilearned, I actually saw American soldiers raising theirhands saying, “My wife just gave birth to a child, andwe have no history of cancer in our family and ourchild has cancer. We have no history of heart diseasein our family, and our child has heart disease. Wehave no history of birth defects, and our child has agrotesque birth defect.”Following those stories and those soldiers and thestory inside Iraq, I became aware of the research andthe work of Dr. Samira [Al-Alaani]. Over time andthrough a lot of connections, serendipity, and God’sprovidence — I believe God brought us together — Iwas able to respond to some of the research that shewas issuing out into the world. She was calling forattention, saying, “This is what we are experiencinghere in Fallujah in the wake of the war;” nevermaking claims about causality, being careful not topoint the finger or claim scientifically that she knewwhat was going on, but issuing numbers, reports, andphotos, and saying, “Here, this is what we’re seeing;you draw your own conclusions.” Now I will handover briefly to Dr. Samira, and then I will respond towhat she is saying.Dr. Samira Al-Alaani AbdulghaniFirst, salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,the greeting of Islam that means “Peace be uponyou with God’s mercy and blessing.” Ladies andgentlemen, this year, 2013, marks the 10th anniversaryof the 2003 Iraq war. Since the invasion, theoccupying U.S.–U.K.-led coalition forces and theIraqi authorities have failed to fulfill their obligationto protect people’s right to life and health, withdevastating results for Iraq’s people. Grave humanrights violations, against international law, havebeen reported during and after the Iraq war. Mostof the alleged violations have not been properlyinvestigated, nor have their perpetrators been broughtto justice.As a consequence of the use of inhuman, indiscriminate,and toxic weapons, many people havebeen killed, and many are still suffering physical harmwithout any reparations. Moreover, the devastatingeffect of the conflict will continue to victimizeinnocent children and infants who were not evenborn before or during the war and occupation.The Carter Center 63

Mobilizing Faith for WomenToday, I am here among you as a messenger fromFallujah, or let me say, as a very close witness of theIraqi Hiroshima. I have decided to tell today thelife stories of the mothers in my city: aware of whodid what, who encouraged, who kept silent, andwho paid. I am a pediatrician, and I have workedin Fallujah since 1997. The story started in 2004and has continued in a tragic series of events everysingle day until this moment. The mass use of dirtyweapons in a city crowded with people has causedcongenital malformations.On behalf of the women ofFallujah, I would like to call onthe U.S. and U.K. governmentsto disclose information regardingall types of weapons usedduring the occupation and totake the measures necessaryto protect the right to life andhealth of the local people if apollution problem is indicated.Women in Fallujah have different educationallevels, different ideologies, and different ages, butthey all share the same fear: congenital malformation.In the hospital where I serve, about 14 percent of thenewborns come to life with various kinds of malformations.About 5 percent of children die during theirfirst year of life, with about 55 percent of those deathsbeing due to congenital malformations. With sucha high rate of malformations, an integrated chain ofsocial and psychological consequences has appearedand evolved to become a barrier between everycouple and their dream to become parents one day.As a part of Iraq, my city’s people never have hada proper chance to learn, educate themselves, and getenlightened, due to the wars, death, blood, sanctions,and poverty. In such a society, the mother suffers theblame either explicitly or implicitly for giving birthto a malformed child. This is what women in my cityare going through every day: the dream of being amother turned into a nightmare. Personally, I havewitnessed the daily pain of watching children withno future and no hope in life. As a physician, I feelthe pain. What about the mothers of those children?They would obviously die with every tear while theywatch their sons’ and daughters’ tragedy with absolutelyno recourse. The democracy of war has affectedevery one of us with no exception. Some have beenkilled, some orphaned, some widowed; some havecancer, some got malformed newborns, some lost theirlivelihood and became homeless. The least impactedperson has become psychologically unstable andworried with fear of the future.On behalf of the women of Fallujah, I wouldlike to call on the U.S. and U.K. governments todisclose information regarding all types of weaponsused during the occupation and to take the measuresnecessary to protect the right to life and health ofthe local people if a pollution problem is indicated.Finally, on behalf of the director of Fallujah Hospitaland myself, I greatly thank Ms. [Karin] Ryan,His Excellency President Carter, and Mr. JeremyCourtney for offering me the chance to share withyou in this forum, to illustrate some facts and theexperiences of the people I represent. I hope thisforum will be a new start to make a suitable solutionfor the problems in Fallujah.Jeremy CourtneyWith this as the backdrop of what we are dealingwith in Iraq right now, I want to offer that in suchdarkness, there are responses that are possible. Oneof the questions posed to us was: What can we doto normalize peace? The corollary question is: Howcan you eat an elephant? The answer is, “One biteat a time: one step at a time.” Sometimes we canoverthink these things — we can try to go too far innormalizing peace. One of the things we have to do ifwe want to normalize peace is to normalize humility.64 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenWe have to normalize the ability to say we werewrong. And the people who should be leading thatconversation above all others, if our politicians won’tdo it, are our religious leaders. We were wrong. Wecan’t brush it under the rug, choose not to comment,and then sit on our hands when Syria comes alongbecause we have some kind of deep guilt inside. Wemust say forthrightly, “We were wrong.”The normalization of humility certainly must beone of the steps to take to normalize peace. Thecorollary is the normalization of forgiveness. We haveto have a setting, a venue, and a set of relationshipsin which we can forgive another; in which we cansay, “I hear you say that you were wrong, and I forgiveyou.” Again, if our religious communities can’t leadthe conversation on this, then our religion is absolutelyworthless to us.We have to have a setting, avenue, and a set of relationshipsin which we can forgiveanother; in which we can say,“I hear you say that you werewrong, and I forgive you.”So we began saying we were wrong. Not me as alone white guy trying to represent all of America,but with something that I have actually learnedfrom and seen modeled in President Carter himself:speaking personally about my own lust for blood inIraq, my own lust for retribution against Muslims inthe wake of 9/11 — speaking from that position ofacknowledging I was wrong, I wanted this war in Iraqon some level. I wanted this Christian aggressionagainst Muslims on some level, and now I see whatI voted for. Now I see what I’ve asked for, and I waswrong. As I look into the face of your child, I see Iwas wrong, and I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I say thatagain to all of my Muslim brothers and friends here,and I say that again to you, Dr. Samira, as an Iraqicolleague and friend.We were doing that as we began working invarious communities across Iraq. As we began to seekto respond to this congenital birth defect crisis nowplaguing the country, we began hearing many repeatchoruses of: “I can’t go to that city with my child andseek treatment. Those people hate my people, thosepeople killed my people.” I can’t seek medical treatmentfrom an American medical team because it’s theAmericans who caused me to be in this situation inthe first place. But parents will do crazy things whenthey’re desperate, and sometimes parents who hadno other choice would take the risk of placing theirShia child in the hands of a Sunni doctor, or placingtheir Sunni child in the hands of a Shia doctor, orplacing their Kurdish child in the hands of an Arabdoctor, or placing their Arab child in the hands of anAmerican doctor.I’ll close with a story of a little girl named Khadija.I remember sitting with her father on the eve of hersurgery, and her father, Mathi, said to me, “Please,Mr. Jeremy, send us somewhere else. Don’t send usto those people, those people hate us, if we go to thatcity to those people, they’ll kill us! Please just send usout to Iran or somewhere else, don’t send us to thosepeople.” And I said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Mathi. This isall I’ve been able to work out for you. If you wantKhadija to have surgery, you’re going to need totrust me. You’re going to need to take this step withme.” A couple of days later, Khadija had her surgeryagainst all odds. She’d been rejected by a numberof other programs, she wasn’t supposed to get thissurgery, and she wasn’t supposed to live. She was 16years old, and if she didn’t get this surgery now shewould never get married, she would never be ableto have children; her heart would have failed her.And the enemy doctor, the doctor who never shouldhave been trusted by Mr. Mathi, saved her life. Heperformed an impossible surgery and saved her life.When I met up with Mathi again, the first thinghe said to me was, “Walla, Mr. Jeremy, he was sucha Muslim!” For those of you who don’t understandthe nuance of that: Suddenly that guy wasn’t theThe Carter Center 65

Mobilizing Faith for Women“other” anymore, the enemy; suddenly he was aMuslim just like Mathi. Mathi had come to see himin a totally different light as this doctor had savedthe life of his daughter. The enemy monikers weregone as we all engaged in what we call “preemptivelove.” Mathi had engaged in preemptive love onbehalf of his daughter: He had taken a risk againstall odds and walked into enemy territory to love hisdaughter. The surgeon had taken a great risk to loveme, to dislodge one of his own people to take in andprovide surgery for an outsider. All across the board,we saw expressions of “Wow, he’s just like me,” offorgiveness, reconciliation, and a normalization ofpeace. I don’t think that peace is a destination or abinary state, on or off. It’s a discipline, and in thatmoment we were in peace, because we were flexingour peace muscles, we were exercising them. We callit “preemptive love.”66 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenFrances Greaves, Voice of the VoicelessWhen I attended the previous conference at TheCarter Center on this subject, it was an eye-openerfor me in the work that I do with women, and Iwant to thank President and Mrs. Carter for thisopportunity. What I learned here is valuable, becausewe work to ensure that women in the church getinformation from policy documents, which they donot have access to otherwise.The women of Liberia played a major role inbringing stabilization and an end to civil war inLiberia. The initiative taken by these women hashealed Liberian women and caused many others tocome to our country to emulate the work we did. Asa result, there is a documentary called “Pray the DevilBack to Hell.” It shows what women can do if theyare together.Liberian women. We declared: Never again! Neverwill we permit ourselves to sit and let the men makethe decision for us to be dehumanized and defamedand to become subjects and objects of sex. In thepeace efforts, women, again, did not sit down. Weasked ourselves what we wanted to do to ensure thatwomen’s voices continue to be heard. Among theinitiatives we took during the transitional governmentwas to make sure that women were representedin all the three facets of government: the executive,legislative, and judiciary.During that time, we had three women representativesand more than 60 men in the legislature. Butthose three women fought, and during that period,Tom EnglandMany women had serioushealth problems resultingfrom the war. Some still hadbullets and shrapnel from thewar, and I had to make surethat these women receivedthe assistance they needed.During the days of the Truth and ReconciliationCommission (TRC), I worked with an organizationcalled the Women’s NGO Secretariat to raise thevoices of women to testify about the gruesome actscommitted against them during the second civil war.Many women had serious health problems resultingfrom the war. Some still had bullets and shrapnelfrom the war, and I had to make sure that thesewomen received the assistance they needed. It wasalso my job to ensure that these women infused theirthoughts into the final recommendations of the TRC.The TRC process was a reality check for allFrances Greaves shares the gains Liberian women havewon and discusses ongoing challenges to the consolidationof peace in Liberia.The Carter Center 67

Mobilizing Faith for Womentwo pieces of legislation came into being through thesupport of Liberian women: the Act on Rape, to criminalizerape, and the Inheritance Rights Bill. Womenin indigenous marriages finally could acquire rights tothe property they had gained collectively with theirhusbands. Prior to that law, women were chattel, andit was often said that women could not own property.Though it has been an ongoing struggle, for the firsttime in 2005, there were 14 women representativesin the national legislature. It was all because of theefforts of women who said our voices needed tobe heard.Since then, many actions have been taken andmany commissions have been created in Liberia inwhich women are major players. For example, thereare two women in the Governance Commission; theAnticorruption Commission is headed by a woman;the vice chair of the Law Reform Commission isa woman; and the Land Commission, NationalElection Commission, and several others havewomen representatives.All these processes have helped consolidate thepeace. However, the consolidation of peace alsocomes with facing yourself and facing the reality ofwhat it is that you must not do to avoid resorting toviolence anymore. Last week in Liberia, the nationalreconciliation process was officially launched, afteralmost 10 years of brainstorming and about five yearsafter the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’sreport. The report had called for prosecutions ofresponsible officials, and so it had been tabled. The2011 elections almost resulted in political violence, sothe reconciliation process was restarted. The womenof Liberia continue to consolidate peace.With all the gains, Liberia has not yet taken legalaffirmative action for women. Having the first femalepresident in Africa, we took an initiative last year togo to Senegal to find out how they had been able toacquire 40 percent representation by women in theParliament. What a disgrace when the Senegalesewomen told us, “Why would you come to us whenyou have Africa’s first female president?” So wedecided to “tie our lapas” as we say in Liberia andgo back and take initiative. We are in the process ofpopularizing a document that will enhance women’sparticipation in all facets of government to ensurethat when women’s voices are heard, things thathappened to us throughout the 14 years of our civilcrisis will not be repeated.68 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenClaudia Furaha Nfundiko, Episcopal Commission for Justice and PeaceI am really very happy to speak before this imposingassembly to tell you a little about what has happenedin my country with regard to the normalization ofviolence against women. For more than a decade,my country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo(DRC), has been the victim of an unprecedented civilwar. My country has fabulous flora, fauna, and naturallandscapes, which are a gift from God. The populationis ready to invest in the landscape for a lastingpeace. Rich by our natural resources, this gift is notexploited by the population but torn away by invisiblehands. The area is like a virgin among monsters.Arable lands, lakes and rivers, historical sites, andfolk dances — all or almost all of this natural andcultural landscape is being irretrievably lost. Warsoften are orchestrated by the multinationals andmilitias supported by foreign governments thatbuild their fortunes with innocents’ blood. Forced,violated, tortured, robbed, and killed, the populationsare victims because their country has a wealththat nobody can deny. The country’s cultural andTom Englandethnic diversity, which should be a source of prideand an asset as it is in the Americas, is instead oneof the causes of the war. The population is poor: Inthe country of gold mines, the population cultivatesvegetables. They have no houses to sleep in. Theroads are not maintained.Congo, as you know, has earned the label “rapecapital of the world.” The consequences of thiswar are innumerable to the people. Without beingexhaustive, we can list some of the violations: loss ofhuman life, extreme poverty, permanent handicaps,proliferation of light arms, targeted assassinations,burning and destruction of villages, massacres of thecivilian population, captivity of women, internaldisplacement, human capacity flight, and environmentaldestruction.Since the beginning of the war, violence againstwomen and children in the eastern DRC has becomepervasive. Indeed, sexual violence is being used as aweapon of war. The bodies of women have becomeanother battlefield for the attackers. It is the warwithin the war, because it is strategic and the resultsThe population is poor: In thecountry of gold mines, thepopulation cultivates vegetables.They have no houses to sleep in.The roads are not maintained.Claudia Furaha Nfundiko reports from the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo, urging people of faith and religiousleaders to pressure for an end to the war in that countryin which women, families, and communities are facing thedevastating consequences of the use of sexual violence asa weapon of war.have proved it effective. Amnesty Internationalreports that the conflict in eastern DRC has resultedin tens of thousands of women and girls becomingvictims of systemic rape and sexual assault byarmed groups.Women and girls have been attacked in theirhomes, in the fields, and wherever they conducttheir daily activities. Many have been raped onseveral occasions or were victims of several assailants.The Carter Center 69

Mobilizing Faith for WomenOthers have undergone sexual torture, including theintroduction of objects into the genitals. In manycases, armed groups have used women and girls assexual slaves. Young boys also have been victimized.Rapes were sometimes accompanied or followed byphysical abuse, torture, or murder. Acts are oftenmade publicly, in front of the victim’s family membersand children. Some women have become pregnantwithout knowing the father of the child due to casesIn the name of Congolesewomen, I launch a call forthe solidarity of all religionsto influence change in ourcountry with regard towomen’s rights and peace.of mass rape. These poor children are born withoutlove and without a sense of belonging, not even totheir mothers who guard their lives. The communityostracizes them because they are regarded as the childrenof the enemy.Now I would like to look at the role of theCatholic Church in this matter. It is a recentphenomenon to speak about sex acts on church premises.Speaking about rape is taboo because it relatestoo closely to sexuality; yet rape touches communities.Rape was used in a general and a systematicway as a weapon of war, as a tactic of destructionand dismantling of the family unit, which has theeffect of destabilizing the whole community. Couragewas required to speak about rape in the community,despite the taboo. In the face of the suffering ofthe population — and considering the undeniableatrocities that were being committed — the CatholicChurch, through its Commission on Justice andPeace, has not remained indifferent.The church understood that the role of thecommunity was important and determinant in realizingthe vulnerability of its members and assumingresponsibility for the victims. Since 2008, the churchhas developed a protection and reintegration programin three of the 16 areas in eastern DRC that weretouched by this plague of sexual violence: Bukavuin Sitkivou, De Kassongo in Maniema, and Bougnain Eastern province. These programs combat themarginalization and stigmatization of victims throughassistance directed first toward their psychological,medical, and legal needs and then toward reintegrationinto their communities. The initiative is followedup and supported by an activity that generatesfinancial returns: The projects contribute to victims’reinsertion into a protective environment within thecommunity and, thus, reduction of their vulnerability.What role did the Congolese woman play inthe request for peace? Faced with all the problemsdescribed above, Congolese women were extremelyinvested in putting an end to these atrocities,particularly because this issue affected everyone insociety and, therefore, was beneficial for all. In theface of this phenomenon, many women’s associationswere born. Civil associations reached out to womenand children to bring peace and reconciliation. Thisoutreach was conducted with and by women withgoals to provide comfort, inform themselves, teach,and establish a culture of peace based on U.N. resolution1325. Women coming from various religiousconfessions have mobilized to protest the war andorganize women’s boycotts, prayers to seek peaceand only peace, and meetings with women of othercountries under attack, such as Uganda and Burundi.They hope to make heard their wishes, petitions, andletters of denunciations, with the goal of reaching theUnited Nations and those who can influence a returnto peace. In the name of Congolese women, I launcha call for the solidarity of all religions to influencechange in our country with regard to women’s rightsand peace.70 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenZainah Anwar, Sisters in Islam and MusawahWe have talked a lot about the importance ofworking with religious leaders and the importantrole of those leaders to bring about social changes.I agree, but in some contexts, such as in the UnitedStates and especially in Muslim societies that arevery patriarchal and conservative, religious leadersactually play a leading role in opposing social change.They join hands with the patriarchs and authoritariangovernments to justify why there cannot be equalitybetween men and women; why there cannot be lawreform. They justify this in the name of Islam, in thename of God.Many people forget that in many Muslim-majoritycountries, Islam is the direct source of law in publicpolicy. The alliance between religious leaders, whouphold patriarchal and discriminatory understandingsand practices of religion, and authoritarian governmentsis very often perilous for women’s rights. ManyOrganization of Islamic Cooperation governmentsstill maintain reservations about the U.N.’s humanrights’ treaties. A recent report shows that whenI want to share the work of Sisters in Islam andMusawah, through which women are taking ownershipof their faith and asserting their rights to definewhat it means to be living Islam on a daily basisas well as the role of faith in public policies. Whatmakes us different is that since our beginning in 1989,Sisters in Islam has engaged religion from a rightsperspective, long before it became fashionable to doso. Also different in our societies is that we want ourown voices to be heard, instead of the voice of thereligious authorities or scholars with whom we work.These are the voices of women’s rights activists whowant changes in our society and in our lives. We wantto take the lead, to engage in public space and publicdebate on matters of religion that affect us as women.Tom EnglandWe want our own voices to beheard, instead of the voice of thereligious authorities or scholarswith whom we work. These arethe voices of women’s rightsactivists who want changes inour society and in our lives.questioned why there cannot be changes in their lawand practices to comply with the treaties’ obligations,the most common answers were: because the laws inour countries are divine law; it is God’s law, therefore,it cannot be changed as it is infallible. This is aconstructed myth, a myth that must be broken bothin national and international spheres.Zainah Anwar of Malaysia speaks about the work of herorganizations to create public debate that is inclusive ofwomen’s realities on religious matters.The Carter Center 71

Mobilizing Faith for WomenWorking with scholars is extremely important becauseit provides us with knowledge that encourages us tospeak out and challenge the religious authority, thepatriarchs, and autocrats in government. It also hasencouraged us to challenge the justification for menand women having different rights in Islam, becausetoo often this means that in the substance and practiceof the law, women have inferior rights.Ziba Mir-Hosseini said yesterday that Islamic feminismis the unwanted child of political Islam that hasemerged as a response to the failure of our religiousleaders to engage with the realities of our life andtheir use of Islam to justify their control over women.I grew up with the belief that God is just and Islam isjust. I always understood that the different treatmentof my brother and me at home was due to culture andtradition, not religion. As an adult confronted withissues of domestic violence, polygamy, marital rape,obedience, and all forms of inequality in the privateand public spheres — which are justified in the nameof Islam — I was outraged. For me, God is a simplearticle of faith: God cannot be God if God is unjust. Icould reject my religion as many feminists have done,because they believe that religion is inherently unjustand patriarchal and that there is no hope in religion.For them, religion is not a source of change andliberation. But as a believer, that is not an option forme. I need to reconcile my faith and my feminism.We decided to return to the Qur’an. Even thoughwe had learned the Qur’an since we were young, wenever understood it except through what men saidit said. We decided to reread the Qur’an, to lookat it with different eyes, from different experiences.We asked feminist questions, rights-based questions,of the text. For us, this was a liberating experience.We found in the text many messages of justice andcompassion and of the companionship of men andwomen “being each other’s garment” — of men’sand women’s equal rights and responsibilities beforeGod. And we asked: If men and women are equal inthe eyes of God, why are we not equal in the eyesof men? Why should men’s meanings, experiences,and realities define how we should live our faith? Aswe studied the text, we questioned why there is adisconnect between the wonderful messages in theQur’an and the realities of women’s lives here inMuslim societies.When we discussed the issue of polygamy, it wasthe first time many of us realized that although theQur’an says, “… marry women of your choice, two orthree or four,” the Qur’an continues saying, “But ifyou fear you will not be just, marry only one … thatwill be suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice”[4:3]. Who decided that the first part should be thesource of law, public policy, and practice that isconsidered a divine right in Islam, and who decidedthat the part about marrying only one to preventinjustice should not be the source of law? Why is itthat one-half of the verse has become a source of lawand the other part is silenced?I could reject my religion asmany feminists have done,because they believe thatreligion is inherently unjust andpatriarchal and that there isno hope in religion. For them,religion is not a source ofchange and liberation. But as abeliever, that is not an optionfor me. I need to reconcilemy faith and my feminism.After discovering so many wonderful verses inthe Qur’an, we decided that we did not want tokeep quiet and had to share this knowledge. Wedeliberately strategized to create a culture of publicdebate on matters of religion and assert that women’svoices and experiences of living Islam, the impactthat women feel under the law, must be a source ofauthority and legitimacy in defining what religion72 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenmeans. How did we do this? We were just eightwomen. How did we open 1,400 years of patriarchybased on religion? We did this by using the media.We started by sending letters to the editor respondingto contentious issues about religion: polygamy,domestic violence, hijab, etc., to argue with differentinterpretations and understandings and to share withthe Muslim public the existence of diverse opinionsin Islam, diverse interpretations in religion.We started engaging with the public on the basisthat if Islam is to be used as a source of law in publicpolicy, there have to be public discussion and publicdebate about it. Public law must be open to publicdebate. It really began with us trying to create thatpublic space. The greatest impact is that 23 yearslater, whenever matters on religion come up, themedia comes to us, women come to us, and otherscome to us. They recognize us as a source of authority,even though traditionally we are not recognized assuch. Understanding religion as a public issue, a moralissue, is extremely important for bringing about thechanges we want to see.The Carter Center 73

Mobilizing Faith for WomenGood afternoon. I am Fulata, and want to start frommy name. I was born fulata, which means I was bornfeet-first. By the time I was born, I was the youngest.My mother was in her 40s, but when my first sisterwas born, my mother was 18 years old. She was thethird wife to my father. She was married as a thirdwife to escape the stigma of being divorced at age 16from her first husband. She did not have much education,but one thing I remember about my mother wasthat every day she had a Bible next to her pillow.This Bible was the Tumbuka translation, one of thelanguages in Malawi, and every morning she wouldread the Bible before she did anything else. I becamevery curious about this book, so one day I asked her,“What is in this book?” She said, “Read it for yourself!I thought that you go to school!” I was not sure. Ireally wanted to read it, but because curiosity had thebetter part of me, I started sneaking to read the book.Fulata Moyo, World Council of Churchesdecisions over and over again, I realized that to herthe Bible was contextually an African book that waslike a manual for daily life; it answered her questions.I don’t know how at that time. I am so grateful tomy mother that she encouraged me to read it myself,because it meant that I had to really try to findmeaning in it myself.I’m starting from there because I want to addressits effect on my work with the World Council ofChurches on the issue of trafficking of women andgirls. Our work has been focused mainly on ways toinfluence certain understandings of scripture andtheology in a way that will help our member churchestake part in raising awareness about the dehumanizationthat is so much a part of human trafficking. TheBible is one of the sources of theology we have used.Tom EnglandOur work has been focusedmainly on ways to influencecertain understandings ofscripture and theology ina way that will help ourmember churches take part inraising awareness about thedehumanization that is so mucha part of human trafficking.As I read it over and over again, I discovered thatI didn’t identify very much as a Christian because,as the third wife’s children, we were not baptizedand, therefore, not accepted as proper children of myfather. Thus, I was not very interested in this religion.But seeing how the Bible influenced my mother’s74 The Carter CenterFulata Moyo discusses how she learned to derive her ownmeanings from the Bible after seeing that her motherreferred to it as a manual for her daily life.

Mobilizing Faith for WomenI have found that using the Bible is very important,and one experience four years ago especially broughtthis home for me. I started at the World Councilof Churches in 2007, and I am responsible for theprogram on Women in Church and Society. Wehave focused mainly on addressing violence againstwomen by working with women and men. Threeyears ago, I was in Thailand for a meeting. With ateam of 30 people, I was taken to a center where theykeep women who have been rescued from trafficking.There are so many young women who are traffickedthrough the borders of Thailand. One particular girlwas 14 years old and eight months pregnant. She waslooking at me as I was walking toward her, and it waslike I could not see her, in her face and in her eyes;she was not in her body. It was like I was meeting abody that didn’t have a life in it.It haunted me for a long time, and then I startedtalking to the people running this ministry, takingcare of these young women, young girls, actually. Iasked one of the leaders, “What do you do? How doyou deal with these girls?” She said, “We teach themthe Christian principles of forgiveness, because mostof them have been trafficked and then abused sexually.”This 14-year-old girl was abused by three menwho promised to help her and give her transport,and she didn’t even know who the father was. Theysaid, “We have taught her the value of forgivenessand that she should embrace the baby as a gift fromGod.” Looking at the girl, it was clear to me they hadnot even listened to her. They had not engaged thisgirl even to ask her, “What are you feeling? What areyour questions?” I thought then that it is so importanthow we read scripture and how we interpret thesekinds of things.The day after, we had a Bible study and the personwe were working with was using contextual Biblestudy methodology, which is a brainchild of liberationtheology. She read from the book of Ruth. Sheread it as a text on trafficking of women and girls.She raised issues about the deprivation that actuallymakes women risk becoming victims of traffickingand how when she looks at the book of Ruth, shesees Ruth and Naomi as two deprived women. Theyare so deprived that, although in the Bible it showsthat Naomi and Ruth had a good relationship, atthe end of the day Naomi had to use young Ruth tobe able to recover the possibility of their livelihood.She instructs Ruth to go and “cover the feet” of Boaz,which in the Hebrew textual tradition I am told, hassexual implications. If it was about love or partnership,Naomi should have been the one marrying Boaz,as they were the same age. The Bible study leader saidthat for her, Naomi was not unlike the traffickers,the women who are mediators, because most of themare also so desperate that they have to use someoneelse. Reading the text in that way was very helpfulbut raised several questions. In contextual Bible study,you allow the context of the reader to interact withthe context of the writer. Two questions raised were:Do you have Ruths and Naomis in your community,and what are their stories? And as a faith community,what do you do about their stories?The Carter Center 75

Mobilizing Faith for WomenMy journey into women’s issues began with Presidentand Mrs. Carter, when I marched for the Equal RightsAmendment many years ago in South Georgia. Itchanged the focus of my life and, ultimately, ledme here. I am director and CEO of an organizationcalled Street Grace, which began as a collaborationof churches that learned about the issue in Atlantaof domestic minor sex trafficking. We use this termto distinguish it from international sex traffickingthat also occurs here. In our society — in our affluent,influential society here in the United States — wehave this idea that we do not have these issues andproblems. Yet, in my home state, the state I am proudto share with President and Mrs. Carter, hundreds ofchildren will be trafficked to thousands of men.Cheryl Deluca-Johnson, Street Gracedo something about it after you are aware of an issue,you will simply be frustrated. So the second step isempowerment. Once you have been empowered, wewant you to do something about it. That is why wehave 52 community partners with volunteer opportunitiesthat support the lives of children so everyonecan become engaged. Someone said earlier that oneperson doing one thing, one time, in the life of oneperson — in our case, a child — can change theirlife forever.I am going to talk about the importance of socialchange, and the indicator I am going to look atTom EnglandOne person doing onething, one time, in the lifeof one person — in ourcase, a child — can changetheir life forever.Atlanta has been listed by the FBI as one of 14cities where domestic minor sex trafficking is a majorproblem. I love this city, and this is not the way Iwant it to be recognized. The good news is that weare also beginning to be recognized at a nationallevel for the work we are doing to combat traffickingthrough successful collaboration. I am going to talkspecifically about collaboration around advocacy.Street Grace’s mission is to lead people, organizations,and leaders on a comprehensive path towardending domestic minor sex trafficking. It beginswith awareness. If you don’t know that something ishappening, then there is nothing you can do about it.The awareness that has been raised at this forum hasbeen phenomenal. If we don’t give you any way toCheryl Deluca-Johnson presents the collaborativestrategies Street Grace has employed to combat domesticminor sex trafficking in Georgia.76 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenis legislation: the way that laws can be changedin support of the outcomes we want. But we haveto begin with the community, and that wouldtake collaboration.Collaboration is always challenging. We understandthat there are competition and politics amongfaith-based organizations, and we said that we wouldnot become involved in that. There is a range thatincludes small and large churches — and the issuesimportant to their congregations differ. So we createda form where all of them would have a voice, to makesure that the language we used would not dishonorany church that wanted to join with us.When we had research that showed that thesolicitations to buy minor children for sex camefrom affluent suburbs, we found more interestand participation from those churches. We didn’tblame anybody. We just said, “Look. This is what’shappening.” When we first started talking to churchesin affluent neighborhoods, they would tell us, “Thatis not our problem, that doesn’t happen here.” Beingable to demonstrate that the problem is real and inour midst was important.With those lessons in mind, we started to collaboratewith other groups; first with religious institutions.We found that being narrowly focused was the key.There are many issues that divide us. We decided tounite around this issue, because our common doctrinesays that we are to serve the least among us. To me,this means that rescuing the children who are traffickedfor sex is something we can do together. Wedecided not to discuss doctrines other than how wecould overlap on this one issue.We then went to our peer organizations (forexample, the Atlanta Dream Center) and othersthat had a similar mission. We build collaborationby looking at how we overlap; not at our differences.We need people to serve directly: We always need toserve the victims, as some groups do. But if we onlydo that and never go after the buyers, then this willnever end. I am a big believer in rescuing victims. Iam the mother of six children, including four adoptedchildren and two out of foster care. I believe inrescue. But we need work at all levels, and we need tofocus on prevention.One of our major initiatives is changing the law.As a faith-based organization, we decided to partnerwith government and legislative entities. This did notstart as well as I would have liked. When I first askedlegislators about four years ago if they knew thatGeorgia had been identified by the FBI as a majorhub of domestic minor sex trafficking, they said,“No, but we have other things on our agenda.” So Idecided that I would just keep showing up. The firstyear, 50 people came to lobby; then 150. This pastyear, we brought 765 citizens to the Capitol to talkabout this issue. Finally, this effort has paid off.When we had research thatshowed that the solicitations tobuy minor children for sex camefrom affluent suburbs, we foundmore interest and participationfrom those churches. We didn’tblame anybody. We just said,“Look. This is what’s happening.”In 2000, the penalty in the state of Georgia forsomeone who sold a 12-year-old child was $50 and amisdemeanor. We thought it sensible to change thislaw so that anyone under the age of 18 — generallyconsidered a child in the United States — would beconsidered a victim if they were trafficked in sex.We thought that would be a simple law to pass. Mylogic was that the frontal lobe doesn’t develop theexecutive skills to make decisions until 20 years old;our law reflects that understanding. A 16-year-old inthe state of Georgia cannot consent to sex: Legally,they are not allowed to have sex. The law also statesthat they cannot legally enter into financial contractsuntil age 18. Yet we were putting 12-, 13-, and14-year-olds in juvenile prison for prostitution.When I testified before the legislative committee, IThe Carter Center 77

Mobilizing Faith for Womenlaid out that reasoning and got this question: “You’retelling me that there is not a single child who is doingthis to get an iPad, get their nails done, get their hairdone?” I said, “That is not what is going on; nobodywould choose this.” They said, “You’re telling methat no child has made this choice?” I said: “Yes, theyhave made a choice. And it is like us standing onthe sidewalk watching someone jump from the sixthfloor of a building. We look at them and think thatthis is a dangerous choice — this is going to hurt andprobably kill them. What we don’t know — that theperson jumping knows — is that the building is on fireand they are making the choice that they think willcause the least harm in their lives. As a society, wehave allowed that building to burn.”In 2011, we passed a new law that changed thepenalty to life in prison and a $100,000 fine foranybody who trafficks a child. This is the result ofcollaboration between faith-based and communityorganizations and government officials. We alsopartner with the Georgia Department of Educationto educate all the teachers in Georgia on this issue.Our men’s group has also partnered with the attorneygeneral to put out public service announcementsabout this issue. This is collaboration.78 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenPastor Paul Palmer, Atlanta Dream CenterI moved to Atlanta from a different country:California. I grew up in good home, became a hippie,and came to Christ during the Jesus movement in the’70s. My life has been forever changed. I am an advocatenot only for women and boys in sex trafficking,but for anybody on whom the world seems to haveturned a blind eye.We go with roses andhandwritten cards: We lookfor some prophetic word togive them about how beautifulthey are, how their dreamsof childhood are just out ofreach, and how we want to helpthem reach those dreams.That’s what drives me to love the unlovely: those wedrive past and ignore, those we’re afraid of becausewe don’t understand their plight. We go home andpray that somebody will make a difference in theirlives. Well, I thank you for praying, because you havecaused me to strive to help those.With our Princess Night ministry, we go outcertain nights every week, and we do this consistently.Our goal is to be there whenever we areneeded. We go with roses and handwritten cards:Tom EnglandToday, I want to speak on the subject of the sextrade. The Atlanta Dream Center, which we began10 years ago, has seven umbrellas for those in need,and one is for those in sex trafficking. This programis titled Out of Darkness and has three buckets. Thefirst is the outreach aspect, which we call PrincessNight. We go to local areas and make friends withthose who are being sold on the street. It is somewhatrisky in the minds of the world, but once you’re thereit is a free opportunity to reach into a world thatseems to be destitute — a world where they can’ttrust men or women — and we come in with a simplegesture of love. I would like to state this as a scriptureif I may: The Bible says, “They will know you by yourlove for one another.” That isn’t referring to us justloving one another in the faith world but to lovingthe unlovely. If you have ever been unlovely andsomeone has loved you, it captures your attention.It will arrest you, and that’s what happened to me.Pastor Paul Palmer argues it is a duty of religious leadersto step into uncomfortable situations to address the plightof humanity, as he outlines the work of the Atlanta DreamCenter to combat sex trafficking.The Carter Center 79

Mobilizing Faith for WomenWe look for some prophetic word to give them abouthow beautiful they are, how their dreams of childhoodare just out of reach, and how we want to helpthem reach those dreams. Only women get out ofour vehicle; the men stay in the car for support. Ifthe “boyfriend” — the pimp in this society is calleda boyfriend — is close by, we will not engage thewoman. We know that she would be hurt, possiblybeaten, for wasting time with us. Once we see thatshe is free and alone, we engage her with a rose andtell her that she is beautiful and that we have a giftfor her. If she responds, we take time to pray with herand ask about her dreams and desires.We have a 24-hour hotline. We have 12 phoneswith that number, and whoever answers the phoneis obligated to rescue that girl within a 90-minuteperiod. Sometimes it is hard for the women to getaway from their boyfriends, so we try to get there inthat window.Atlanta is the number-onecity in the world for the sextrafficking of children. Onemajor reason is our massiveairport: easy transportation inand out. In a day’s time, you cantravel just about anywhere.Once a woman calls, that brings us to the nextbucket of our organization, Out of Darkness. Outof Darkness is our rescue organization. They wouldrescue that girl. We send one man and one woman,never a man alone as there is a fear of men in thistrade. We always send a woman to comfort, andshe does the speaking. They take them for a meal,sometimes they go shopping if they need appropriateclothing, and they take them to Solomon House.Solomon House is a transitional home where traffickingvictims are taken for 14 to 21 days. There wetake care of all their legal problems. We have a lawfirm on staff that will go to court for them and releasethem from any warrants as they go through ourprograms. Once we take them into our safe house, wegreet them with a life partner or mentor. Partners areusually couples, because we want to show them thatall men are not bad; that some men actually have aheart for women in a pure way, desiring nothing fromthem except their best interests. They become lifepartners, meeting weekly or every 10 days. They takethem out to get their hair and nails done and buythem clothing or maybe a special meal. This is carriedout through a yearlong program that traffickingvictims enter into after their time at Solomon Houseis over.This is where we are today with human traffickingin Atlanta: Atlanta is the number-one city in theworld for the sex trafficking of children. One majorreason is our massive airport: easy transportation inand out. In a day’s time, you can travel just aboutanywhere. You can find the statistics just aboutanywhere (they differ depending on who is doingthem), but even if there were just one person, thisministry would not close its doors until we took careof that one.In Matthew 25, Jesus said, “When I was hungryyou fed me, and when I was naked you clothed me,”and they asked, “Jesus, when did we see you naked orhungry,” and he responded, “When you have donethis unto the least of these, you have done it to me.”I am grateful for group efforts, to the majority of youwho are working to change the law. We need that;we need the laws changed. I am thankful for thosewho are setting up safe houses and the like. But asin times of war, there are victims who are screamingwhile we sit around the table conducting peace talks,and they are screaming for somebody to help. Duringtimes of disaster, we have committees come togetherwhile there are people who are starving and woundedand bleeding. I want to encourage you, not only as agroup but as individuals, to fight this plight againsthumanity. You are capable. You may not go into the’hood or on the streets where these women are beingexploited, but you can be a voice. You don’t have80 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womento wait for a council to end or to have a committeewith something drafted to present to your legislaturesor your state or religious leaders. I believe it is a dutyof all of us as Christian leaders to suffer the consequences,to step into uncomfortable situations. AsSister Simone Campbell said when we were talkingabout personal endangerment as the result of ourwork: Some things and some people are worth dyingfor, and to risk your life and step into danger becauseyou have a cause and a call from God and a duty tolove others — so be it.The Carter Center 81

Mobilizing Faith for WomenI want to share how our public actions have createdinternal tension. My organization, NETWORK, wasfounded 41 years ago in Washington, D.C., by 47Catholic sisters who responded to a letter from ourbishop. It said we should change from doing charityonly; that we must do justice and work for systemicchange. So we started working to change the lawsthat cause suffering among our people.I have been the leader of NETWORK since 2004.Our first encounter of being publicly challenged byour Roman Catholic Church leadership was in 2010.There was an effort to change the health care systemin the United States so that more people could haveaccess to affordable care. Currently, we have over 52million people who do not have health care; it is ascandal, it is immoral, it is wrong. This fight was apolitical battle, but in the end this bill is being passedand our Catholic Health Association came out infavor of it. I was helping them by writing a letter insupport of the bill; we circulated the letter to askCatholic sisters and congregation leaders to sign it.Sister Simone Campbell, NETWORKUnfortunately, we only had 48 hours to do this. Wegot 58 signatures; I was deeply humbled and honoredby this. What you need to know is what happenedwhen our letter was ready to be published: Our U.S.Conference of Catholic Bishops came out opposingthe bill. I was told by a lot of media that it was thefirst public divergence within the Catholic Churchon such political issues. But we won: We got thebill passed.For me, the problem with the Catholic bishopsis that their staff has become ideologically identifiedwith the so-called pro-life movement in ourcountry — which is actually more like pro-birth thanpro-life. They said that the bill would allow federalfunding to pay for abortion, which was differentTom EnglandFor me, the problem with theCatholic bishops is that theirstaff has become ideologicallyidentified with the so-calledpro-life movement in ourcountry — which is actually morelike pro-birth than pro-life.What you may not know is that Catholic sistershelped create the U.S. health system in the firstplace — ironically, the system is now controlledby men, since they found out there is money init — so Catholic sisters have authority in the issueof U.S. health care reform. I thought we could gopublic, using the media, if we had 20 signatures.Sister Simone Campbell discusses the role of politics inreligion and the desire for a clear faith voice she foundwhile touring the United States with Nuns on the Bus.82 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenfrom my reading of the bill. Nobody agreed with thebishops’ reading of the bill. It was straight politics.This example ties in with Mona Rishmawi’s remarksthis morning that the real fight is about culture andnot faith. Culture is a struggle between monarchy anddemocracy. As a person of faith in our democraticculture, I expect to use my voice and to be requiredto use my voice, and our text mandates that I use myvoice. You do not bury your gifts; you use them.In 2012, the Vatican, which was not happy withour diversity of thought, issued a censure of theLeadership Conference of Women Religious, theorganization of the leaders of most Catholic sisters inthe United States who had signed our letter. Theynamed our organization as a problem. They said thatwe were promoting “radical feminist themes” andthat we worked too much for people and poverty.What an honor. First, it was shocking, but I knewthat because NETWORK is not directly connectedto the Vatican, I could be public. My sisters at theLeadership Conference of Women Religious had todo difficult work with the leaders of our faith, so Iworked publicly and tried to give them the space todo that hard work.I needed help, which came to me in prayer, todeal with this notoriety. I realized this moment was aresource for our mission; media is the resource for ourmission. My organization was too small, so I invitedmy colleagues to help. As a result, in March 2012 wewent on a Nuns on the Bus trip across the country.We traveled to speak against the Republicans’proposal and to lift up our sisters whose amazing workwould be decimated by it. The important thing wasthat our bishop had sent a letter saying that PaulRyan’s budget failed the basic moral task, so when wewere on the road in public, we were standing withour bishop. By using that moment, we were standingwhere people were and moving forward the mission asfar as we could.This year, we were on bus tour for three weeks forimmigration reform — 6,800 miles and 58 events inthree weeks. It was speaking out for a comprehensivecommon sense, compassionate immigration reform.Yesterday, we celebrated that the bill got out of theSenate with 68 votes, which was huge. Our work inimmigration reform helped. Day before yesterday, webrought over 10,000 cards we collected during ourtrip to senators, demanding that they vote for it.I found that there are people in our country sohungry for a clear faith voice, hungry not for punishment,but for coming together, for community. Peoplefrom many other countries speak so wonderfully aboutcommunity: My country has lost that sense, and thishelps me to figure out ways to recover it.I found my society is controlled by fear: fear of theother, fear of attack — but all faiths tell us to fear not.For me, Nuns on the Bus is a tremendous gift: to beable to say, “fear not,” to stand up for truth, to be whowe are, and also to travel the country and have a goodtime, because there is a piece of joy. Joy is releasedwhen we touch the pain of our time. Nuns on theBus is like manna, food for hungry people who werewandering in the wilderness of the unknown, whodidn’t know where they were going, who were veryfrightened, but can be fed. Being fed with manna,they are nourished. The good news is that whenthe manna is no longer necessary, it will be gone.So at this moment we try to lift up and feed hungrypeople; within that, we stay faithful. Surprising thingshave happened to women’s leadership within myfaith tradition.What has made me unafraid is that my hearthas been broken for people who have experiencedinjustice. And when my heart is broken, what is fearto me? Because it is all about mission: Living for mein the Christian context is living out the Gospel.Jesus was all about going to places where people acheand hurt, so how can I not? Too often we focus onthe fear and less on the need. After meeting manypeople as I toured on the bus, I cannot be silent. Eventhough it is scary, faith is always about walking, willingly,into trouble.The Carter Center 83

Mobilizing Faith for WomenRemarks of His Eminence Sheikh Dr. Osman Nuhu Sharubutu,National Chief Imam and Grand Mufti of the Republic of Ghana(Presented by Letter)In the name of God the Merciful the Compassionate.Praise be to Allah for His guidance. Peace and blessingsbe upon the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad, hisfamily and his companions, and followers, until theDay of Judgment.His Excellency President Jimmy Carter, representativesof His Eminence Sheikh Al-Azhar, esteemeddelegates, brothers, sisters, and colleagues: I send youall the greeting of Islam: May peace and God’s mercyand blessings be upon you. It is with great delight andpleasure to be represented at this forum organized byThe Carter Center.A clear boundary must beplaced between the Islamictraditions and provisions and thecustoms and cultural traditionsof some communities thathave no foundation in Islam.This forum is a unique opportunity to discuss thefamily and the role of men and women in society.I am confident that the participating scholars willdiscuss the subject in an appropriate way, seizing thisgolden opportunity to correct misperceptions aboutthe Islamic principles as they relate to the place ofwomen in Islam and their rights and duties.A clear boundary must be placed between theIslamic traditions and provisions and the customs andcultural traditions of some communities that haveno foundation in Islam. For example, I would liketo emphasize that Islam never condoned the idea ofharming a woman, whether a mother, a daughter, ora wife. Immorality, criminality, and corruption havebecome accepted ways of life in African society and84 The Carter Centerelsewhere, with women as the primary victims. Thisstate of affairs demands a call for the eradication ofsuch attitudes and practices that continue to underminea just and righteous society.Dear brothers and sisters, there should be no needto explain the treatment of women and their legalstatus: If compared throughout the successive ages,the wisdom of Islamic teachings with regard to therights and duties of women is clear. The ProphetMuhammad (peace be upon him) was the ideal andbest example in this regard, as in all else, as werehis wives (peace be upon them) who served as rolemodels for other women. Islam recognized the fullhumanity and dignity of women, as they honor thewhole human race.Women are the children of Adam and Eve. Godsays: “O humankind! We have created you from amale and a female” (Qur’an 49:13). God states in HisQur’an: “Indeed, We have honored the children ofAdam” (17:70) and made woman a partner to man inthis humanity, implying equal and reciprocal rightsand obligations while taking in account their differentbiological and physical capacities. In the Hadithnarrated by Ahmed, Abi Dawud, and Alturmithi, itstates: “Women are the equal partners of men.” Islamforbids ridiculing women, as God says: “O ye whobelieve! Let not one people deride another people,who may be better than they, nor let women derideother women, who may be better than they” (Qur’an49:11). If contempt between women is forbidden,then contempt of a man to a woman is rather morestrongly forbidden.God made women worthy of worship, the acceptanceof obligations, and closeness to God. Goddirected the divine message to women as it wasdirected to men. For their obedience, God grants areward that will not be denied, just as men will notbe denied reward for their obedience; obedience isnot a virtue in women alone. Furthermore, God madepeople of each gender fully responsible for their own

Mobilizing Faith for WomenThe first person on earthto believe in the ProphetMuhammad (peace be upon him)was Khadija (God bless her).work, emphasizing woman’s personality and a respectfor her unique existence. God says, “I will allow notthe work of any worker from among you, whethermale or female, to be lost. You are from one another”(Qur’an 3:195).Your Eminences, all Muslims recognize that thisprinciple was first present in God’s will before it wasrevealed in God’s message, for the first person onearth to believe in the Prophet Muhammad (peace beupon him) was Khadija (God bless her). In addition,as the Holy Qur’an was assembled in one book, thesacred text was guarded by a woman, Hafsah, motherof the faithful (God bless her). With many honorsbestowed and earned by them, Muslim women livedrespected and proud among women of other communitieswho did not believe in Islam. In Islamic law,it is stated that women should have the right to fullyown property and to personally administer their propertyas they wish, without consultation by anyone,whether a husband, father, or any other designatedguardian. While it is commanded in Islam to providewomen a dowry upon marriage, it is considered awoman’s whole and own property, and it is prohibitedfor a husband or a guardian to take anything fromit without her consent. In choosing a husband, awoman’s opinion and consent must be taken beforethe marriage. Muslim from Abu-Huraira narrates thatthe Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “A previouslymarried woman must not be given in marriage untilshe is consulted, and a virgin must not be given inmarriage until her permission is granted.” When thepeople asked, “How will she express her permission?”The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “By keepingsilent (when asked her consent).” Thus, if a womanor girl objects to a marriage, it is not allowed togo forth.In pre-Islamic Arab society, it is known thatwomen were not given any inheritance. Islamprotected for women their share of inheritance; asGod says, “There is a share for men and a share forwomen from what is left by parents and those nearestrelated, whether the property be small or large — alegal share” (Qur’an 4:7).The context of the revelation of the inheritanceverse, as narrated by Alturmithi, Abi Dawud, IbnMaja, and Al-Daraqutni from Jaber Bin Abdullah,is that the wife of Saad Bin Rabi said, “Messenger ofGod, Saad died and left two daughters and a brother;his brother took all of what Saad left. They (thedaughters) will not marry without money.” He (theProphet) did not answer her that session. So shereturned and said, “Saad’s daughters?” The Messengerof God (peace be upon him) said, “Send for hisbrother,” so he came. He (the Prophet) said to him,“Give his daughters two-thirds and his wife an eighth,and what remains is yours.”Your Excellencies, before concluding I want tothank His Eminence Sheikh of Al-Azhar and thehonorable scholars for their contribution to the world,and Africa in particular, through sending scholars,imams, and doctors and offering scholarships andother programs that the children of this continentneed. I also want to thank The Carter Center forinviting us to participate in this conference. I hopeit will be repeated. May peace and God’s mercy andblessings be upon you all.The Carter Center 85

Working Groups ReportSacred Texts and Women’sRights: Women’s Struggles inReligion for Self-Affirmation,Recognition, and DignityPresented by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza,Laurie Zoloth, and Ziba Mir-HosseiniReligious leaders, scholars, activists, and expertsparticipated in four working groups divided into fourtopic areas: physical integrity (including violenceand harmful practices), family law, access to educationand economic participation (including humanInterpreting texts, writtenor oral, in such a way as toenhance the rights of womenis simply critical for securingthe rights of women.trafficking), and public and political participation(including religious and political leadership).Working group moderators were Ziba Mir-Hosseini,Andrea White, Sita Ranchod-Nilsson, and RituSharma, respectively.Facilitator Seana Steffen set up processes thathelped the working groups accomplish a range ofoutcomes — from reflection into the impact of scripturalinterpretation on the rights of women to explorationof strategies effective in making fundamentalshifts toward greater respect for human rights, casestudies, and ideas for future work and collaborativeapproaches. Alison Boden worked closely with eachof the four moderators to capture the results of thesediscussions. All participants agreed that more timeshould be allotted to these discussions and that onlythe surface has been scratched. Therefore, continued86 The Carter Centercollaboration and a widening of the conversation aremain recommendations that emerged from the forumas a whole.Text StudySacred and normative texts have tremendousauthority, legitimacy, and power to establish normsfor communities and families. Interpreting texts,written or oral, in such a way as to enhance the rightsof women is simply critical for securing the rightsof women.Some texts are problematic in the ways theyare interpreted to ensure women’s rights. They areinterpreted in ways that subordinate and disempowerwomen or deny them the enjoyment of specific,particular human rights. For example, Ephesians5:22 ff. says, “Wives, submit yourselves to your ownhusbands as you do to the Lord …”Other texts are wonderfully supportive, promotingthe idea of women’s value and worth, human equality,and their natural entitlement to every human rightthat has been articulated by the global community.For example, Qur’an 49:11–12 says, “O you who havebelieved, let not a people ridicule [another] people;perhaps they may be better than them; nor let womenridicule [other] women; perhaps they may be betterthan them.”Some texts can be interpreted either way. Thesame text can be interpreted as meaning that womenare secondary in value and rights, or it can beinterpreted as supporting full equality of worth andrights. For example: Genesis 3, in which the serpentconvinces Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledgeof good and evil. Was Eve a sinner and a fool andshould womankind be subjugated because of her, orwas she the most intelligent member of the wholenew order of creation?The groups looked at what words of the textssaid on their surface, on what the texts might say

Mobilizing Faith for Womenunder the surface, on what the text does not say.Some Muslim women scholars (for example, AsmaBarlas) like to say, “The text does not deny,” meaningthat what the text does not say is unacceptable forwomen leaves everything else quite acceptable forwomen — and that’s a lot!Some participants noted that while words like“equality” don’t show up in sacred or normativetexts (they weren’t concepts that existed in ancientsocieties in the way they are used today), this doesn’tmean the modern notion of equality isn’t supportedby the text.We must start with the guidingprinciples of a religious orspiritual tradition and thenestablish how certain textualinterpretations or practicessubvert them. Religions do notendorse violence, for instance,so we need to point out whenviolence is actually done in thename of being faithful to a text.In some cultures, rights-denying interpretationscome about because of an incorrect projection ofcurrent word-usage. For instance, some KenyanChristian communities practice female genital cuttingbecause the New Testament says that Mary was avirgin. They believe that virginity is secured throughgenital cutting, and since the Bible says Mary was avirgin, clearly Mary had undergone cutting. If Mary,the mother of Jesus was cut, their daughters certainlyare going to be as well. There is no biblical scholar,historian, or anthropologist who would say thatwomen in ancient Semitic society underwent genitalcutting. Male circumcision was critical; there wasno female equivalent. Kenyan Christians are tryingto educate pastors and families as to the differentuses and meanings of the simple word “virgin”and that there is no biblical mandate for femalegenital cutting.The groups looked at what the texts might meanmore broadly — what different contexts they couldapply to. The groups also considered the social andhistorical contexts in which the texts were firstrecorded, what the purpose of the teaching was atthat time, and what the purpose might be now, in avery different era of human history.Some of the groups noted that an asymmetry ofpower is already noted in the text, with an implicitor explicit summons to the reader to redress that, topromote justice. Participants highlighted mandates inthe sacred texts to protect the vulnerable in any situation;to identify with the oppressed; and to “maintain”the rights of the poor and oppressed, suggestingthat they have those rights (already) inherently.The groups discussed the need and the responsibilityto challenge misunderstandings that havebecome norms and to highlight liberating andempowering interpretations.Frequent observations that can be found across theselected texts:• Women being ordained to pursue knowledge,develop intellect and inquiry, and question• Women questioning, even in the face of authority,just as men question• Equality before the law• Equality before God; therefore, equality with men• Women’s faith mandate to pursue knowledge,pursue what is the truthStrategies•There is an overarching need to decouple harmfulpractices from sacred texts and teachings. Thisdecoupling can be called “values deliberation.” Wemust start with the guiding principles of a religiousor spiritual tradition and then establish how certainThe Carter Center 87

Mobilizing Faith for Womentextual interpretations or practices subvert them.Religions do not endorse violence, for instance, sowe need to point out when violence is actually donein the name of being faithful to a text.•The effectiveness of humility and nonconfrontationalcommunication was highlighted, in additionto discussions about “interruptive” voices ofwomen, which some might view as confrontational.Both approaches are necessary, depending onthe circumstances.•Also discussed was the necessity of using languagethat is accessible and acceptable to those whoseminds one wants to change (e.g., sometimes saying“mother, sister, daughter” instead of “women”).Some urged refraining from using the word “feminist”if it will be heard in a negative light. Theconcept here is that it is important to build relationships,whereupon trust can lead to expandingunderstanding and, eventually, to expanding andinclusive language.•The groups discussed the importance of relying ona person or institution with the religious authorityand the community respect to affirm that a harmfulpractice or interpretation is not consistent withthe religion’s history, ethics, or texts. The examplewas given of an imam from Senegal traveling to AlAzhar in Egypt to hear from religious authoritiesthere that female genital cutting is not an Islamicpractice but rather a cultural one. This approach canprevent naysayers from holding out.•It is important to use existing networks for sharinginformation and changing habits. Everyone hasnetworks, even the village beggars.•Changes in interpretation need to begin withincommunities, not from without. Finding (or creatingand/or training) allies within communities is anecessary first step for those who wish to see changesto interpretations and the resulting enhancement ofwomen’s rights.•Community, community, community. Successfulwork for changed interpretations and practices needsto acknowledge and use the fact that many peoplesimply don’t act in isolation but in relationshipto family members, civic community, and ethniccommunity, not to mention religious community.•It is critical to identify the “prompt,” as one groupcalled it — the deeply held need or ethical convictionin a local person that will summon them toaction. Organizers might call it their “self-interest.”What will make a person become involved inchange, in reinterpretation? Sometimes it is theirown bodily integrity; sometimes it is that of thosethey love most; sometimes it is the simple desire tolive as faithfully as possible, living in accordancewith the religion’s accurate intentions and meaningsand a desire to live in greater accordance with theirreligion’s ethical mandates.It is important to distinguishbetween using religion andengaging religion. The use ofreligion manipulates it to fit adesired end. Engagement withit, and with other practitionersor leaders, opens the way todialogue and transformation.•There is a need to get people to rethink things thatthey have always assumed are natural and inevitablebecause they are all they have ever known(e.g., pain and suffering for women in childbirthor intimate relations). We all defend what weknow to be natural and inevitable (in this case,genital cutting) without learning what is behindit that is constructed and responsible and what ishuman agency.•Stories and narratives about real people are themost powerful tool. Human interest and compassionrespond to the joys, sufferings, and real experiences88 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenof real people. Stories create empathy and canbegin the process of breaking the silences on taboosubjects.•It is important to distinguish between using religionand engaging religion. The use of religion manipulatesit to fit a desired end. Engagement with it, andwith other practitioners or leaders, opens the way todialogue and transformation.Case Studies• One participant from the Democratic Republicof the Congo shared her experience organizingtraining sessions for clergy and for women on theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights and linkingthe language of the UDHR to scripture.• A number of participants spoke about bringingwomen together across religious lines to talk aboutshared experiences, such as sexual violence.• One participant went to the compound of theTaliban in her area and used Qur’anic verses andarguments to negotiate the release of two youngwomen who had been taken by the group, tellingthem they should do no harm to people who wereworking for the betterment of humanity. Herorganization now has the support of the Taliban fortheir work.• One participant arranged to meet with the mullahswho were criticizing her publicly for statements shemade on a radio program about the lack of Qur’anicreferences to stoning. She chose to act in the mostreligiously and culturally expected way, decliningto sit in an available chair but rather sitting on thefloor and using the language of deferential respectto their authority. She earned the result she hopedfor: They ended their opposition to her religiousinterpretation of the Qur’an’s absence of support forstoning.• Other participants and their organizations usethe public space of letters to the editor in variouspublications and other public relations strategies todo critical education of female and male readers onissues related to women’s rights. Again, differentstrategies for different contexts.Opportunities for WorkingForward and Working TogetherIdeas for Curriculum Development• Train seminary/religious schools on how to preachand deal with difficult texts and how to understandand address patriarchy• Develop high school curricula on textual interpretationand women’s rights• Introduce a women’s rights curriculum into existingeducational institutions and projects• Teach Arabic to boys and girls in schools (inMuslim countries where the national language isnot Arabic) so they can read texts for themselves• Change the policies by which academic credit isawarded so that practical experience in workingfor women’s rights is included (a more praxislikemodel)• Offer online courses on women’s rights and religiouspractice• Provide anti-violence training for those preparingfor ordinationPublishing• Create an information clearinghouse on who isdoing this work — the various nongovernmentalorganizations, religious communities, etc., forinformation-sharing and collaborations• Publish, in any format, helpful sermons onwomen’s rights• Publish on the development of masculinities inboys and men• Encourage people who have access to the technologyto publish their stories on the Web relatedto religious membership and women’s rights• Publish the Islamic Declaration on Women’sRights, with translations into multiple languagesThe Carter Center 89

Mobilizing Faith for Women• Create a book of best practices• Provide collections of stories of courage in advocacyfor women’s rights in religious communities• Publish a gender-sensitive edition of the Qur’anand other religious texts that have not already beenreimagined in this light• Distribute movies and videos that can tell storiesmost effectively and convey information to thosewho can’t read• Publish training manuals• Publish translated advocacy tools from the UnitedNations into the concepts and theologies of religiouscommunities• Publish documents that come out of this conferenceConvening• Bring together area clergy for training on women’srights and textual interpretations• Plan meetings that permit scholars and activiststo work together in a nonconfrontational setting,teaching them how to partner on women’s rights• Request that The Carter Center and the AmericanAcademy of Religion convene an annual gatheringof scholars interested in these issues• Convene experts on how advances in science canimprove advocacy for women• Bring together both secular and faith-based advocacyorganizations to increase the power of theirpartnerships• Convene people on mental health and women’srights in Iraq postwarAdvocacy• Request public declarations on women’s rights fromleading religious institutions (Al Azhar)• Have the international community hold othersaccountable for the agreements to which they willinglyhave become a party (e.g., the Tokyo MutualAccountability Framework)• Advocate for admitting more women into institutionsof formal religious education• Cultivate partnerships with village leaders• Translate disadvantage into opportunity, as oneparticipant said. Know more about how our advocacyfor and with others can teach them to turntheir disadvantage into opportunity or how those ofus not disadvantaged can be a support or advocatein that process• Use digital formats so that the tons of good workcan be more accessible• Integrate religious leaders into shadow-reporting tothe Committee on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination Against Women; request help withdata collection and dissemination to treaty bodiesin Geneva• Advocate to hold religious leaders and communitiesaccountable to the Women’s Convention and otherinstrumentsProgramming Collaborations• Mentor community-based collaboratives (i.e.,Tostan training center in Senegal)• Ask academic departments, activists, and faithbasedorganizations to partner to share wisdom andaction plans• Partner with the United Nations for religiousliteracy; provide instruction to U.N. staff so thatthey can better partner with faith-based organizationsand advocate for religious women’s rightsRecognition of Leadership• Put an intentional spotlight on women who liveauthentically, religiously, and empowered withall human rights as religious authorities in and ofthemselves; can be achieved through conveningwell-publicized gatherings and offering a platformfor women leaders• Give internationally recognized prizes to religiousleaders who do good work in this areaSome Next Steps• Write national action plans for training faith andcommunity leaders to combat violence against90 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenwomen, including measurable recommendationsand deadlines for action• Establish a collaborative process on human traffickingbased at The Carter Center, where variousstakeholders can gather and examine best practices• Ask the World Council of Churches and TheCarter Center to organize regional forums, suchas this forum, where discussions can be organizedacross sectors, cultures, and religious communities• Establish a working group for an internationalconference/workshop/seminar to bring togetherorganizations with Al Azhar, Musawah, etc. Couldpossibly be held at the Biblioteca Alexandrina inEgypt and could start a new conversation on anIslamic jurisprudence of human rights and translatethe idea of human dignity into legal norms and lawswithin an Islamic framework. Would also hope theconference could create a new curriculumThe Carter Center 91

Plenary PanelSacred Texts and Women’s Rights: Women’s Struggles inReligion for Self-Affirmation, Recognition, and DignityGood morning, it is a great honor to be here. I amgrateful to Karin Ryan of the Carter Center’s HumanRights Program for inviting me to this importantconference and for her and her associates’ workpreparing for it. I am especially appreciative that weheard the story of Tostan before we go to a differentstory, namely the story about a woman in theNew Testament.To approach our topic, sacred texts and women’srights, I want to share some reflections as to howscripture can be a life-giving word that sustains justicefor women and radical democratic equality ratherthan a monument of stone inculcating the inequalityof women and anti-democratic mindsets in thename of God. After only sketching these questionsin a short run-through, I want to focus attention ona story in the New Testament, in order to place abiblical story of a woman’s struggle for her rights inour midst and to see what texts do to such struggles.I will approach this question from a critical feministperspective.Feminism is the radical notionthat women are people.Since the “f-word” is still, or again in most ofthe world, a dirty word, I hasten to explain how Iunderstand it; I have a bumper sticker formulated byCheris Kramarae and Paula Treichler, which, tonguein cheek, states: “Feminism is the radical notionthat women are people.” This definition alludes tothe democratic assertion that women are people andinsists that women are fully entitled and responsiblecitizens in society and religion. At the same time,92 The Carter CenterProfessor Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenzathis bumper sticker definition ironically emphasizesthat at the beginning of the 21st century, feminismis not yet a common-sense notion: That women arepeople and fully entitled citizens is still a very debatedand controversial issue. In short, this bumper stickerdefinition of feminism as a radical notion that womenare people underscores that feminists’ struggles for fullcitizenship rights are ongoing and that we do not yetlive in a postfeminist world, as is often asserted. Thisbumper sticker assertion that women are people positionsfeminism within radical democratic movementsand discourses that argue for the rights of all thepeople who are women. According to this politicaldefinition of feminism, men can practice feminism,just as women can be anti-feminists. Thus, I don’tdefine feminism in terms of gender.This brings us to the problem of male-centeredlanguage in which the scriptures are written andtranslated. Christian scriptures are written in Hebrew,Greek, and Latin, which, like English, are also malecenteredlanguages. In such kyriocentric — lord orelite male-centered — languages, women are subsumedunder elite masculine-type language, such as “president,”“chairman,” and so on. In order to lift intoconsciousness the linguistic violence of such elitemasculine-type language, I use wo/man/she/femalewith a slash as inclusive and do not use “man” as it isusually done, in an inclusive way. I suggest wheneveryou hear me talk about wo/men, you understand it ina generic sense.English is a wonderful language: You can’t do itin German or in Spanish, but in English you can say“wo/men” includes “men,” “s/he” includes “he,” and“fe/male” includes “male.” To use “women” in sucha generic fashion as an inclusive term invites men inthe audience to participate in the commonplace experiencefor wo/men that demands that we must always

Mobilizing Faith for Womenthink twice, if not three times, to adjudicate whetherwe are meant by so-called generic terms — such ashumans, men, slaves, Americans, or brothers — thatare deeply inscribed in sacred scriptures. Sinceaccording to Ludwig Wittgenstein the limits of ourlanguage are the limits of our world, such a changeof language pattern, which sounds trivial, is a veryimportant step toward the realization of a new feministconsciousness when reading sacred scriptures andother religious or cultural texts.Moreover, reading the Bible for justice or women’srights, one cannot afford to engage in a purely apologeticor purely academic reading. Rather, by makingfeminist discourses on kyriarchal prejudice central tothe exploration of sacred texts, we are able to attendboth to the kyriarchal politics of otherness and subordinationinscribed in scriptures and to their visionsof justice and well-being. Throughout centuries, theBible has been used both as a weapon against and aresource for subjugated wo/men. The Bible has beeninvoked both for and against wo/men’s struggles foraccess to citizenship, public speaking, reproductiverights, theological education, or ordained ministry. Inthese often bitter debates and struggles, the opposingparties continue to cite religion not only for andagainst wo/men’s full participation in religious leadershipbut also for and against the full citizenship offree-born wo/men; the emancipation of enslaved wo/men; colonized wo/men; the equal rights of lesbian,gay, bisexual, and transgender people; or againsteconomic and reproductive rights of poor wo/men andtheir children.Consequently, no serious reform of society in theinterest of wo/men’s emancipation will be successful ifit does not seek also to advance the reform of religionand of sacred scriptures. Since all reforms are interdependent,one cannot change the law, education,or other cultural institutions without also attemptingto transform biblical religions. If one believes that wecan neglect the revision of biblical religion becausethere are more pressing political issues at stake, onedoes not recognize the impact of religion on societyand especially on the lives of wo/men who treasurescripture as a resource in their daily struggles. Insum, I argue here that it is necessary to contextualizethe analysis of sacred texts and women’s rights in acritical feminist inquiry that seeks to understand andtransform kyriarchal religious structures inscribed insacred texts. This not only perpetrates dehumanizingheterosexism and gender stereotypes but also otherforms of women’s oppression such as racism, poverty,religious exclusivism, ageism, or colonialism.No serious reform of societyin the interest of wo/men’s emancipation will besuccessful if it does not seekalso to advance the reformof religion and of sacredscriptures. Since all reforms areinterdependent, one cannotchange the law, education,or other cultural institutionswithout also attempting totransform biblical religions.In a second step, I will try to exemplify such a criticalfeminist interpretation and look at a biblical textwith you. As an example of a kyriocritical feministinterpretation, I want to focus attention on the storyof the Persistent Widow in Luke 18:1–8 as one of thefew stories of justice in the New Testament that canbe interpreted as an argument for wo/men’s rights.Scholars debate whether this story is a Lukan compositionalcreation or a Lukan redaction of an olderstory, which might go back to Jesus. The meaningof the story in the Gospel of Luke is quite clear: It isa story about the practice of persistent prayer. In itsLukan form, the judge becomes a God figure and theparable reasons “from the lesser” (the judge) to theThe Carter Center 93

Mobilizing Faith for Womengreater (God). If the judge reacts to the pestering ofthe widow, how much more will God respond to theprayers and outcries of God’s people?In Luke’s redaction, the story of the woman is usedto inculcate the admonition to prayer. It is very clearthat this Lukan text draws a problematic kyriarchalimage of God by likening God to the unjust judgewho only gives in because he is pestered. Scholarssense this problem when they try to explain whythe parable speaks in such a negative fashion aboutGod. Most importantly, when read in a situation ofviolence against women, the Lukan version does notempower women to resist such violence but encouragesus to pray harder so that a male God will cometo our rescue. It fosters a spirituality of quietismthat accepts violence and, in typical femininefashion, waits for the all-powerful man to come toone’s rescue.The plight and courage of thewoman fighting for her rightscome best to the fore in anintertextual reading of thestory. Like the social systemrepresented by the unjust judge,so also social systems of ourtime do not want to give justiceto battered, jobless, pregnant,or poor women but seek tovindicate their adversaries.The story has a contrary meaning, and functionsquite differently, if it is read against the grain ofthe Lukan meaning. If one pares away the Lukaninterpretation in verse one and verses six througheight, a different story emerges. In this story, thetwo characters, the judge and the widow, are drawnas opposites. The judge is clearly marked as unjust,because he is said to “neither fear God nor respectpeople.” The widow is defined not by her genderbut by her actions; she is characterized as tirelesslyinsisting on justice. “She kept coming to him, askingfor justice against her adversary.” Nothing is saidabout why she had to approach the judge over andover again, and no reasons are given as to why herefuses her demand. The story climaxes with the judgesaying to himself: “I will grant her justice, so that shemay not give me a black eye” — a literal translationthat also can be translated as “bruise,” “batter down,”or “wear me out” — by her nonstop coming. Thesoliloquy of the judge is a typical sentiment of thosewho act violently. The judge blames the woman for“battering” him, although she only seeks her rightsand vindication, whereas he acts violently by denyingjustice to her.Most scholars try to make sense out of the storyby reading it in kyriarchal gender terms: assumingthat the widow was poor, helpless, without any malesupport, and in danger of becoming destitute. Theclaim is that she only had two choices left: to stay inher former husband’s house and do menial work orto return to her father’s house. Moreover, they arguethat at the time women could not appear in courtby themselves: That the widow herself appears alonebefore the judge, therefore, means she has no maleguardian or relatives left. However, the text doesnot portray the widow either as poor or as lackingmale protection. She is characterized as independent,resourceful, and assertive. As Jewish feminist scholarssuch as Tal Ilan and Judith Romney Wegner havepointed out, although Jewish women’s participationin public life was heavily circumscribed, three typesof women — the emancipated daughter, the divorcee,or the normal widow — were considered to be legallyautonomous persons. In Judith Romney Wegner’swords, I quote, “No man has a legal claim on awoman’s sexuality. The system always treats her as aperson both in sex-related and other matters.”By arguing against the standard interpretation ofthe widow as poor and destitute, I do not want todeny that just as today, so also in the first century,94 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenmany widows lived in poverty and dire straits.Rather, I want to point to the pitfalls of this argument:Not all Jewish widows were poverty-strickenand needed male support, since widows could ownproperty, live independently, and inherit theirhusband’s estate if they were so designated in hiswill. The book of Judith portrays such a wealthy andindependent widow.To see the woman of the parable first of all as avictim of the social system overlooks that she acts asan assertive member of the community. Moreover,such a reading keeps women in violent home situationsfrom recognizing and identifying the powers andresources for resistance and survival still available tothem. The story works because of its stark oppositionand sparse characterization: It is a widow at the centerof the action. The widow is characterized as bold,assertive, and persistent; she has suffered injustice andwill not rest until she gets her rights. Justice must bedone. She won’t be silent and tolerate injustice. Sheis trying to ensure that justice prevails, but in herview, the cause of justice and her side of the case areidentical. If the judge supports her and favors her sidein the case, then justice will prevail. In contrast, thejudge, who as an official of the court should representjustice, is pictured as representing injustice. In theend, the judge gives the woman her due, not becausehe is convinced of her rights but because he wantsto get rid of her. He is a representative of a corruptjustice system that claims to defend rights and lawsbut in actuality undermines and perverts them.The plight and courage of the woman fighting forher rights come best to the fore in an inter-textualreading of the story. Like the social system representedby the unjust judge, so also social systemsof our time do not want to give justice to battered,jobless, pregnant, or poor women but seek to vindicatetheir adversaries. Just like the courageous andpersistent widow of the parable, wo/men who sufferfrom domestic violence and sex trafficking reach outagain and again for justice and help. Yet, whethertheir story will have a happy ending and they receivetheir rights depend also on our interpretation ofsacred texts and religious teachings. For instance, ifwe teach the Lukan redaction of this story, wo/menwill be exhorted to pray and internalize the image ofan unjust G*d. Consequently, they internalize theimage of an unjust G*d and will not have the courageto defend their rights but pray instead. The interpretationof sacred texts needs to enable women to standup against the powers of dehumanization and for theirrights and human dignity by demanding justice andwell-being. We need to do everything we can so thatthe powers of religion are no longer used to justifythe dehumanization of wo/men but inspire wo/men tostand up for their rights in religion and society.The Carter Center 95

Mobilizing Faith for WomenI want to thank the two previous speakers: Molly[Melching], for a stunning and beautiful example ofhow empowerment looks and works in the lives ofindividual women, and the great teacher of us all,Dr. Schüssler Fiorenza, for the way a beautiful textualexample can enliven us. I want to begin by speakingboth conversationally and academically. I want tomake four points and then talk about them in a morecareful way. The four points I want to make are these:First, although I’m a huge fan of human rights andam incredibly happy to have been invited to representmy university and the American Academy of Religionhere, I have a quarrel with the term “rights” becauseI believe that rights are not freestanding but arealways correlative and need to be seen in relationshipto correspondent and correlative duties. When wethink of rights — the right to life, the right to food,the right to health — we always have to think of ourobligation to feed, to plant, to heal, and to teach. Wehave duties that are correlative that enable the rights,and we need to speak of such duties, particularly inthe first world, where our duties are the very limits ofour freedomSecondly, I have a quarrel with the term “sustainability.”I know we are fond of the term “sustainability,”but I think it’s not nearly determinedenough. I want us to move from a world that is“sustained” — because it’s sustained in injustice,sustained in oppression, as it stands now — to a worldthat’s full and abundant, one of “hospitality.” Somoving from “sustainability language” to “hospitalitylanguage” is one of the tasks for the world as we facea crisis of enormous, unthinkable proportions, as ourclimate changes, and as scarcity deepens the povertyso long a part of our horizon We need somethingbetter than a sustained world: We need a worldin which the stranger is welcomed and where themarginalized and the lost become the honored guests.The third point I want to make is about thecentrality of interruption; the necessity to have aconversation and the necessity to interrupt eachother, which I hope will be the themes of this96 The Carter CenterDr. Laurie Zolothconference. The centrality of interruption — asopposed to the centrality of the trajectory of goingforward in speech — means we have to hear the voiceof the one who is outside the central discourse: Weneed to hear the voice of the excluded, of the onewho bears the narrative of difference, of the womenwhose voices need to crowd into our texts andour policies.Now to read the Hebrewscripture is to read the powerfulcall for justice. To accept theduties of the covenant means tounderstand that the text callsus toward an inescapable andfundamental responsibility forthe poor, the vulnerable, and themarginalized — too often women.Finally, I’d like to talk about the need for translationand for the generosity that translation implies.As an academic, I want to suggest that the way wehave taught at universities is incomplete, because wehaven’t taken seriously the need for total translationof scripture into activity, into action. It follows myinsistence on the necessity of going beyond a call forrights into a description of our duties. I want to beginwith a text, the haftorah for Yom Kippur. It is readat the end of the fast on the holiest day of the Jewishyear. The haftorah passage — the reading from theprophets that follows the reading from the Torah,the first five books of the Hebrew Bible — begins bysuggesting that all the fasting that the community hasdone until now has been wrong, because the fast isincomplete without the call for justice. So says Isaiah:

Mobilizing Faith for WomenNo, this is the fast I desire [not the one you’ve beendoing]: to unlock the fetters of wickedness, and untiethe cords of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free; tobreak off every yoke. It is to share your bread withthe hungry and to take the wretched poor into yourhome; when you see the naked, to clothe him, andnot to ignore your own kin. Then shall your lightburst through like the dawn and your healing springup quickly; your vindicator will march before you,and the presence of the Lord shall be your rear guard.Then, when you call, the Lord will answer and whenyou cry he will say: Hineni, here I am.Now to read the Hebrew scripture is to read thepowerful call for justice. To accept the duties ofthe covenant means to understand that the textcalls us toward an inescapable and fundamentalresponsibility for the poor, the vulnerable, and themarginalized — too often women. In this text, theusual call and response of the Hebrew Bible arereversed, because unlike the many stories when Godcalls and human beings then struggle to say, “HereI am, Hineni,” in the Isaiah text of the haftorah,God is present, Hineni, only after human beings actwith justice and compassion toward the vulnerable.Because I believe in human duties and the rightscorrelated with duties, I believe that scripture canallow us to understand that our duties and moralactions have to come first and that they are prior tothe building of a just world. Act first, act righteously,says scripture, for faith is the first act of ethics.How does this work for teachers? When one isteaching theology, one is teaching translation. Forwhen one engages the texts with our students, themoral gesture has already begun. Theology is anorality, an encounter interrupted by urgencies andwith arguments by friends. This argumentative qualityis largely not for its own sake but because of theessential quality of conversation itself. And becausethe premise to speak about God, in Jewish thought,is always to speak with God, Jewish theology is bothtalk “just between us,” and it is also talk of “justicebetween us,” because the deepest longing is to moveacross and between God and self and to include amove between the self to the other — as the actionof theo-politics. So the first act of theology is anethical one, because it is to speak and to yearn for alistener. Theology is always the act of both speakingout of, and speaking to, and speaking for scripture.Speaking — and thus transporting and taking the textto the other — saying, “See?” Theology is the act oftranslation, which is the act of perfect welcome to theother stranger: His text or mine, it is yours, I give itto you.I believe that scripture canallow us to understand thatour duties and moral actionshave to come first and thatthey are prior to the buildingof a just world. Act first, actrighteously, says scripture, forfaith is the first act of ethics.Speech about scriptural text is always moralactivity, an invitation into the tent of welcome;it’s always a generosity and a dispossession, a notpossession— the act of power in which one is alsoinvisible, in between, discerning and judging amongwords, names, and signs — which is, of course, the firsthuman activity, Adam’s act in Genesis, naming thethings of creation. In this way, theology also existsin open and empty spaces when something is neededand lacked. Furthermore, theology has a theo-politicaleconomy: It is a mediation, and it is a commandabout what it means to have, and then to give up,freely. It must involve discernment, judging, andjustice. To be “just between us”: Is the word reallya secret for us, kind of a possession? “Just betweenus,” roh hinenu, each of us in our own language, inour own inner worlds? Yet thinking of theology astranslation implies a generosity, a hospitality (evenperhaps an optimism), and a fundamental principleThe Carter Center 97

Mobilizing Faith for Womenof what it means to have a thing. Ought this not bethe case that theology is intrinsically and structurallyoptimistic? I’m going to suggest that theology is “justbetween us,” and try to present the fact that while allthese claims that theology must be just, and intimate,and other-regarding, it’s always a matter of a collective,of a community of meaning, which is in its verycore revelation a translation to a social whole. Thus,translation is this fundamental theme, and if that’sthe case, how we speak to each other is central.To understand this moment — toslow it and reflect on theencounter of ethics and on whatis occurring — means that eachseparate self can understandthat the plight of the other isonly a breath away from one’sown plight. That reversibilitymakes ethical encounterpossible and makes it decent.Another text: In the Hebrew scripture, the Torahis given to the Jews, who are assembled, several times.Sometimes they accept it and sometimes they rejectit. But the last time it’s given is in Deuteronomy,right before they go into the land. After it’s given, aseparate command is made: Take this text, take thisTorah, and build a big wall, a stone edifice, and writethe words of everything that I’ve said, says Moses inHebrew scripture, on these stones. And here is thetext: “After that they brought the stones, built analtar, and plastered it with plaster. And they inscribedthereon all the words of the Torah in 70 languages,”as it is said very plainly.Let’s spend some time on this text, for it gives sucha powerful and vivid image of a public theology. Lookat the work and the energy of the people: bringinghuge stones, maybe rolling them, lifting them, sothey are firmly placed one wide slab across the nextone; drawing the sand, the water; making plaster andtaking it to hand and smoothing to make a whiteblank face on which to write carefully each and allthe words of the Torah, in language after languageafter language 70 times. Does each one step up towhisper the translation to the scribe? The lettersare black against the white, very plain. Anyonecan see and read them, women and men, with ashock of familiarity. “There is my language up there,my words.” Surely the Torah is translated at thatmoment, and surely it’s intended to be so. Surely, the“as told to me and I tell it to you” quality of revelationis an act of translation. But let me note that thetranslation is always a choreographed event in timeand place. There are always at least three: the speechact of saying or text, then a person who transmitsthis or transforms it to another language, and thena receiver of the newly created chosen saying. Injustice theory, it’s that entrance of the third thatsets in motion the need for justice beyond charityor generosity. For the moral agent in question, youwho listen or who read are interrupted by the need tochoose: Which stranger takes precedence? How muchis given and why? Who is right and who is wrong intheir claim?The entrance of the third suggests a structure inwhich choice is required to restore and stabilize theworld. For it cannot be made stable merely by sacrificeor by conquest — not when there is the entrance,the interruption of the third. Thus, thinking of translationmeans we have arrived at the moral location ofjustice. Theological ethics and ethical theology notonly require interdisciplinary and interfaith considerations,but they are always interrupted — meaningthat when I speak of “otherness,” the herky-jerkyof translated speech, that is always interrupted toexplain to the other, for an ethical theology is aninterrupted discipline.I have argued this at the structure of applied ethicsin particular. We are always interrupted academics inthinking about theory, or structure, or authority by98 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenthe work. As we just saw, that is the whole point ofsuch thinking. Our thinking is stopped, and startedagain and again, as the cases and the people of thecases — the women we just saw — asked for our attentionand help and corrected us when we picked upour text, and they become part of our analysis. Incontemporary ethics, this is like the complex worldin which we see in the Torah and the Talmud, alwaysbeing interrupted by the need to adjudicate the case,as the one Elisabeth just showed us, which comes infrom the marketplace.Should we be teaching oneanother a basic concept:What does this text meanto you? It is about meaning,the deepest meaning thatis a thing worth teaching.I also want to make a profound claim about theact of love that teaching is, if it is truly teaching.We must love the stranger we teach. We see thisgesture as a moral gesture across defended terrain.In religions, the boundaries we struggle with arenot geographical. They’re temporal, linguistic, andcultural, and because of that, I think they may beeven more defended. In the world of teaching, thecomplex relationship between text, community, andpractical reason is at stake. How do we think abouthow to live a good life and then how do we do it?Thinking and arguing and argument are all thatacademics have in our moral community. We haveto think ourselves into the position of the other;that is the moment of ethics. To understand thismoment — to slow it and reflect on the encounter ofethics and on what is occurring — means that eachseparate self can understand that the plight of theother is only a breath away from one’s own plight.That reversibility makes ethical encounter possibleand makes it decent.All of us live in some kind of a hypertext modernityin which many intense, rapid, and powerfulpaths and languages emerge at once — in which thelanguage of theology, redemption, miracle, and resurrectionare taken from us and claimed by science,especially the biological sciences. I argue that argumentover the semiotics of scriptural texts, as wejust did, becomes the way that the rabbis allow us toreread them and thus to transmit the Torah. That isthe way that antiquity gets translated into modernity.In the academy, we are faced with a loss of ourpower. In fact, it sometimes seems to me that thetheological language is the only language that isleft against the power of the marketplace, whichhas taken up against all the other languages. Therehas been a sweeping victory for accountancy, theorganizing principle of the market. What appears tomatter most are units of things you can buy. Theyare measured by weight and size. We are asked in theuniversity to do outcome studies, in which studentsrate us by number. They rate their happiness withour class and the amount of pleasure they have fromhow a professor uses her audiovisual equipment. Wejudge one another by the amount of money we arepaid, which we are paid in recognition of the amountof money we bring to our universities with grants orfootball tickets. We are directed by excited facultiesof computer science to use the enormous arena ofthe Internet to create large classes, and we measurestudents in the tens of thousands. We can nowteach a whole crowd of people and never even seetheir faces.One can “have” students this way — having as inpossessing many great things — and one can produceknowledge this way, as in producing a great manyparts of a larger thing: the syllabus, the documents,the handouts. What seems to matter is the volumeof people who can be processed through a class. I’man American, and thus Jacksonian democracy doeshave its appeal. Yet we are called on to wonder whatit is to teach if you cannot see their faces, cannot beinterrupted by them, cannot sit with them. In the lastThe Carter Center 99

Mobilizing Faith for Women100 years, we’ve divided knowledge into parts or unitsand counted their worth, which is to say we haveused engineering as a way of understanding the worldand observational science as a way of knowing thereal as a series of organizations of the smallest part.But ought this to be the case for us now? Or shouldwe be asking a different question about wholeness,communities, and power? Should we be teaching oneanother a basic concept: What does this text mean toyou? It is about meaning, the deepest meaning that isa thing worth teaching.A final note about practice: In the last five years,along with working on teaching scripture, I’ve beenthinking about teaching in my modern Americanuniversity. At this very moment, I feel that teachinghumanities is at most risk, both about what we teachand how we teach. Therefore, I’ve been directinga program at my university that uses scripturalreasoning methods in an intensive yearlong seminaron ethics for students who apply for this undergraduateprogram. They study text and moral philosophytogether, and then they research their actual place, asmall city in midwestern America. They think abouthow the text suggests they might make it better, alittle bit better. It’s a simple question, they think. Intheir junior year, I make them go abroad, becausethey need to know that America’s big towers are notthe only way to build communities or to live on theearth. In their senior year they come back, and theysee whether text, theory, and energy are enough tomake the world a better place.This year, they planted a new fruit orchard in ourcity with and for the poorest ward of our city. Theyalso created a greenhouse on our campus, wherethe poor of our city can have a corner of the richuniversity land, so to speak, to grow a crop to sell.It is hard work, because the poor of the city are verybusy people, and they sometimes are discouragedand don’t respond to emails nearly fast enough formy students. And at every single possible turn, theowners of the land resist them. They fail, my students,and they try again. For if Jewish scripture teachesanything, it surely teaches how you get up after youhave fallen. The things they’ve built aren’t massive:a small greenhouse, a small orchard. It’s not online,it’s right there by the canal; 70 trees, one for eachlanguage. We translate text into this action. What Iam looking for, I tell them, is “e-learning”: enduring,emplaced. It’s the final act of translation of our text,I believe — Hebrew to English, the text into act, theTorah again into making the world.100 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenI always enjoying listening to theologians, but I am ananthropologist, and I am afraid that my presentationis going to be very down to earth. I would like to talkabout the politics of religion, gender, and state. I wantto make the claim that we are at the threshold of anew phase in these politics, both locally and globally.One of the important features of this new phase isthat it starts by unmasking the global and local powerrelations and the structures within with which womenhave to struggle for justice and equality.In the Muslim context, this struggle for equality isas much theological as it is political. It is hard, andsometimes futile, to decide where theology ends andpolitics start. It is really impossible for me to separatethem from one another. In the last two decades of the20th century, we saw a major confrontation betweenpolitical Islam, on the one hand, and feminism andhuman rights, on the other. Later I will define whatI mean by political Islam. This confrontation madeDr. Ziba Mir-HosseiniTom Englandvery clear and transparent the intimate link betweentheology and politics. The link has been inherentin the Muslim legal tradition, but not everybodyrecognized it. Now, though, it is exposed in front ofus, and many Muslim women feel it in their bones.As a result, we see the emergence of new voicesand new forms of activism that no longer shy awayfrom engagement with religion as well as activistMuslim women who are reclaiming their faith and arespeaking in the name of their religion. Musawah, theorganization that Zainah Anwar and I founded, is oneof those voices.We are at the threshold of anew phase in these politics,both locally and globally. Oneof the important features ofthis new phase is that it startsby unmasking the global andlocal power relations and thestructures within with whichwomen have to strugglefor justice and equality.Ziba Mir-Hosseini argues the importance of includingwomen scholars in debates about scriptural interpretation.Another important feature of the new phase, especiallywhen we look at Muslim legal tradition, is that,while at the beginning of the 20th century womenwere the passive subject of debates and law reforms,when we reached the end of the 20th century, theyhad actually become the actors and are involved inthe debates about legal change and law reforms.Let me start with what I see as two major turningpoints in the relations among religion, gender, andpolitics in recent years. One of these turning pointswas in 1979, the year when two critical eventsoccurred. First, the adoption of the ConventionThe Carter Center 101

Mobilizing Faith for Womenon the Elimination of All Forms of DiscriminationAgainst Women (CEDAW) put the issue of women’srights and gender equality at the heart of internationalhuman rights law. Even though the issue hadbeen there before, in the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights (1948) and in other conventions,CEDAW gave it a new international legal mandateand also helped to create a transnational feminism. Inthe Muslim context, in the 1980s we saw the emergenceof women’s nongovernmental organizations.Women had been active from the beginning of the20th century in organizations but not in nongovernmentalorganizations, not in getting funding fromoutside their own governments. We also see thetransplantation of new ideas and a global feminism aswell as the start of a new conversation.Political Islam came with theslogan of “return to Shari’ah,”but what we got, in practice,was a return to premodern,patriarchal, and tribalinterpretations of Islamic law.Also, political Islam gained its biggest success inthe form of the popular revolution in Iran in 1979.The 1979 revolution in Iran turned into a neardictatorship,not that different from the monarchyit replaced, but let’s not forget that it began full ofhope and promise; political Islam then was more orless unknown. What really made the Iranian revolutionwas not a demand for a return to the premoderninterpretations of Shari’ah but popular support forchange, for justice, for democracy: Different forcescame together to topple the shah’s regime, which hadthe full support of the United States.What we then witnessed in the 1980s was reallya confrontation between two “isms.” One is politicalIslamism. We know now after 34 years what it isabout, but in the 1980s it was still a promise — apromise of justice, a promise of democratization,and a promise of independence — and many womenjoined political Islam because religion is the essenceof justice for them. Political Islam came with theslogan of “return to Shari’ah,” but what we got, inpractice, was a return to premodern, patriarchal, andtribal interpretations of Islamic law. Shari’ah is theessence of justice for Muslims; in Muslim belief, itis the revealed law as found in Islam’s sacred texts.Shari’ah literally means “the way,” but what we getfrom the Shari’ah is always an interpretation of thesetexts by the community of scholars. Different interpretationsled to the different schools of Islamic law:the Sunni 4, Hanafi, Shafei, Maliki, Hanbali; and theShia. At the time these schools of law emerged, aswith other premodern systems of law, the notion ofgender equality was not inherent to the conceptionsof justice. In the earlier part of the 20th century, wewitness the reform and modernization of legal systemsand laws. In all areas of law — with the exceptionof family law — Islamic jurisprudence, or fiqh, wasreplaced by new laws inspired by Western concepts.Thus, 1979 is important because we see the returnof premodern Islamic legal concepts; we got thehudud laws in Pakistan, which didn’t come througha popular revolution but through a coup d’état, usingIslam as an ideology. In Egypt, we had the abandonmentof certain legal reforms, and in Iran we had theabandonment of the 1967 family law reforms. The1980s also saw the expansion of the human rightsdiscourse, the emergence of international women’snongovernmental organizations, and a growingconfrontation between Islamism, or political Islam,and international feminism. By the end of the decade,however, new feminist voices emerged among Muslimwomen, aiming to reclaim their faith and the justicethey knew to be inherent to Islam, from the Islamistswho, they felt, were distorting their religion. In mywriting I have characterized these new feminist voicesas the unwanted child of political Islam, unwantedbecause the political success of the Islamists incountries like Iran actually brought home to Muslimwomen what it means to live in a so-called “Islamic102 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womenstate.” Political Islam also achieved power at a timeof unprecedented literacy, when women themselvescould read the sacred texts and recover and reclaimthe voice of justice. Many women came to distrust thedominant patriarchal interpretations of the texts.So in the new, post-9/11 era,advocates of both Islamism andfeminism have had to comedown from their high ideologicalpositions and to moderatetheir claims. They have hadto acknowledge that grossinjustices have been carried outin the name of both Islam andwomen’s rights, that we need toseparate ideals from practices.The second turning point came in the aftermathof 9/11/2001. The illegal invasions of Afghanistanand Iraq were both justified partially in the nameof women’s rights and human rights. Remember,political Islam oppressed people in the name of Islam,but invasion and violence now were done in thename of women’s rights and human rights. Of course,that has a history in the colonial era, so it is not new.In the new century, we see the failure of politicalIslam, unable to deliver justice, and at the sametime human rights and feminism unable to deliver,unable to protect. It is then that the gaps betweenthe various ideals and practices become clear: Thereis a gap between the ideals of Islam and what is donein its name; also there is a gap between the idealsof feminism and human rights and the practices oftheir proponents.So in the new, post-9/11 era, advocates of bothIslamism and feminism have had to come down fromtheir high ideological positions and moderate theirclaims after looking at the realities on the ground.They have had to acknowledge that gross injusticeshave been carried out in the name of both Islam andwomen’s rights, that we need to separate ideals frompractices, that we must not compare the ideals ofIslam with Western practices and the ideals of feminismwith Muslim practices. This new realism shiftedthe debates about Islam and feminism to a new level,where an honest and constructive dialogue becamepossible. It is in this context that Muslim women whowere committed to seeking justice in Muslim contextscame to the conclusion that they had no other choicethan to bring Islamic, feminist, and human rightsprinciples together and to try to build a new discoursefrom within Islam. This opened a new way for engagementand a meaningful dialogue between Muslimsand feminists.However, true dialogue is only possible whenthe two parties treat each other as equals and withrespect; otherwise, it would be the dialogue of thedeaf. To enter a dialogue, we must be ready, first, tolisten to the other’s argument and secondly, to changeour own position if appropriate. Muslim feministsare having another rather different dialogue with theinsiders, the power holders and leaders within theIslamic tradition, many of whom see feminism as aWestern idea, alien to Islam, an extension of colonialpolicies, to be rejected. In many Muslim contexts,“feminism” is a bad word. The moment you say, “Iam a feminist,” you are seen as having betrayed yourown tradition. I insist on using the term, becausefeminism is part of the 20th century political realities.It is a consciousness and a movement started in theWest. In Muslim contexts, feminism came on theback of colonialism, and that is why Muslims have avery troubled relationship with it. However, the newgeneration of Muslims doesn’t have the baggage thatmy generation has. They are global citizens and canclaim both feminism and Islam together.There is no magical cure for the painful woundsof the past and the present, but there is always a wayto begin to address them. We must learn the art ofaddressing the past without being its victims. For me,The Carter Center 103

Mobilizing Faith for Womenit is here that the feminist voices and the scholarshipin Islam have something to offer, because they arealso addressing the past, which has been patriarchal.Let’s face it: Muslim legal tradition, like any otherlegal and premodern tradition, was patriarchal.Feminist voices in Islam are important because theyenable us to look at our troubled relationship withreligion and to re-examine the dogmas. In the 20thcentury it has become clear that the complete privatizationof religion is not going to happen. Religion isnow back in the public space, as the Arab Spring hasmade clear. The theory that religion should be privateand kept out of politics isn’t an option, at least in theMuslim context.I think it is important to ask what it means to besecular, religious, or feminist. I believe we have torethink some of our concepts. In feminism there isa saying that the personal is political. I want to addthat the theological is political. Theology is muchtoo important to leave to the theologians. We mustengage in it; women must engage with it and ordinarypeople as well.This is the background from which Musawah, theglobal movement for justice and equality in Muslimfamily, came into being. What we in Musawah aredoing is a constructive engagement with religion.Musawah sees religion not as a source of oppressionbut of liberation, not as an obstacle but a source ofinspiration; we aim to insert women’s voices into theproduction of religious knowledge. I strongly believethis is what went wrong with the Muslim legal tradition.When Islam started, at the time of the Prophet,women were there in the public space and played arole in the creation of the Muslim ummah. One ofthe main sources of Islamic law is Hadith literature,the sayings of the Prophet. Women are among themain narrators of the Hadith and its signs. Yet bythe time Islamic jurisprudence, fiqh, emerged, 150years after the death of the Prophet, women had beensilenced. Male authorities — as they consolidatedtheir control over both religious interpretation andpolitical affairs — denigrated women’s intellectualabilities, declared them to be too emotional anddevoid of rationality, and put them aside from politicsand public space. Consequently, women’s interestshave never been reflected in the law. Men talked forthem as their protectors and guardians. But as we allknow, there is always a link between protection anddomination: The very person who protects can alsodominate. In fact, this is one of the main projects wehave initiated in Musawah: a reconsideration of thenotion of male authority in Muslim legal tradition.104 The Carter Center

AcknowledgmentsThe organization of the Human Rights DefendersForum is a huge challenge, and it requires a greatdeal of effort from Carter Center staff, our wonderfulpartners, and new friends who step up to help inimportant ways. First of all, the staff of the HumanRights Program appreciates deeply the inspirationand leadership provided by President and Mrs.Carter, who are the heart and soul of this initiative.They have called on us to create an extraordinarygathering where profound ideas and action planscan be explored and put in motion. Human RightsProgram staff members Erin Crysler, Sam Jones,Erika Lee, Karin Ryan, and Jacqueline Segal all feeldeeply honored to have been able to contributeto this process. Erika Lee deserves special mentionfor her efforts to arrange travel and logistics whenthe forum venue was changed from Cairo, Egypt,to Atlanta with only six weeks’ notice. Our gratitudealso goes to our intern, Melinda Holmes, andgraduate assistant, Sara Williams, and to KristinChristakis for their tremendous contributions.Most of all, our gratitude goes out to everyparticipant of the 2013 forum as well as those whoattended the previous forum in 2011, which laid thegroundwork for this latest gathering. Their courageousand effective work to advance human rightsand bring the true meaning and power that derivesfrom religion and belief into the service of justiceinspires us deeply, and we are privileged to call themfriends and colleagues.All of the departments at The Carter Centerplayed a pivotal role in the realization of theevent. We would like to thank our colleagues inDevelopment, Events, Executive Offices, FacilitiesManagements, Finance, and Public Informationfor their tireless efforts to make the event a successand for their good humor, especially this year, whenthere was so little time to prepare.The forum would not be possible without thegenerosity of our donors. We would like to thankthe governments of Switzerland and Ireland for theircommitment to supporting human rights defendersand their specific contributions that made the 2013forum a reality.We have a particular word of thanks for Secretaryof State John Kerry and his colleagues, who are toomany to list, that made truly extraordinary effortsto ensure that our guests from many countriescould receive visas to enter the United States withvery little lead time. The rich forum discussionswere a result of their determination to ensure thatmany voices would be able to contribute to thisvital conversation.We cannot possibly list all those who contributedto the forum, but the following individualsdeserve special mention: Omaima Abou Bakr,Lance Alloway, Bishop Mouneer Anis, ZainahAnwar, Mahmoud Azab, Randall Bailey, AlisonBoden, Hillaire Campbell, Deanna Congileo, JeremyCourtney, Aaronde Creighton, Joseph Cumming,Beth Davis, Joseph Dimitri, Ebie DuPont, PeeweeFlomoku, Lauren Gay, Jeff Gringer, Deborah Hakes,Ambassador Mahy Hassan Abdel Latif, ShaimaaHellal, Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Itonde Kakoma, AlhajiKhuzaima Mohammed Osman, Karin King, AnneKruger, Andrew Lentz, Molly Melching, MayaMorsy, Courtney Mwangura, Abdullahi An-Naim,Abdel Dayem Nosair, Alessandro Parziale,Ambassador Anne W. Patterson, Patricia Rafshoon,Sita Ranchod-Nillson, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza,Pamela Scully, Ismail Serageldin, Ritu Sharma, KimSitzler, Seana Steffen, His Holiness Pope TawadrosII of Alexandria, the Grand Imam of Al AzharH.E. Sheikh Ahmad Muhammad Al Tayyeb, IriniThabet, Susan Thistlethwaite, Angela Ullmann,David Wade, Andrea White, Lisa Wiley, ElijahThe Carter Center 105

Mobilizing Faith for WomenZarwan, Laurie Zoloth, and the entire consularsection of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. Wewould like to thank the following individuals whomade tremendous sacrifices to reach the Atlanta gatheringbut faced insurmountable obstacles caused bythe venue change: Elizabeth Aya, Mouhamed CherifDiop, Birima Fall, and Shiekh Ali Al Khafaji.Melinda Holmes and Karin Ryan were responsiblefor drafting and editing this report.106 The Carter Center

Appendix AAgendaMobilizing Faith for WomenEngaging the Power of Religion and Belief To Advance Human Rights and DignityFriday , June 28 , 20139:30 A.M. Piano Selection, Benjamin Warsaw9:40 A.M. Welcome and Introductions, Karin Ryan9:50 A.M. Opening Remarks, Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter10:15 A.M. Remarks, Mona Rishmawi, Office of the U.N. HighCommissioner of Human Rights10:35–11:00 A.M. Overview from Working Groups• Alison Boden11:00–11:25 A.M. Break11:30–12:15 P.M. Panel I-Aligning Religious Life With Equal Dignity andHuman Rights• Moderator, Andrea Whiteo Bacary Tambao Zainah Anwaro Simone Campbell12:15–1:00 P.M. Discussion of Panel I1:15 –2:15 P.M. Lunch2:30 –3:15 P.M. Panel II-Trafficking as Modern-Day Slavery: People ofFaith Arise• Moderator, Aaronde CreightonThe Carter Center 107

Mobilizing Faith for Women• Moderator, Andrea Whiteo Bacary Tambao Zainah Anwaro Simone Campbell12:15–1:00 P.M. Discussion of Panel I1:15 –2:15 P.M. Lunch2:30 –3:15 P.M. Panel II-Trafficking as Modern-Day Slavery: People ofFaith Arise• Moderator, Aaronde Creightono Cheryl Deluca-Johnsono Pastor Paul Palmero Fulata Moyo3:15 –3:45 P.M. Discussion of Panel II3:45 –4:15 P.M. Break4:15–5: 00 P.M. Panel III-The Normalization of Violence and Impact ofWar on Women: How To Normalize Peace andHuman Rights• Moderator, Susan Thistlethwaiteo Samira al-Alaani Abdulghanio Jeremy Courtneyo Claudia Furaha Nfundikoo Frances Greaves5:0 0–5:45 P.M. Discussion of Panel IIISaturday, June 29, 20138:30 A.M. Breakfast; Chapel Lobby9:3 0–10:15 A.M. Panel IV-From Local to Global —Connecting ReligiousStudy, Action, and Advocacy• Moderator, Ritu Sharmao Imam Magido Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenzao Laurie Zoloth10:15–11:30 A.M. Concluding Discussion and Forum Debriefing108 The Carter Center

Appendix BBiographiesDelegate Biographies by CountryAfghanistanPalwasha Kakar, The Asia FoundationPalwasha Kakar is the director of women’s empowermentand development at The Asia Foundation. Shehas deep experience working with women’s issuesand gender in Afghanistan, specifically with regard toengaging traditional culture and local communities indevelopment processes. This experience, along withher extensive knowledge of women in Islam and theinteraction of gender, politics, and religion, allowsher to speak authoritatively on the role of religion inwomen’s rights.BotswanaMusa W. Dube, University of BotswanaProfessor Musa W. Dube is a scholar of the NewTestament at the University of Botswana. Herresearch interests include feminist, translation, HIV/AIDS, and gender studies. Her community engagementhas been largely in the area of HIV/AIDSand gender issues. She has worked with the WorldCouncil of Churches on mainstreaming HIV/AIDSand gender in academic and faith-based programsAfricawide and trained trainers for the same. ProfessorDube is the founder of Talitha Cum: Association ofWomen in Faith, which seeks to document, research,analyze, and train women of faith in various issuesof their concerns. Professor Dube has publishedwidely, and she is an internationally sought speakerwho has given talks in about 30 countries. She is anactive member of the Circle of Concerned AfricanWomen Theologians.Democratic Republic of the CongoClaudia Furaha Nfundiko, EpiscopalCommission for Justice and PeaceClaudia Furaha Nfundiko leads the advocacyprograms related to the prevention of and fightagainst sexual and gender-based violence for theEpiscopal Commission for Justice and Peace (CEJP)in Bukavu, South Kivu, in the Democratic Republicof the Congo. Her work includes expanding servicesto the children of victims of rape, who are oftenmarginalized in their communities. CEJP is an initiativeof the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops,with the goal of serving the cause of justice in societythrough the light of the gospel.Joséphine Ngalula Kabeya, Forum de laFemme Ménagère (FORFEM)Josephine Ngalula Kabeya is the president ofthe Congolese organization Forum de la FemmeMénagère (FORFEM) that works to promote anddefend women’s rights. She is an expert in women’ssocio-economic development and has been a leadinghuman rights defender in the Democratic Republicof the Congo since 1994. Ngalula is a focal pointof the Carter Center’s Alert and Protection Systemin Kinshasa, and FORFEM has been a memberof the Human Rights House for many years. Sheholds a master’s degree in political science andpublic administration.Mambo Zawadi, Solidarité Féminine pour laPaix IntégraleMambo Zawadi is the program coordinatorof Solidarité Féminine pour la Paix Intégrale(Women’s Solidarity for Peace and IntegralDevelopment — SOFEPADI). Since 2003, she hasThe Carter Center 109

Mobilizing Faith for Womenworked to protect women’s rights, specifically throughawareness-raising campaigns and shepherding survivorsof sexual violence through the judicial process.EgyptSheikh Dr. Mahmoud Azab, Al-AzharDr. Mahmoud Azab is adviser to the Grand Imamfor interfaith dialogue and professor of comparativelanguages at Al-Azhar University. Al-AzharUniversity is among the world’s oldest universitiesand is the foremost seat of learning in Sunni Islam.Al Azhar is led by Grand Imam Ahmed MuhammadAhmed el-Tayeb. The 2011 Egyptian Constitutionstipulated that Al-Azhar be consulted on matters ofShari’ah, to which legislation must comply. Dr. Azabwas delegated to represent Al-Azhar at this forum.Sheikh Dr. Abdel-Dayem Nossair, Al-AzharDr. Abdel-Dayem Nossair is adviser for scientificresearch to the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar. A mosqueand a university that teaches both religious andmodern scientific subjects, the scholars and imams ofAl-Azhar have traditionally been sought from afar fortheir expertise in all areas of Islamic law and history.Dr. Nossair was delegated to represent Al-Azhar atthis forum.Ambassador Abdelrahman Moussa, Al-AzharAmbassador Abdelrahman Moussa is adviser forinternational affairs to the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar.He is the former assistant minister of foreign affairsand served as an ambassador of the Arab Republic ofEgypt to Poland and the Czech Republic. AmbassadorMoussa served as director of security and strategicorganizations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs andwas delegated to represent Al-Azhar at this forum.Dr. Nevine Saad, Coptic Orthodox Churchof EgyptDr. Nevine Saad is a psychiatrist at the MaamouraPsychiatric Hospital in Alexandria, as well as thefounder and head of the St. Joseph Counseling Centerat the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria,Egypt, which provides marriage and family counselingto Coptic families. Through her practice,she deals frequently with cases of female abuse anddomestic violence.Dr. Marilyn Ekladios, Coptic Orthodox Churchof EgyptDr. Marilyn Ekladios is an adjunct professor at NovaSoutheastern University, where she teaches graduatecourses in public policy. She is also a member of thefaculty of the Family Ministry Program, an affiliateof the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the SouthernUnited States, a diaspora community of the EgyptianCoptic Orthodox Church, where she teaches courseson contemporary issues. As the editor in chief of theMighty Arrows Magazine, a diocesan publication, sheoversees the journalistic reporting of current eventsin the Coptic community and in the world. Sheis also the coordinator of the St. Verena ResourceMinistry, a collaboration and network of socialservice professionals.Dr. Salah-eddin Elgawhary,Biblioteca AlexandrinaDr. Salah-eddin Elgawhary is a principal adviser atthe Biblioteca Alexandrina in Egypt. He has previouslyworked with the World Bank, the Food andAgriculture Organization, and other organizationsof the United Nations and has advised governmentsof both Egypt and the United States. Hiswork is currently focused on issuing a selection ofmodern Islamic classics as part of efforts to establisha Center for the Studies of Islamic Civilizationand Contemporary Islamic Thought at theBiblioteca Alexandrina.Dr. Maha Ibrahim Ghanem,Biblioteca AlexandrinaDr. Maha Ghanem is director-general of TantaUniversity Libraries and adviser to the BibliotecaAlexandrina. Dr. Ghanem is an expert in children’sliterature and in library and information sciences andworks with several organizations in Egypt concernedwith the rights of children and women.110 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenDr. Riham Bahi, American University in CairoDr. Riham Bahi is an associate professor of internationalrelations in the faculty of political scienceat the American University of Cairo. Her researchinterests include Islamic feminism, global and transnationalaspects of political Islam, and U.S. relationswith the Muslim world. Dr. Bahi’s work includespapers on Islamic and secular feminism and Muslimwomen’s movements.GhanaChief Sidiq Gimala III, National Council ofMuslim ChiefsChief Sidiq Gimala III leads the delegation fromGhana of His Eminence Sheikh Dr. Osman NuhuSharubutu, National Chief Imam and Grand Muftiof the Republic of Ghana. Chief Sidiq Gimala III isacting president of the National Council of MuslimChiefs in Ghana.Sheikh Mustapha Ibrahim, Islamic Council forDevelopment and Humanitarian ServicesSheikh Mustapha Ibrahim is chairman of the IslamicCouncil for Development and Humanitarian Servicesand SONSETFUND and is also a key member of theadvisory board of His Eminence the National ChiefImam of Ghana.Alhaji Khuzaima Mohammed Osman, IslamicPeace and Security CouncilAlhaji Khuzaima is executive secretary of theIslamic Peace and Security Council, charged withimplementation of the National Chief Imam’s Peaceand Security Project. The organization is workingto sustain and maintain peace and security throughcollaboration with law enforcement and work withinthe Muslim and Zongo communities in Ghana. AlhajiKhuzaima is personal assistant to the National ChiefImam of Ghana.Rashidat Muhammed, Answarudeen WomenRashidat Muhammed is a human rights activist inthe Muslim community in Ghana and co-founderof Answarudeen Women. She is a member of thedelegation of the National Chief Imam of Ghana.Abdul Majeed Abdul Mumin, Assistant,National Council of Muslim ChiefsAbdul Majeed Abdul Mumin is assistant to ChiefSidiq Gimala III, acting president of the NationalCouncil of Muslim Chiefs. He is a member of thedelegation of the National Chief Imam of Ghana.Abdul Basit Rufai, Assistant, National Councilof Muslim ChiefsAbdul Basit Rufai is assistant to Chief Sidiq GimalaIII, acting president of the National Council ofMuslim Chiefs. He is a member of the delegation ofthe National Chief Imam of Ghana.IranDr. Ziba Mir-Hosseini, MusawahDr. Ziba Mir-Hosseini is a legal anthropologist andactivist, specializing in Islamic law, gender, anddevelopment. She works with the Women’s IslamicInitiative in Spirituality and Equality and is afounding member of Musawah Global Movement forEquality and Justice in the Muslim Family. She hasheld many professorships and fellowships and is anauthor, film director, and commentator on Iranianaffairs and women in Islam, with expertise on the roleof male authority in Islamic family law.IraqSheikh Ali Abed Naem Al-Khafaji, IslamicGathering for Reform and PeaceSheikh Ali Al-Khafaji is the secretary-general ofthe Islamic Gathering for Reform and Peace in Iraq.As one of Iraq’s most prominent voices, Sheikh Alipursues reconciliation and demonstrates interdenomination,interethnic, and interfaith peacemaking.Sheikh Ali promulgates that theology wouldstrengthen the recognition of human rights, includingwomen’s and children’s rights. He also spearheadsinitiatives in orphan care in 16 provinces in Iraq.The Carter Center 111

Mobilizing Faith for WomenJeremy Courtney, Preemptive Love CoalitionJeremy Courtney is co-founder and executive directorof the Preemptive Love Coalition in Iraq, whichtrains Iraqi heart surgeons and nurses in the skillsnecessary to treat the prevalence of heart defectsin children, a terrible consequence of the recentconflict. Jeremy’s vision is driven by his Christianfaith; both he and his wife, Jessica, see their work asa way to strive in pursuit of the Christian mission ofhealing and love.Dr. Samira Al-Alaani Abdulghani, FallujahGeneral HospitalDr. Samira Al-Alaani is a pediatrician at FallujahGeneral Hospital and part of the Preemptive LoveCoalition who has firsthand experience treating thebirth defects brought on by the war in Iraq. She hasdocumented the increase in rates of birth defectsin Fallujah, reporting an astonishing 37 anomalousbirths in one three-week period in her hospital alone.LiberiaFrances Greaves, Voice of the VoicelessFrances Greaves is the founder of an interdenominationalwomen’s organization in Liberia called Voiceof the Voiceless, which was involved in working withwomen who testified at the Truth and ReconciliationCommission (TRC), providing medical referral forwar victims of sexual and gender-based violence andinfusing women’s views into the final recommendationsof the TRC report. She has previously servedas project coordinator and consultant on women’sissues with numerous organizations. She is now vicechairwoman of the board of directors of an umbrellaorganization that brings together over 75 women’s,community, and faith-based nongovernmentalorganizations.Ella Musu Coleman, National TraditionalCouncil of LiberiaElla Coleman is assistant secretary-general for socialservices at the National Traditional Council ofLiberia. Previously, she has served as a member ofthe Task Force for Free and Compulsory PrimaryEducation in Liberia, encouraging young people, especiallygirls, to go to school. Mrs. Coleman also hasserved as a community coordinator assigned in WestPoint township under the Forum for African WomenEducationalists, encouraging girls to go to schooland monitoring students on the various campuses toensure safety from sexual harassment. In addition, sheworks to educate women from traditional communitieson their rights and responsibilities.Chief Zanzan Karwor, National TraditionalCouncil of LiberiaChief Zanzan Karwor is national chairman of theNational Traditional Council of Liberia and thecountry’s head Zoe (spiritual leader). In 2012,the Liberian National Legislature created theindepend ent National Council of Chiefs and Elders,of which Chief Karwor is also chairman. The functionof the new council is to help preserve positive aspectsof Liberia’s traditional culture, to assist the governmentin achieving sustained peace and reconciliation,and to provide independent advice on national issues.The Carter Center has partnered with the NationalTraditional Council at national and local levels forthe past four years in a dialogue on issues related tocustom and the rule of law, including women’s rightsand traditional practices, and has supported thecouncil at national and local levels to resolve disputesand improve local governance.Pewee Flomoku, The Carter CenterPewee Flomoku is a Carter Center program officerand native Liberian who is now helping to coordinatethe Liberia justice project. The project is focused onstrengthening the rule of law in Liberia through partneringwith grassroots civil society organizations.MalaysiaZainah Anwar, Sisters in Islam and MusawahZainah Anwar founded Sisters in Islam 25 years agoin Malaysia to advocate for a women’s rights frameworkwithin Islam and is also a founder of Musawah,112 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womena global movement focused on equality within theMuslim family, launched in 2009. As a Muslim and afeminist, she sees her faith and the Qur’an as an assetin the struggle for social justice, arguing that oppressiveMuslim practices are a perversion of the truemessage of Islam.NigeriaHauwa Ibrahim, Harvard Divinity School andAries Law FirmHauwa Ibrahim is visiting lecturer on women’s studiesand Islamic law at Harvard Divinity School. Sheis also senior partner at Aries Law Firm in Nigeria,which she founded there to continue to work forwomen’s rights from within the Shariah court systemand where she has tried over 150 cases. She haswritten the book on advancing women’s and humanrights within the Islamic court system: “PracticingShariah Law: Seven Strategies for Achieving Justicein Shariah Courts”, published this year.PakistanMossarat Qadeem, PAIMAN Alumni TrustMossarat Qadeem works with religious and triballeaders from the Federally Administered Tribal Areasin Pakistan to counter extremism. She foundedPAIMAN Alumni Trust, a nonprofit group promotingsocio-political and economic empowerment formarginalized Pakistanis. With PAIMAN, she establishedthe country’s first center for conflict transformationand peacebuilding. Her on-the-ground experiencecontributes to her knowledge in political processes andinternational standards for political inclusion, civiceducation, and women’s leadership in Islam.SenegalH. E. Sheikh Omar Ahmed Tijani Niass, HighRepresentative of His Eminence Sheikh AhmedTijani Ibrahim Niass, Tijani Sufi OrderH.E. Sheikh Omar Ahmed Tijani Niass is the highrepresentative of H.E. Sheikh Ahmed Tijani IbrahimNiass, spiritual leader of the Tijani Sufi order ofIslam, one of the largest sects of Islam in West Africa,with an estimated 50 million followers.Sheikh Muhamed Chérif Dioup, TostanSheikh Muhamed Chérif Dioup is an Islamic rightsspecialist and Child Protection Program officer atTostan in Senegal. He has deep understanding ofIslam and Islamic education and has been active inadvocating for better regulation of Islamic schoolswhile supporting their important role in society.Molly Melching, TostanMolly Melching is the founder and executive directorof Tostan, named for a Wolof word meaning “breakthrough,”whose mission is a product of her vision toachieve sustainable development through respectingand empowering local communities. Molly has gainedinternational recognition thanks to the outreach workof grassroots communities to abandon female genitalcutting and child and forced marriage in Senegal,Burkina Faso, The Gambia, and Guinea after havingparticipated in the Tostan program. Molly has beenhonored for her expertise in nonformal education,human rights training, and social transformation.Bacary Tamba, TostanBacary Tamba is national coordinator of the diasporafor Tostan, as well as regional coordinator ofZiguinchor. Founded in Senegal in 1990 to promotean innovative approach to development involvingcommunity empowerment through indigenouslanguage and learning methods, Tostan’s model hasnow spread to programs in eight countries and 22languages in Africa. It has been widely recognized forits success in addressing the practice of female genitalcutting and has been endorsed by figures such asformer Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.SomaliaBirima Fall, TostanBirima Fall is the national coordinator of Tostan’sCommunity Empowerment Program in Somalia.The Carter Center 113

Mobilizing Faith for WomenTostan’s program in Somalia has made considerablestrides, working with the community, the culture, andthe religion in beginning to reduce the practice offemale genital cutting.SwitzerlandDr. Fulata Moyo, World Council of ChurchesDr. Fulata Moyo is program executive for Womenin Church and Society with the World Council ofChurches. In this capacity, she coordinates the council’swork around the globe with regard to women.She is a theologian, historian, activist, and academicin the areas of gender and HIV/AIDS. Her workand interests have focused on gender and ecologicaljustice and sexuality in the context of HIV/AIDS.Mona Rishmawi, Office of the United NationsHigh Commissioner for Human RightsMona Rishmawi is chief of the Rule of Law, Equality,and Nondiscrimination branch of the Office ofthe U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights(OHCHR). She has held many different positionsthroughout the U.N. system and has establishedherself as a leader in the field of human rights lawover more than two decades, with roles such as legaladviser to the OHCHR and senior human rights andgender adviser to the special representative of theU.N. secretary-general in Iraq, Sergio Viera de Mello.United StatesJimmy Carter, 39th President of the UnitedStates and Founder of The Carter CenterPresident Jimmy Carter served as president from Jan.20, 1977, to Jan. 20, 1981. Significant foreign policyaccomplishments of his administration included thePanama Canal treaties, the Camp David Accords,the treaty of peace between Egypt and Israel, theSALT II treaty with the Soviet Union, and theestablishment of U.S. diplomatic relations with thePeople’s Republic of China. He championed humanrights throughout the world. In 1982, PresidentCarter became a university distinguished professor atEmory University in Atlanta, Ga., and founded TheCarter Center. Actively guided by President Carter,the nonpartisan and nonprofit Center addressesnational and international issues of public policy.Carter Center fellows, associates, and staff join withPresident Carter in efforts to resolve conflict, promotedemocracy, protect human rights, and prevent diseaseand other afflictions. Through the Global 2000programs, the Center advances health and agriculturein the developing world. It has spearheadedthe international effort to eradicate Guinea wormdisease, which will be the second disease in history tobe eliminated.Rosalynn Carter, Former First Lady andFounder of The Carter CenterFormer First Lady Rosalynn Carter has worked formore than four decades to improve the quality of lifefor people around the world. Today, she is a leadingadvocate for mental health, caregiving, early childhoodimmunization, human rights, and conflict resolutionthrough her work at The Carter Center. A fullpartner with the president in all the Center’s activities,the former first lady is a member of the CarterCenter board of trustees and co-founder. She createdand chairs the Center’s Mental Health Task Force, anadvisory body of experts, consumers, and advocatespromoting positive change in the mental health field.Karin Ryan, The Carter CenterKarin Ryan is senior adviser in the Carter Center’sHuman Rights Program. She works with former U.S.President Jimmy Carter and Mrs. Rosalynn Carter ona range of issues, including assisting their efforts onbehalf of victims of human rights violations throughpersonal interventions with heads of state. She hasrepresented the Center in many international negotiations,including the International Criminal Court,the human rights of women, the U.N. Declaration onHuman Rights Defenders, and, most recently, on theestablishment of a U.N. Human Rights Council.114 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenDr. John Hardman, The Carter CenterDr. John Hardman is president and CEO of TheCarter Center, providing leadership to achieve theCarter Center’s commitment to prevent and resolveconflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, andimprove health. He is an active participant in theCarter Center’s program initiatives, including electionmonitoring in Asia, Africa, and Latin America;Ethiopian public health training; global developmentstrategies and conflict resolution efforts; and agricultureprograms aimed at improving food production inAfrica and North Korea.Larisa Friesen Hall, SojournersLarisa Friesen Hall is chief advancement officer forSojourners, whose mission is to articulate the biblicalcall to social justice, inspiring hope and building amovement to transform individuals, communities,the church, and the world. Hall represents Sojournersaround the country and is the founding chair ofSojourners’ organizational task force to develop interculturalcompetency. She also leads strategic planningfor Sojourners’ Women and Girls Leading on Faithand Justice Initiative. Hall has completed studies ininternational business and economic developmentfrom Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg,Va. She also participated in International BusinessInstitute, a rigorous study program of class sessions,government lectures, and corporate visits spanning 10European countries.Imam Mohamed Magid, Islamic Society ofNorth AmericaImam Mohamed Magid serves as president of theIslamic Society of North America (ISNA) and asexecutive director of the All Dulles Area MuslimSociety. He has a long history of commitment topublic service through organizations such as thePeaceful Families Project, Annual Twinning ofMosques and Synagogues, Fairfax Faith Communitiesin Action, Interfaith Conference of MetropolitanWashington Assembly, and the Buxton InterfaithInitiative. Imam Magid strives to create and fosterdialogue and increase understanding about Islam.Part of his work with the Buxton Interfaith Initiativeincluded forging a partnership with Rabbi RobertNosanchuk, then leader of the Northern VirginiaHebrew Congregation in Reston. Both menwere recognized by the Washingtonian as 2009’sWashingtonians of the Year for building bridgesbetween their faith communities. He continues toprovide good counsel for the Muslim communitythrough his regular contributions to ISNA’s magazine,Islamic Horizons, as well as a speaker and leader ofdiscussions on imminent issues facing the MuslimAmerican community.Ruth Messinger, American JewishWorld ServiceRuth W. Messinger is the president and executivedirector of American Jewish World Service(AJWS), an international development organizationproviding support to more than 200 grassroots socialchange projects in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.Ms. Messinger is also a visiting professor at HunterCollege, teaching urban policy and politics. Prior toassuming her position at AJWS in 1998, Messingerwas in public service in New York City for 20 years.She served 12 years in the New York City Counciland eight years as Manhattan borough president. Shewas the first woman to secure the Democratic Party’snomination for mayor in 1997.Dr. Laurie Zoloth, Northwestern Universityand the American Academy of ReligionDr. Laurie Zoloth is president-elect of the AmericanAcademy of Religion, the leading body responsible forfostering excellence in religious teaching and scholarshipin the United States. A professor of medicalhumanities, bioethics and religion, and Jewish studiesat Northwestern University and director of theCenter for Bioethics, Science, and Society, Dr. Zolothis a leading Jewish scholar who looks at the relationshipbetween science, ethics, and religion.Sister Simone Campbell, Nuns on the BusSister Simone Campbell is a religious leader, advocate,and activist working to promote systematicThe Carter Center 115

Mobilizing Faith for Womenchange in the public policy arena. In addition toserving as executive director of NETWORK, aCatholic organization lobbying for social justice, sheis also an attorney and poet. She is perhaps mostwell-known for the letter she wrote to Congress insupport of health care reform and helping to organizethe Nuns on the Bus tour of the United States afterAmerican nuns of the Leadership Conference ofWomen Religious were chastised by the Vatican fortheir feminist views and activism.Dr. Alison Boden, Princeton UniversityDr. Alison Boden serves as dean of religious life andthe chapel at Princeton University. Her writing andteaching interests have focused on such topics ashuman rights and religion, religion and violence,religion in the academy, and a variety of social justiceissues. She has authored a book titled “Women’sRights and Religious Practice” and is an ordainedminister in the United Church of Christ.Dr. Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, HarvardDivinity SchoolDr. Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza is the KristerStendahl Professor of Divinity at Harvard DivinitySchool and has done pioneering work in biblicalinterpretation and feminist theology. Her teachingand research focus is on the question of biblical andtheological epistemology, hermeneutics, rhetoric,and the politics of interpretation as well as onissues of theological education, radical equality, anddemocracy. Fiorenza is a co-founder and co-editorof the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. Inrecognition of her work, she has received numeroushonorary doctorates and awards. Her most recentbook is “Transforming Vision: Explorations inFeminist Theology.”Reverend Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite, ChicagoTheological Seminary and the Center forAmerican ProgressRev. Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite is a senior fellow atthe Center for American Progress and a professor oftheology at Chicago Theological Seminary, as wellas its former president. She was ordained a ministerof the United Church of Christ in 1974 and is anauthor and biblical translator. Thistlethwaite is nowat the vanguard of the new area of public theology,an online columnist for The Washington Post, andmedia commentator on matters of religion and faith.Ritu Sharma, Women Thrive WorldwideRitu Sharma is the president and co-founder ofWomen Thrive Worldwide in Washington, D.C.Sharma is a coalition-builder, political strategist,communicator, and motivational speaker, as well asa co-convener and principal of the Women, Faith,and Development Alliance and the ModernizingForeign Assistance Network. She serves on theboard of the U.S. Global Leadership Center, the PaxWorld Women’s Advisory Council, and the AdvisoryCouncil of Men and Women as Allies.Dr. Seana Steffen, The RestorativeLeadership InstituteDr. Seana Steffen is the founder and executivedirector of the Restorative Leadership Institute. Sheformerly served on the faculty at the Universityof Colorado at Boulder as the founding director ofINVST Community Studies, where she designedand delivered award-winning leadership curriculumfocused on developing a more just and sustainableworld. In public service, Steffen co-founded ExploreExpeditionary Learning School, which received thefirst Colorado Commissioner’s Choice Award forGetting Results, and Rocky Mountain Youth Corps,the first rural regional youth corps in the country anda recipient of White House recognition for positivechange in the Southwest.Bani Dugal, Baha’i International CommunityBani Dugal is the principal representative of theBaha’i International Community to the UnitedNations. As part of the community of internationalnongovernmental organizations at the U.N., she hasserved as the president of the NGO Committee onFreedom of Religion or Belief and as a facilitator andadviser to numerous nongovernmental organization116 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womencommittees within the U.N. system. Prior to beingappointed principal representative, Dugal served asdirector, Office for the Advancement of Women,at the Baha’i International Community. Before sherelocated to the United States in 1988, she practicedlaw before the Supreme Court of India.AtlantaDr. Randall Bailey, InterdenominationalTheological CenterDr. Randall Bailey is the Andrew W. MellonDistinguished Professor of Hebrew Bible, Area I,at the Interdenominational Theological Center inAtlanta. His work is focused on ideological criticismand how race, class, gender, sex, and powerintersect in the Bible text. The InterdenominationalTheological Center is a Christian, ecumenical,graduate professional school of theology.Dr. Ann C. Kruger, Georgia State University,College of EducationDr. Ann Kruger is an associate professor at GeorgiaState University’s College of Education. Her researchinterests include discourse analysis and developmentof social cognition. She has published oncultural learning and the learning of culture and,most recently, on the mimetic theory of religionand culture.Cheryl Deluca-Johnson, Street GraceCheryl Deluca-Johnson is the executive cirector ofStreet Grace, a faith-based organization in Atlanta,Ga., dedicated to ending sex trafficking of minorsin Atlanta and eventually the United States. Ms.Deluca-Johnson has been responsible for the overalldevelopment of the organization’s mission and prioritiesand is the organization’s main representative inthe public arena.Aaronde Creighton, Street GraceAaronde Creighton is a member of the board of directorsof Street Grace and a professional managementconsultant specializing in leadership and organizationaldevelopment.Pastor Paul Palmer, Atlanta Dream CenterPastor Paul Palmer founded the Atlanta DreamCenter with his wife, Patty, after following their faithand trust in God to move to Atlanta from California,where they originally found their faith and begantheir ministry. The Atlanta Dream Center is a faithbasednonprofit located in the Old Fourth Ward, oneof downtown’s most vulnerable neighborhoods. Thecenter has had a huge impact on the community withits message and community outreach programs.Dr. Sita Ranchod-Nilsson, Institute forDeveloping Nations at Emory UniversityDr. Sita Ranchod-Nilsson is director of Emory’sInstitute for Developing Nations (IDN), a jointproject started in 2006 with The Carter Center.She leads IDN in working to build a communityof scholars, practitioners, and policymakers whoare committed to working together to fight globalpoverty. IDN supports multiple projects with a genderfocus, from transitional justice in sub-Saharan Africato gender-based violence and rule of law in Liberia, aswell as health initiatives. Ranchod-Nilsson’s previousresearch and experience as a professor and fellow havefocused on gender politics, nationalism, and the state.Dr. Dianne Diakité, Emory UniversityDr. Dianne Diakité is an associate professor of religionand African-American studies at Emory University.Diakité has theological training, with a research focuson African and diaspora religious cultures and is aformer Fulbright scholar. She has authored numerousbooks, articles, and essays on African religion, theformation of religious culture, and womanist theology.The Rev. Dr. Andrea White, The CandlerSchool of Theology at Emory UniversityDr. Andrea White is an assistant professor of theologyand culture with the Candler School of Theologyat Emory, specializing in constructive Christiantheology, womanist theology and perspectives, andpostmodern religious thought. White has authoredseveral books on these subjects, has held severalresearch fellowships, and is an ordained AmericanBaptist minister.The Carter Center 117

Mobilizing Faith for WomenDr. Elizabeth Bounds, The Candler School ofTheology at Emory UniversityDr. Elizabeth M.Bounds is an associate professorof Christian ethics with the Candler School ofTheology at Emory. She has authored and editednumerous books and articles, including “ComingTogether/Coming Apart: Religion, Modernity, andCommunity” (1997) and “Welfare Policy: FeministCritiques” (1999). Her interests include peacebuilding/conflicttransformation, restorative justiceand the prison system, democratic practices and civilsociety, feminist and liberation ethics, and transformativepedagogical practices.Dena Blank Kimball, Kendeda FoundationBlank is an independent philanthropic consultant.Formerly, she served as the vice president of networksupport of Teach For All, the vice president of alumniaffairs and the deputy vice president of admissions forTeach for America, and as the executive director ofGirlVentures in San Francisco, a nonprofit organizationwith a mission to inspire adolescent girls todevelop and express their strengths. Dena was thefounding chair of American Jewish World Service’sGlobal Circle. She specializes in the curriculumdevelopment, management, strategic planning, anddevelopment of nonprofit organizations focusingon youth.118 The Carter Center

Appendix CDeclarationWe Can’t Wait: We Must Mobilize Religion and Belief to Advance Women’s RightsDeclaration of the Carter Center’s Human Rights Defenders ForumJune 27-29, 2013We gather at The Carter Center at a moment when violence against women and other genderbased violations of human rights are prevalent in every part of the world. We urgently call on allbelievers to work individually and within their communities to take action toward full equality,justice, and human dignity for all.We gather to consider how engagement with our respective communities of faith and belief canbind us in a common effort to work for human rights, dignity, and wellbeing for women andmen. Two years ago The Carter Center first convened a gathering to explore how religion andbelief can be mobilized effectively to this end. Today, we have furthered this goal by exploringhow sacred texts and their application in communities around the world can achieve a vision inwhich all of God’s creatures, girls and boys, women and men, can live with dignity, mutualrespect, and in full equality.The Power of TextThe world’s religions contain a wealth of wisdom in their sacred texts, traditions, and practicesthat are an enormous source of knowledge for good. Their ongoing interpretation and practiceare a source of joy, wisdom, and courage for both individuals and communities. While theyprovide the foundation for and the moral obligation to protect human dignity, they also are ofteninterpreted and applied in divisive and oppressive ways. Therefore, long before Enlightenmentphilosophers branded the secular concept of “human rights,” the idea of rights was rooted in ourmany religious texts and traditions.LeadershipReligious leaders are often charged with being the custodians of religious teaching, and theyhave been the ones to communicate and exemplify these textual and traditional groundings forour duties toward one another.Throughout history, men have largely served as leaders and guardians of religious communities,assuming the responsibility and authority of interpretation, juridical power, and the application ofsacred text in daily life. Women and girls’ equal participation in religious life, including theirengagement with sacred texts, must be understood as crucial.It is imperative we do this, not only to reclaim the insights of half of our communities, butbecause we see the unfinished task as deeply harmful. We come together because we seeappalling conditions of inequality, violence, and injustice that too many women face daily. If weThe Carter Center 119

Mobilizing Faith for Womenare to expand the circle of dignity to include every human being within and among the world’sreligions and traditions, textual and practical wisdom must consider women’s voices. We areconfident in the boundless capacities of our texts and traditions, for we know that religioustraditions and teachings contain the wisdom to challenge the way the world is structured. Webelieve that in the teachings of religions can be found the courage to imagine the world as just,peaceful, and abundant.The ChallengeThe scourge of violence, including sexual and gender-based violence in the home, in publicspaces, and in warfare and other forms of State-sanctioned violence, should not be accepted as anormal fact of life. Human society has evolved in many ways, and we must chart a path tononviolence in all our affairs if we are to progress. In every part of the world, horrifyingincidents should challenge faith communities to address how brutality can occur, and how faithcommunities and leaders can confront this failure of private and public morality.After World War II, the nations of the world formed the United Nations with thecommitment to advance peace and human rights as global norms. In parallel, ecumenicalefforts have been waged to respond to the dehumanization of war. Despite theseimportant developments, violence is becoming increasingly normalized. Nations andgroups have too often chosen to wage war in place of dialogue to resolve conflicts;societies often resort to violent forms of punishment for crime in place of rehabilitationand compassion.As a result of conflict within societies and between nations, religions, and other groups,fear has led many communities to turn inward, to yearn for an imagined past whichreinforces regressive norms and honors the most conservative textual interpretations. Fearcan lead to rejecting ties with others and can thwart progress, rational arguments, oremerging scientific insights.Around the world, women and girls often do not have adequate access to health carespecific to their bodies and their needs, including reproductive care, too often leading topreventable illness and premature death. Women and girls who bear children faceparticular risks and, for far too many, pregnancy is laden with risk and tragic loss.Legal, social, and cultural norms applied to girls and women often do not offer adequateprotection from violence or inequality in the family and in society, and leaders in thecommunity best placed to advance reforms fail to challenge these situations and often120 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for Womeneven support them.In countries where religion is a source of law and public policy, particular interpretationsof sacred text can lead to discriminatory and unjust rules which are presented as divinelaw, infallible and unchangeable; women’s efforts at law reform to achieve equality andjustice are demonized as an attack against religion or sacred text itself.With the growth of global trade and international travel, the proliferation of humantrafficking threatens the lives of millions of victims of this pernicious form of slavery.Lack of access to education and independent economic opportunities feminize povertyand lead to premature marriage and trafficking of females, preventing women fromrealizing their God-given potential and from contributing their innate talents to society.Girls and women are often excluded from leadership in religious, political, and otherpublic roles, further marginalizing and subjugating them.Reason for HopeWhile these facts disturb us, we know that when religious and traditional communities andleaders, individuals, and associations take concerted action great progress is made.Although the protection of human rights is fundamentally an obligation for the State, theinfluence of religion, tradition, and culture is so strong that they must be engaged if we are toaddress these problems. Human rights organizations have historically neglected a vast array ofpotential allies by disregarding the importance of faith, while religious institutions have notrecognized the divine foundation of what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights calls us todo. A profound opportunity exists for mutual recognition of the fundamental compatibility ofhuman rights principles and moral values.The CallWe call on people of faith to place the well-being of women and girls at the center of theirunderstanding of moral duty. Women and men must work as equal partners to build a more justworld.To that end: We call on individual believers and faith communities to advance universal human rightsand equal dignity for all and to reject violence and stigmatization of victims. Men inparticular have a moral duty to prevent and combat all forms of violence, as they bear themajority of the responsibility for these acts.The Carter Center 121

Mobilizing Faith for WomenWe call on religious and traditional authorities to guide their communities to align theirspiritual and social lives with the promise of universal human rights, duties, and humandignity and to focus on religious traditions and texts that support this task.We call on our colleagues in the human rights community to reach out to and engagepeople of faith as they bring religious wisdom and lived traditions to the task ofsupporting the dignity and full equality of women and girls.We call on all people and governments to commit themselves to peaceful resolution ofconflicts, to avoid war while pursuing universal human rights.In conclusion, there is no incompatibility between devotion to religion or belief and the pursuitof universal human rights and dignity. In fact, we believe sacred texts and the living traditions ofour faith communities are the richest source of vision for a world in which human rights are fullyhonored. We resolve to strive together to achieve reciprocity among all people and to honor ourmoral obligations to each other through mutual respect and concerted action.122 The Carter Center

Appendix DStatisticsFAMILY LAW AND NORMS MOBILIZING FAITH FOR WOMEN: THE CHALLENGES THAT PERSIST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE EARLY MARRIAGE One out of three women experience violence, in 85% of cases the woman’s husband or partner is the perpetrator. iOne third of the world’s countries have no legislation against domestic violence iiFEMICIDE Globally, 38% of female murder victims were killed by their intimate partners. iiiOver 60 million girls worldwide are child brides, married before the age of 18, primarily in South Asia (31.3 million) and sub-­‐Saharan Africa (14.1 million)… Women who marry early are more likely to be beaten or threatened, and more likely to believe that a husband might sometimes be justified in beating his wife. v PHYSICAL INTEGRITY In Australia, Canada, Israel, South Africa and the United States, between 40 and 70 percent of female murder victims were killed by their intimate partners. iv SEXUAL ASSUALT Up to 76% percent of women, varying by country, say they have experienced sexual assault, but less than 11 percent reported it. viIn the U.S. it is estimated that one in every five women will be raped before leaving college. vii The first sexual experience of some 30 percent of women was forced. viii Worldwide, up to 50 percent of sexual assaults are committed against girls under 16… An estimated 150 million girls under the age of 18 suffered some form of sexual violence in 2002 alone. ixFEMALE GENITAL CUTTING Approximately 100 to 140 million girls and women in the world have experienced female genital mutilation/cutting, with more than 3 million girls in Africa annually at risk of the practice. x ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE While statistics vary by country and national wealth, through out the world women and girls face inadequate access to healthcare, including that specific to their requirements, leading to disproportionate levels of preventable disease and death among women. The Carter Center 123

Mobilizing Faith for WomenMOBILIZING FAITH FOR WOMEN: THE CHALLENGES THAT PERSIST ACCESS TO EDUCATIONAND ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION LITERACY AND SCHOOLINGTwo out of three illiterate adults are women. Three out of five youths lacking basic reading and writing skills are young women. xiIn the United States, 83 percent of girls aged 12 to 16 experienced some form of sexual harassment in public schools. xii HUMAN TRAFFICKING It is estimated there are 12.3 slaves in the world today, with less than 1% of those identified. xiii Women and girls are 80% of the estimated 800,000 people trafficked across national borders annually, with the majority (79%) trafficked for sexual exploitation. xiv The average entry age of American minors into the sex trade is 12-­‐14 years old. xv PROPERTY OWNERSHIP AND RESOURCE ACCESS Women comprise, on average, 43% of the agricultural labor force in developing countries. If they had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20-­‐30%. xviIn developing countries for which data are available, between 10 percent and 20 percent of all landholders are women. xvii LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT The average pay gap between women and men is 10-­‐30%. xviii53% of women work in vulnerable employment. xix Between 40 and 50 percent of women in European Union countries, and 30-­‐40% across Asia, experience some form of sexual harassment at work. xx PUBLIC AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION REPRESENTATION SUFFRAGE In 2012, there were 17 female heads of state. xxi Globally, women occupy 18% of parliamentary seats. xxii Only 28 countries have exceeded 30% women’s representation in national parliaments. xxiiiWomen constitute no more than 13% of any police force. xxivThere are countries where women still have no right, or only limited right, to vote. xxv PEACE BUILDING Since 1992, women have constituted less than 8% of peace process negotiating delegations and less than 3% of signees. xxvi 124 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenMOBILIZING FAITH FOR WOMEN: THE CHALLENGES THAT PERSIST THE DISPROPORTIONATE IMPACT OF WAR AND MILITARISM ON WOMEN ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH HAZARDS Women are exposed to toxic chemical weapons and environmental contamination during and after war and from military activities. xxviiDISPLACEMENT AND POVERTY Women and children are the majority of war refugees; widows of war are displaced, disinherited, and impoverished; and poor women and children lose government services to the prioritization of military spending. xxviii REINFORCING VIOLENT MASCULINITIES There were an estimated 26,000 cases of sexual assault in the U.S. military in 2012. xxix RAPE AS A WEAPON OF WAR Rape is being used as a weapon of war in Syria: 80% of those targeted are women, resulting in the death of 18% of victims, and is a major cause for the flight of hundreds of thousands of refugees. xxx It is estimated that at least 20,000 to 50,000 women were raped during the 1992-­‐1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while approximately 250,000 to 500,000 women and girls were targeted in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, at least 200,000 cases of sexual violence, mostly involving women and girls, have been documented since 1996: the actual numbers are believed to be far higher. xxxiSOCIETAL RETRENCHMENT IN THE FACE OF CONFLICT Under pressure from conflict, societies tend to retrench into conservative cultural and religious positions, often reinforcing detrimental power structures. The psychological concept of “large-­‐group regression” has been applied to explain this phenomenon, which has become ubiquitous in recent years, resulting from fear of the “other”. xxxii War and conflict perpetuate this retrenchment and do not make the world a safer place, as is reflected in the fact that terrorism has increased by more than four times over the last decade plus of war. xxxiii The Carter Center 125

Mobilizing Faith for WomenMOBILIZING FAITH FOR WOMEN: THE CHALLENGES THAT PERSIST i WHO. WHO report highlights violence against women as a ‘global health problem of epidemic proportions’, June 20, 2013.< http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2013/violence_against_women_20130620/en/index.html>.ii UNWOMEN. Progress of the World’s Women 2011-2012: In Pursuit of Justice. .iii WHO, 2013.iv Ibidv UNICEF. 2005. Early Marriage: A Harmful Traditional Practice. New York, United Nations.vi UNWOMENvii National Institute of Justice. Sexual Assault on Campus: What Colleges and Universities Are Doing About It. 6-7.viii UNWOMENix UNFPA. 2003. UNFPA and Young People: Imagine 2003. UNFPA, New York.x Ibidxi UNESCO Institute for Statistics.xii UNWOMEN, 2013.xiii U.S. Department of State. Trafficking in Persons Report. 2010.xiv Ibidxv Ibidxvi UNWOMEN, 2013.xvii Ibidxviii UNWOMEN, 2012.xix Ibidxx UNWOMEN, 2013.xxi International Women’s Democracy Center. Fact Sheet: Women’s Political Participation..xxii The Guardian. International women's day 2012: women's representation in politics. Datablog..xxiii UNWOMEN, 2012.xxiv Ibid.xxv International Women’s Democracy Center. Fact Sheet: Women’s Political Participation..xxvi United Nations Development Fund for Women. Women’s Participation in Peace Negotiations: Connections betweenPresence and Influence. 2010.xxvii UNWOMEN, 2013.xxviii Hynes, H. Patricia. DifferenTakes. 10 Reasons Why Militarism Is Bad for Women. Population and Development Programat Hampshire College, 2003. Web. 14 May 2010.xxix Jennifer Steinhauer. Sexual Assaults in Military Raise Alarm in Washington. The New York Times. May 7, 2013..xxx Lauren Wolfe, Syria has a massive rape crisis. The Atlantic. April 3, 2013.; Melissa Jeltsen, Syria’sRape Crisis: Women Under Seige Projects Maps Sexual Violence. The Huffington Post. April 3, 2013..xxxi UNWOMEN, 2013.xxxii Vamik D. Volkan. September 11 and Societal Regression. 2007. . xxxiii Institute for Economics and Peace. 2012 Global Terrorism Index: Capturing the Impact of Terrorism from 2002 – 2011.Relief Web. December 4, 2012. .126 The Carter Center

Appendix ENews CoverageJune 23, 2013“Jimmy Carter: A Sunday interview.” Swampland(blog). Time magazine.“President Carter Says Catholic Church ShouldOrdain Women; All Religions Should PromoteGender Equality.” Huffington Post.“Jimmy Carter Links Catholic All-Male Priesthoodto Human Rights Abuse.” The Deacon’s Bench (blog).Patheos.June 24, 2013“Your Daily Jolt: Jimmy Carter Says Bans onOrdination of Women Are Green Lights forDiscrimination.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution.“Jimmy Carter Has Met the Enemies, and They AreCatholics.” Catholic World Report.“Does Jimmy Carter Want to Change the Way GodThinks?” Catholic Culture.“Seib & Wessel: What We’re Reading Monday.”Wall Street Journal.“Morning Briefing.” National Catholic Reporter.“Jimmy Carter: Catholic Church Should OrdainWomen Priests.” The Inquisitr.“Jimmy Carter Says the Catholic Church Should ManUp and Ordain Women.” msnNOW.com.“Carter Center to Host Mobilizing Faith for WomenConference.” Examiner.com.June 25, 2013“Pope Jimmy Carter.” NYPOST.com.“Melinda Gates: 5 Questions for Tostan’s MollyMelching.” Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.Impatient Optimists (blog).June 27, 2013“Women, Faith, Rights Forum Set: Carter CenterWill Discuss Faith Community’s Role.” AtlantaJournal-Constitution.“Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter Says SomeReligions Sexist.” Reuters. Also The Star and TVNZOneNews on June 28.Interview with Karin Ryan. All News 106.7.June 28, 2013President Carter and human rights defender ZainahAnwar, interviewed by Suzanne Malveux, Around theWorld. CNN.“President Carter Defends Paula Deen.” CNNNewsroom. (mentions Human Rights forum)“Human Rights and Religious Leaders Call for ActionToward Full Equality and Human Dignity for All.”The Carter Center. (Press Release)“Carter: Many Religious Leaders Have FailedWomen.” Associated Press. Also published in thefollowing outlets and more than 20 others:Huffington PostABC NewsPoliticoThe Grand Island IndependentWashington TimesThe RecordLubbock Avalanche-JournalThe Baxter BulletinTrib Total Media: TribLIVESky News AustraliaThe Carter Center 127

Mobilizing Faith for WomenHerald SunThe AdvertiserThe Portland Press HeraldMarietta Daily JournalCalhoun TimesThe Vancouver SunABC Channel 5 NewsPhilly.comCathNewsThe West AustralianNewsmaxAthens Banner-Herald: Online AthensWTOC Channel 11 NewsNew Straits TimesSt. Louis Post-Dispatch“Jimmy Carter: Women’s Plight Perpetuated byWorld Religions.” Associated Press. (Video Package)“Carter: Baptist Group Diminishes Roles of Women.”Atlanta Journal-Constitution PolitiFact Georgia.“Jimmy Carter Blames Religion for GlobalMistreatment of Women.” The Blaze.June 29, 2013“Jimmy Carter Says Religion Harms Women.”Examiner.com.“Jimmy Carter’s Craven Critiques, Part 1: World’sReligions Share Blame for Women’s Oppression.”News Busters.June 30, 2013“Jimmy Carter: Christianity Mistreats Women asMuch as Islam.” Breitbart. Also FOX Nation.“Religiösa ledare anklagas för kvinnofientlighet.”DN.se. (Sweden)July 1, 2013“Religion and Human Rights: An Interview WithPresident Jimmy Carter.” (part one). Religion NewsService.“Religion and Human Rights: An Interview WithPresident Jimmy Carter.” (part two). Religion NewsService.“Carter Center Conference Mobilizes Faith Groupsto Advance Women’s Rights.” The Carter Center.(Video Package)July 2, 2013“Carter Errs in Comparing Religions.”Opelika-Auburn News.“What Carter Said.” Patheos.“Carter Says Faith Still Used Against Women.”The Christian Century.July 3, 2013“Carter Says Faith Used Against Women.” AssociatedBaptist Press.“Words of Wisdom.” Marshall Independent.July 5, 2013“Carter: World Religions Perpetuate Women’sPlight.” Associated Press. Also The Times andDemocrat.“Voices of Faith Challenge Violation of Women’sRights.” World Council of Churches. Also Ekklesia onJuly 8.July 7, 2013“Speaking Truth.” Education Week.July 8, 2013“Mobilizing Faith for Women.” Rejuvenate magazine.“Inspiration.” Rejuvenate magazine.128 The Carter Center

Mobilizing Faith for WomenJuly 9, 2013“Carter Trips Over Details of Gender Wage Gap.”Atlanta Journal-Constitution PolitiFact Georgia.“Jimmy Carter: Educate Religious Leaders to EndFlagrant Abuse of Women.” Huffington Post. (includesAP video of President Carter’s remarks)July 11, 2013“Devout Christian Jimmy Carter Calls Out the Use ofReligion to Attack Women’s Rights.” PoliticusUSA.Aug. 19, 2013Airing of President Carter’s opening remarks andthe panel on human trafficking. Atlanta InterfaithBroadcasters.The Carter Center 129

One Copenhill453 Freedom ParkwayAtlanta, GA 30307(404) 420-5100 • Fax (404) 420-5145www.cartercenter.org