Sharia Laws are part of the extremist threat. They are not a solution

Letter to Amber Rudd, Secretary of State The Independent Review on Sharia: Sharia Laws are part of the extremist threat and not a solution As black and minority women and human rights campaigners, we voice our dismay at the outcome of the independent review on Sharia laws commissioned by the government in 2016. Although the government has rejected formal recognition (through regulation), the way has been left open for the Sharia courts to continue to exist in a...
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Sharia ‘Courts’: Why regulation is not the answer

‘Sharia’ and other religious systems of arbitration are back in the news once again. There appears to be growing recognition of the profoundly discriminatory nature of religious arbitration systems which relegate Muslim and other minority women to second rate systems of justice. But is regulation the answer? A close examination of the workings of ‘Sharia’ Councils and the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal reveal serious failings that flout principles of the rule of law and undermine the rights of women...
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Sharia: Public seminar at UK parliament

Public Seminar at UK Parliament on Sharia Law, Legal Pluralism and Access to Justice Sharia Law, Legal Pluralism and Access to Justice is hosted by IKWRO and several organisations and activists to debate and express concerns about the increasing state recognition and promotion of religious-based arbitration and mediation forums, such as ‘Sharia courts’ in the UK. These councils operate as parallel legal systems in which women are treated unfairly, including when seeking divorce or custody over children. The...
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Religious arbitration and women’s rights

A meeting for BME women In an Open Letter to Theresa May, an unprecedented number of BME women’s rights organisations and campaigners signed a letter warning against the rapid slide towards privatised justice and parallel legal systems in the UK. IKWRO, Southall Black Sisters and other women’s rights activists invite you to a public meeting to discuss the role of religious-based arbitration and mediation forums such as Sharia councils as alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to govern private and...
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Boycott of the Sharia law inquiry

IKWRO and others call for a boycott of the Sharia law inquiry. We are writing to you because you signed a letter of women’s rights advocates calling on the Home Secretary of the UK, Theresa May (and soon to be PM) regarding the inquiry into sharia law. We called on the Home Secretary not to have a theological inquiry but an impartial human rights inquiry, to appoint a Judge able to compel evidence to lead it and to stand...
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Campaigners urge government to fully and impartially investigate Sharia bodies

Today, an unprecedented number of women’s rights campaigners and organisations from Britain and internationally, including IKWRO, have submitted a letter to the Home Secretary raising serious concerns about the government’s ‘independent review’ into Sharia courts in Britain. The letter states that the limited scope of inquiry and its inappropriate theological approach will do nothing to address the discriminatory effect and intent of the courts on private and family matters: areas where, arguably, the greatest human rights violations of...
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Women’s rights groups urge government to hold inquiry into Sharia ‘courts’ and the lack of access to justice

On Thursday 10 December 2015, Southall Black Sisters (SBS), One Law for All, Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO), Centre for Secular Space and British Muslims for Secular Democracy will attend 10 Downing Street to hand deliver a letter signed by nearly 400 individuals and organisations urging David Cameron to hold an inquiry into the discriminatory nature of Sharia ‘courts’ and other religious arbitration forums. These women’s and human rights organisations also led successful campaigns preventing public authorities such...
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Nearly 200 signatories, including IKWRO, call for dismantling of parallel legal systems

IKWRO is one of many signatories backing One Law for All’s campaign for the dismantling the parallel legal system, as covered recently by Thomson Reuters. The full text of this campaign letter is below. https://www.youtube.com/embed/QpAYWhNYSXM?rel=0 Women’s rights and secular organisations urge the new government to take concerted measures to stop the development of parallel legal systems and to facilitate full and proper access to justice for all citizens and to one secular law for all. For decades, successive...
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IKWRO meet with the Law Society on Sharia

On Tuesday 13th January 2015, women’s rights groups, including Southall Black Sisters, One Law for All, Nari Diganta and the Iranian & Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO), met with Mark Stobbs, the Law Society’s Director of Legal Policy at the SBS office. Our organisations welcomed the Law Society’s decision to withdraw its guidance on ‘Sharia’ compliant wills that endorsed discrimination against women and children. We also thanked the Law Society for making a public apology. The Law Society showed...
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Law Society withdraws ‘sharia’ practice note

Law Society responds to women’s rights activists with apology and withdrawal of its endorsement of discriminatory Sharia law Diana Nammi, Executive Director of the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO) is available for interview. On 24 November 2014, the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, following a long campaign by women’s rights activists, the Law Society, the professional body for solicitors in England and Wales, announced that it has withdrawn its...
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