Archives: Muslim Women

Rebecca Rafique is a Senior Consultant with Whitepaper Consultancy, a specialist political consultancy, which bridges the gap between grassroots community affairs and the policy decision-making process at Westminster.

Ms. Rafique’s specialist knowledge is in parliamentary affairs and international politics. With her close links to the Muslim community in London, Ms. Rafique keeps in good stead with current affairs and issues, which are affecting European Muslims today. She is currently helping to facilitate a young Muslim leadership program to be held in Switzerland this year.

Ms. Rafique spent five years as a Public Information specialist with two United Nations Peacekeeping Operations in various countries in Africa. She also served as a Gender Focal Point Officer for women in post-conflict situations in the Ivory Coast. Combined with her work as a Parliamentary Researcher at Westminster, Ms. Rafique is an experienced media advisor in UK, international and humanitarian affairs. Ms. Rafique also serves as the Director of Media Affairs for Musiad UK, an NGO specializing in trade and business links between Turkey and the wider European Community.

Her current interests are in UN policy and resolutions, especially in the area of global democracy. She has currently written a paper on the role of the UN in global democracy promotion. Ms. Rafique has a double-masters; a MBA and a Masters in conflict studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Hedia Belhadj Youssef Sebai, is the head of the Documentation and Information Technology Unit at the Centre of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR). Ms. Sebai is an expert in the design and management of documentary data bases. She specializes in the field of documentation and library management and archives. Since 2006, she has coordinated a project on gender based violence for CAWTAR. She also supervised the production of a training kit on strengthening the capacity of service providers for victims of gender based violence.

Ms. Sebai oversaw the publication of the regional directory Poverty Reduction and Micro Credit for Women Empowerment in the Arab Countries, which was issued in 2007. She also was involved with the regional catalogue, Embroideries of Arab Women, published in 2007 by Tread and Needle. She is also a trainer in the field of documentation and documentation of cases of violence.

Ms. Sebai obtained a certificate of graduate studies specializing in Administrative Documents Management and Archives.

Beyza Zapsu is the Founder and Chairperson of the Young Lives Foundation (Genc Hayat Vakfı), an NGO based in Istanbul, the largest and most diverse city in Turkey. The Foundation works to develop various programs and activities for youths between the ages of 11 and 18 that promote a social transformation in which democracy and human rights are entrenched. The focus of the programs is to provide a platform where synergy can be created from differences and where a culture of tolerance and communication can prevail. Currently the central project of the Young Lives Foundation is Correct Communication (Doğru İletişim Projesi) in which the awareness of perception of ‘I’, ‘We’ and ‘Other’ is raised and communication skills are developed.

Mrs. Zapsu also gives classes to 30 boys, aged 7-14, in an orphanage in Edirnekapı. In addition she is a thinker, researcher and practitioner of Islamic Sufism.

Born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1960, Ms. Zapsu studied at the American College Istanbul and the Richmond College in London. In 1979 she moved to Munich, Germany where she continued her studies. Thirteen years later she moved back to Istanbul where she currently resides with her husband and three daughters.

Sabah Alhalak has been a member of the Syrian Women League since 1985. Ms. Alhalak is a well known women’s activist who has participated in several campaigns. These campaigns have covered issues such as women’s equal rights in divorce and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women’s (CEDAW) reservations withdrawal. Ms. Alhalak was a Women Coordinator for the Syrian Commission for Family Affaires from 2004 to 2006. She is a certified gender trainer and has been involved in many training workshops (TOT) across the Arab region. She is also a UNIFEM certified TOT on women’s political participation.

Ms. Alhalak is an active advocate for CEDAW implementation in Syria in addition to participating in preparing Syria’s primary report on CEDAW. She also attended the CEDAW Committee in NY in 2007. Ms. Alhalak was the coordinator for preparing the Beijing +10 report. She has participated in several studies on women’s issues such as women and Parliament in Syria and Syrian Family Law and women.

Dr. Huma Jamshed is the President and Founder of the Cultural and Educational Association of Pakistani Women (ACESOP), an NGO that works to improve the lives of Pakistani women living in Spain. The organization helps women with language skills, job search and placement, health and education programs, as well as organizing social and cultural events. They also work to improve the relationship between the Pakistani community in Spain and the Spanish population-at-large.

Dr. Jamshed is the Vice President of the Barcelona Municipal Immigration Board (Consell Municipal de Immigacion) and a secretary of the Platform for Equality between Muslim women and men.

Dr. Jamshed is the first Pakistani woman in her program to complete her Ph.D from Madrid Spain.

Rumana Mahomed is the elected Chairperson of the Coalition of Muslim Women (CMW), an open, non-partisan organization that addresses issues pertinent to women, striving towards ensuring social justice, fairness and equality for Muslim Women in South Africa. The CMW was recently initiated by a group of Muslim women representing various organizations and individuals from the broader KwaZulu-Natal area in South Africa. Its first campaign is aimed at the legal recognition of Muslim marriages and divorce into the South African legal system.

Ms. Mahomed is also the coordinator and one of the founding members of Taking Islam to the People (TIP), an open, non-partisan forum for organizations, social activists, community workers, academics and grassroots people. TIP and its constituent members explore creative, lateral and multi-faceted approaches to reviving the spirit of community both amongst Muslims and amongst the broader South African communities.

A legal practitioner by profession Ms. Mahomed holds degrees in B.Soc.Sc. and LLB from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban, South Africa. Her other qualifications include a Certificate in Islamic Law (UKZN) and a diploma in the Arabic language from Zarqa Private University, Jordan. Passionate about social change and economic justice within the framework of an Islamic ethos, she believes that only by actively struggling and striving can change be effected within and outside Muslim society. Ms. Mahomed is married and a mother of three, balancing her life between raising her family and being an agent of change.