INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY PRESS NOTE
SHARIA FORMALLY CHALLENGED AS VIOLATING WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS BEFORE THE UNITED NATIONS (UN) HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
Women, and men of all faiths from many countries, victims of terrorism, human rights defenders, professors, activists, and concerned persons have jointly and formally lodged a complaint before the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council on the gross, reliably attested, and continuing pattern of the violation of women’s human rights caused by Sharia.
The complaint is not Islamophobic as, according to the UN, “criticism of the ideas, leaders, symbols or practices of Islam” is not in itself Islamophobia, and “international human rights law protects individuals, not religions.” The complaint is on the thematic and transnational topic of continuing violation of women’s human rights caused by three related issues: (a) violence against women, (b) Sharia, and (c) aspects of Islamic culture. Based on extensive and irrefutable publicly available evidence, including UN documents and the lived experiences of women affected by Sharia, it draws attention to Sharia’s incompatibility with international human rights law, especially the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) that came into force in 1981. Some non-exhaustive examples are as follows:
Violence against women: Sharia-linked violence is inflicted upon women in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Asia.
This includes the recent extreme sexual violence committed against Israeli women in October 2023 by Hamas proven by the UN; the infliction of sexual slavery on Yezidi women by the Islamic State (IS); killing of Iranian women for not wearing the hijab; the trafficking, kidnapping, and conversion of Coptic Christian girls in Egypt; kidnapping of girls and women in Nigeria by Boko Haram; mass attacks on women in Germany in 2015; the rape of girls in the UK by the so-called ‘grooming gangs’; the forced conversion, kidnapping and murder of Hindu girls in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to name a few.
Sharia: Statistical analysis demonstrates that 71% of the Qur’an’s text gives women lower status than men. In the Hadith, 91% of the text about women state that a woman has a lower status than a man. Key Qur’anic verses sanction male violence to compel a woman’s ‘obedience’; allow child marriage and polygamy, discriminate in inheritance, and prohibit a Muslim woman from marrying a non-Muslim.
Islamic culture: Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is widespread in parts of the Islamic world. Immigration from Muslim countries has increased FGM in the West. Islamic culture compels Muslim women to undergo unnecessary surgery to restore their hymen. UN reports show how Islamic culture demeans women. Islamic culture impedes women’s education in some parts of the world and blocks advancement for educated Muslim women. Muslim women do not have equal opportunities to participate actively in sports and physical education and have poorer access to mosques as compared to Muslim men. Head coverings for Muslim women are linked to complex security, health, educational, cultural, and civilizational issues. Muslim leaders have also violated Muslim women’s reproductive right to choose the number of children by advocating the use of Muslim birth rates as a non-military strategy to conquer non-Muslim lands. Warnings have come from ex-Muslim women because of this worldwide and the continuing pattern of Sharia violating women’s human rights.
Action requested: The Human Rights Council should:
i. Request a single consolidated response from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), including one standardized, worldwide codification of the Sharia and an explanation as to why Sharia should not be considered a fundamental cause of violation of women’s human rights.
ii. Appoint two non-Muslim rapporteurs, one who is a Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief and the second, a Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, to mandate them to work in a coordinated manner and report to the Human Rights Council on the following issues:
a. Submit a thematic report on the elements of Sharia that discriminate against and have negatively impacted the lives of Muslim and non-Muslim women. The two rapporteurs should ensure that the views of ex-Muslim, reformist Muslim women, critics of Islam, and others impacted by these norms are the primary sources of data for this report.
b. Advise the Council if the elements of the Sharia are contrary to resolution 16/18 adopted by the Human Rights Council in 2011 which related to ‘combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of, and discrimination, incitement to violence and violence against, persons based on religion or belief’ as they relate to non-Muslims.
c. To work with and assist UN Women to determine the extent to which the elements of Sharia are the root cause of inequality and violence by extremist Muslims against women.
d. To determine if the word “kuffar” violates the UN definition of ‘hate speech.’
e. To work closely with UN Women and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women thereby enabling the Committee mentioned above to hold days of general discussion (DGDs) on ‘The Rights of Women and Girls to be protected against specific norms in the Sharia that violate CEDAW and other human rights treaties on women’ and to further enable the Committee to issue a General Recommendation to State parties.
iii. The Human Rights Council should consider the extent to which elements of Sharia have been demonstrated to cause crimes against humanity and gender apartheid against women, as recorded in its 2016 report on ISIS crimes against Yazidis, and the joint report by the Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan and the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls. Based on these reports, it should contribute to ongoing discussions towards a universal treaty on crimes against humanity and the need to include specific elements of the Sharia as risk factors that heighten the likelihood of such crimes against women.
iv. The Human Rights Council should request the International Law Commission to determine the extent to which elements of Sharia should be classified as harmful practices and therefore null and void as being contrary to international human rights law.
Copy to:
Mr. António Guterres, Secretary-Secretary General, United Nations.
Mr. Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations.
Ms. Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, United Nations.
Ms. Sami Bahous is the Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director.
Ms. Rola Dashti, Executive Director, Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)
Mr. Vladimir Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General for Counterterrorism, United Nations.
Mr. Miguel de Serpa Soares, Under-Secretary-General and United Nations Legal Counsel.
Ms. Melissa Fleming, Under-Secretary-General, Department of Global Communications, United Nations.
Mr. Abraham Cooper, Chair, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Ms. Dunja Mijatović, Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe.
Mr. Justice Arun Kumar Mishra (retd), Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission of India.
