Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
10BRUSSELS11
2010-01-05 16:22:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Brussels
Cable title:  

BELGIUM: EUR ENGAGEMENT ON WOMEN'S ISSUES

Tags:  KWMN XG PHUM BE 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO1647
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHBS #0011/01 0051622
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 051622Z JAN 10 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9875
INFO RUCNMUC/EU CANDIDATE STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEU/EU INTEREST COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 000011 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

EUR/PGI FOR JKUYKENDALL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KWMN XG PHUM BE
SUBJECT: BELGIUM: EUR ENGAGEMENT ON WOMEN'S ISSUES

REF: STATE 124579

BRUSSELS 00000011 001.4 OF 002


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 000011

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

EUR/PGI FOR JKUYKENDALL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KWMN XG PHUM BE
SUBJECT: BELGIUM: EUR ENGAGEMENT ON WOMEN'S ISSUES

REF: STATE 124579

BRUSSELS 00000011 001.4 OF 002



1. (U) SUMMARY: Embassy Brussels' Public Diplomacy (PD)
office has been working with the Washington, D.C.-based Non
Governmental Organization "Karamah: Muslim Women Lawyers for
Human Rights" (http://www.karamah.org/) since 2004 in order
to empower Belgian Muslim women and improve their health and
well-being. END SUMMARY


2. (U) In 2004, post invited Dr. Azizah Y. Al-Hibri,
Professor of Law, University of Richmond, and
Founder/Director of "Karamah," to Belgium for the first time.
The main purpose was for Professor Al-Hibri to participate
in a one-day conference on the status of Muslim women and to
meet with various Belgians (Muslims and non-Muslims working
on minority integration and minority women's issues) to learn
from the U.S. experience in dealing with these issues. By
doing so, post hoped to strengthen ties with moderate Muslims
and Muslim organizations in Belgium as well as continue to
create a climate of trust and understanding of U.S. society
and values within the Belgian Muslim community at large, away
from international political crises. The overall purpose was
to present a positive image of the U.S. as a pluralistic
society with respect for all religions and all minorities.


3. (U) While it was extremely difficult at the time,
(shortly after the Iraq war),for the Embassy and any U.S.
speaker to be accepted as a credible interlocutor within
Belgium's Muslim communities (the organizers suffered severe
criticism within their community for associating with U.S.
government personnel),the conference was a resounding
success. While most of the conference speakers addressed
Muslim women's issues in terms of the clash of civilizations
- "modernizing" Islam or "islamizing" modernity (a theme
that did not seem to resonate with the audience, more than
half of which consisted of Muslim women) - Dr. Al-Hibri
struck a chord with the audience by arguing in a scholarly
fashion that the tenets of Islam itself prescribe a de facto
affirmative action for women. She asserted that in most
Islamic cultures around the world, cultural practices that
suppress women are represented as principles of faith. What
is needed, she said, are more (female) Islamic scholars able
to refute these modern perversions of Islam in Europe and
everywhere they are found. The areas of family law,
religion and civil statutes frequently conflict, but the
answer is not to ignore one or other set of rules, but to
reconcile the two (that is, civil law and Islamic law). In
the U.S. this is commonly done by means of advice to the
court by Islamic scholars. The possibility of establishing a
system of Islamic jurisprudence in the West based on the
traditional Qu'ran was a real revelation to the audiences
here. There are no real Islamic experts in Belgium and all
efforts to reconcile what are perceived to be the tenets of
Islam and the requirements of civil law have been directed at
forcing individuals to choose between them.


4. (U) The conference organizers reported afterwards that
Dr. Al-Hibri had made a very positive impression, especially
on young Muslim girls. Even the more conservative Muslims,
mainly those representing mosques, began to realize that they
have more to gain than to lose by not letting international
politics get in the way of their own emancipation process.
The sentiment that came out of the conference was that
working together with American Muslims (even with the help of
the U.S. Embassy) may be OK after all, adding that they were
especially hopeful for the next generation of young Muslim
women.


5. (U) Building on this success, PD Brussels invited Dr.
Al-Hibri back for more meetings and lectures, including a
speech before the Belgian parliament in March 2005 and a
hearing before the European parliament in April 2008. In
2005, post invited a young Belgian Muslim woman to
participate in Karamah's annual "Law and Leadership Summer
Program (LLSP)," an intensive three-week seminar on Islamic
Jurisprudence, Comparative Law, Conflict Resolution, and
Leadership Development, held in Washington, D.C.


6. (U) The feedback on the LLSP was so positive that in
2006 post selected (and financed) five Muslim women coming
from all parts of Belgium, and another six every year since
then. Today, post has a pool of 25 Belgian Karamah LLSP
alumni, several of whom are now part of a steering committee
that was created in October 2009, to establish a "Karamah EU"
in Brussels which will be focusing on specific issues facing
Belgian (and ultimately European) women and their communities.

EASON


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