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PN interviews Habiba Issack, coordinator of the Habiba International women's rights
group in the largely Somali population of Mandera district in north-east Kenya.
Kenya: women's rights
Habiba Issack &
Melanie Alfonso
PN
How are Habiba International Women and Youth Affairs
struggling for women's rights?
HI By building Somali
women's capacity to know and
understand their human as well
as legal rights, thereby promoting their self-determination and
effective involvement in com-
munity affairs.
By awakening, stimulating
and empowering the Somali
women to systematically and
effectively assert, claim and
defend their legal and human
rights and address, monitor and
effectively respond to abuses and
violence e.g. female genital
mutilation (FGM).
By mobilising, strengthening
and garnering grassroots support
for the movement for women's
human rights in Mandera Dis-
trict.
By empowering the Somali
women to promote and protect
their fundamental rights and
freedoms decisively and eradicate inequality, discrimination,
as well as negative cultural traditions and practices.
By sensitising the Somali
women to reject violence (clan
wars) as a means of resolving
conflicts, and instead embrace
communication, cooperative
decision-making and nonviolent
conflict resolution in order to
ensure free, secure, peaceful and
equitable relationships.
PN What obstacles do you face?
HI The obstacles to our work
include: finance, illiteracy,
poverty, gender inequality and
patriarchal society.
PN How did Habiba International Women and Youth Affairs
come about?
HI Habiba International was
started in 2000. The idea of
starting the organisation came
about following the traditional
circumcision ceremony in which
my daughter was involved. She
was traumatized and dropped
out of school.
I met other mothers who
faced the same plight and decided to fight the practice and
hence the decision to form the
organisation was made.
The organisation is located on
the border of Kenya, Ethiopia
and Somalia where there are frequent conflicts and incidents of
violence and human rights violations.
PN What is your attitude to
nonviolence as a strategy/philosophy?
HI Nonviolence strategies are
the best to solve disputes.
Reconciliation and dialogue
that aims to bring people
together will bring about the
desired outcome in any conflict
This will help in restoring
and building relationships
among conflicting parties. For
its success it must have the elements of truth, mercy, justice
and peace.
PN How has the current
Kenyan political situation
affected women's rights and
Habiba International's work in
particular?
HI The Kenyan political situ-
ation has affected many women
in Kenya socially and economically. Many women have been
raped, battered, dropped out of
school and lost income opportunities.
Clans within the Somali community are now fighting for
limited resources to take advantage of the political situation in
Kenya, which makes women
who were the most vulnerable
even more disadvantaged.
PN What do you know of
other women's organisations and
movements in Kenya and else-
where in Africa?
HI Habiba International net-
works with many organisations |
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