PHREB, Bangladesh (newsletter December 2007)
One of the participants in the international conference on Transforming Development was Farid Alam, an engaged and ever-enthusiastic 30-year old man from Bangladesh. Farid had been in the Netherlands several times before, where he paid visits to protection shelters for abused women (‘Blijf-van-mijn-lijf huizen') and Dutch lobby groups of prostitutes. In 2005 he attended as an Expert in an international conference about Domestic Violence in Holland. In Bangladesh, Farid is managing director of "Promoting Human Rights and Education in Bangladesh" (PHREB) and founder of BKAF (Adolescent Girls' Rights Forum) a Girls Movement for Human Rights). From BKAF, 18 girls have committed suicide in last three years who, after being raped, harassed or gang raped did not get justice from law and family or community. PHREB fights to make human rights a Bangladeshi reality, with a focus on the rights of women and girls.
During the conference Transforming Development, Farid's stories of terrible violence against Bangladeshi women made a deep impression on the other participants. Farid also shared his thoughts about ways to fight against these violations of the rights of girls and women. One of the ways to do this is through the PHREB program "Imams Movement for Women Rights and Ending Violence against Women and Children Campaign". In situations of injustice, this program seeks to re-establish justice through the intervention of religious leaders.
Farid gave the example of a Bangladeshi man, who divorced his wife and forced her to leave the house. He even burned her face. The woman went to an imam to seek justice and exercise her rights. This imam reversed the fatwa and decided that the man had to leave the house. The good news in this story is that this woman dared to stand up for herself and find justice, even though the attack of her husband was irreversible and she looked like a war victim.
Farid emphasized that the issue of women's abuse goes beyond Islam. One must also look at cultural values. In the Imams Movement program, imams begin to read the Qur'an with different eyes, learning that In Islam women and children are much more respected than they tend to be in Bangladeshi culture.
For more information, you can visit PHREB's website.
