Muslim Women's Research and Action Forum

This organisation first began in 1976 with informal meetings of a few Muslim women who gathered together to discuss the critical issues facing Muslim women in Sri Lanka. It was formally established in 1986 and was registered as a NGO in 1990.

Objectives:

  • To create a greater awareness among Muslim women about their socio-legal status
  • To empower women to realise their full potential so that they can participate equally at all levels of society
  • To provide a common forum for concerned and progressive Muslim women and men to come together for discussion and action about multi-disciplinary issues of importance to women in the Muslim community in particular, and to women in other communities in general
  • To promote solidarity among professional women
  • To bring about the interpretation of the Qur'an devoid of chauvinistic influences
  • To challenge forces that undermine the autonomy and independence of Muslim women
  • To create an active network with groups working with similar objectives at local, national, and international levels.

Activities:
Action Research

  • research on the law and the status of Muslim women and other social issues
  • comprehensive research on the Muslim Personal Law including general law in Sri Lanka and Muslim law in other countries
  • proposals for the reform of Muslim Personal Law in Sri Lanka

Mobilisation

  • legal literacy of rural and urban women including students
  • workshops to help strengthen the capacity of women to be citizens of a multi-racial, multi-lingual, and multi-religious society

Counselling and Legal Aid

  • legal counselling and legal aid unit (will begin soon)

Networking

  • linked with Sri Lanka Women's NGO Forum
  • linked with International Solidarity Network

Documentation and Resource Centre

  • documentation and resource unit on formal and customary laws in the Muslim world, women's lives, struggles and strategies, and progressive interpretations of Islam
  • publications of the International Solidarity Network

Newsletter

  • newsletter, published twice a year, in English and Tamil

Contact:
Muslim Women's Research and Action Forum (
MWRAF)
73/19E, Temple Lane, Off Kirulapona Avenue
Colombo 5
Tel./Fax -94-11-
2512846/ 94-11-4405902
E-mail -
mwraf@sltnet.lk



 

  

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225/4 Kirula Road, Colombo-5, Sri Lanka.
Tele/Fax : 94-11-2369530 / 94-11-2502153
E-mail: cen_info@sltnet.lk and cenwor@slt.lk