Alaa Murabit

Alaa Murabit
Born Alaa Mohamed Murabit
(1989-10-26) October 26, 1989
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Nationality Canadian, Libyan
Alma mater University of Zawia
London School of Economics and Political Science
Occupation Medical Doctor
Peace Expert
Women's rights activist
Known for Sustainable Development Goal Global Advocate
United Nations High Level Commissioner
The Voice of Libyan Women
Keeping Children Safe Trustee
Ashoka: Innovators for the Public Fellow
Awards
New York Times TrustWomen Hero Award
Safe Global Hero
BBC Top 100
Marisa Bellisario International Humanitarian Award

Alaa Murabit (born October 26, 1989) is a Canadian physician who became a women's rights and youth activist in Libya in 2011. She has since become a leading international advocate for youth and women's rights and their inclusion in peace processes and conflict resolution.

Early life and education

Murabit was born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, the sixth of eleven children in her family. Her father is a doctor.[1]

She has stated that, although she initially had no plans on advocating women's rights, her parents' equal treatment of her and her brothers played an extremely important role in the way she viewed the world.[2]

After completing high school at age fifteen, she moved with members of her family to Zawiya, Libya, where she studied medicine at the University of Zawiya. She grew frustrated seeing "that “regardless of how much I studied, or how much smarter I was than my male classmate, his opinion always trumped mine....I felt very much robbed of my own opportunity and my own rights.”[2]

She studied at the College of Medicine at the University of Zawiya in Libya from 2006 to 2013, and worked at Zawiya Teaching Hospital and at various makeshift clinics during the 2011 civil war.[3][4] When the war began, her father became involved almost immediately with the rebels, and together they provided medical care for rebel soldiers. “Their work put them on the regime’s radar,” the Daily Beast later reported. “Her father was hunted and even arrested a few times, and she was put on Libya’s list of wanted women.”[1] Murabit later explained, “My father was already wanted and had been on SkyNews with Alex Crawford in the first week of March 2011, named as Dr. M, she actually writes about the experience in her book...The list was of women they perceived to be supporting the revolutionaries in Zawiya, where I live. Zawiya had been retaken by the Regime, despite being the first city in the West to rise up. The idea behind it was that these women should be, if found, arrested. It seemed more symbolic than anything."[5]

Career

Murabit founded The Voice of Libyan Women in August 2011 and has been president since. She has explained that VLW “was founded following the 2011 Libyan Revolution. I was in my final year of medical school at the time, and found out that there was a window of opportunity for women in Libya. I, and others, felt that we had to take that window of opportunity to ensure that women were able to truly advocate and demand their rights. It happened almost accidentally, [but also] out of necessity.”[3]

VLW “pushes for inclusive peace processes and conflict mediation by shifting the paradigm around the role of women in society at both the grassroots and policy level.” It “is best known for researching women's security, advocating against gender violence and training women to participate in government and speak out for their rights to be recognized in national policies.” VLW has three major offices in Libya. The head office is in Zawiya, which is about thirty minutes from the capital.

VLW's Noor Campaign “focuses on redirecting the conversation about women’s rights when it comes to the misrepresentation and misuse of religion to negate those rights.” The Noor Campaign is based on community leaders and "brought together over 600 local community leaders, including those who had never worked in civil society before". Working with a network of hundreds of community organizations throughout Libya, including Ayadina Charity in Benghazi, Mothers for Martyrs and The Southern Women's Forum, the campaign reached over 35 cities and communities, as far south as Ghat, Libya on the southern Libyan border, Tobruk and Bayda on the Eastern border and Nalut and Ghadames in the west. The campaign and methodology have since been replicated internationally.

Alaa Murabit speaks at the SNOW Gala in Singapore

She has maintained that peace is achievable through communities, "The only real solution, the only way to get that grenade or gun put down safely is the very spirit of this Forum. It is by filling his hands and head with something else. A pencil, a pay check, a diploma, a dream – by building up people, by creating institutions we break down wars. By strengthening local peace builders we give them the tools to change their communities from within."

Murabit serves as an Advisory Board member for The German Marshall Fund’s MENA Partnership.[3] Since July 2014, she has been a member of the United Nations 1325 Advisory Board, which monitors the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security. She has been an Ashoka Fellow since September 2014, and has been an Advisor to UN Women's GCSAG since October 2014.[4] She is also involved in Harvard University’s “Everywoman, Everywhere” initiative.[6]

In 2013, she spoke at the Women in the World summit. “During the revolution, I saw phenomenally brave women taking a leading role,” Murabit told Lesley Stahl. She said that one important way of “empowering Libyan women...is to educate women on the teachings of their own religion” by using “verses from the Quran and other Muslim scriptures” to challenge violence against women that is committed in the name of Islam. “Often when violence happens, people excuse it with religion,” Murabit said. “Young girls need to know that they can fight fire with fire and say, ‘No, my religion is not why you are doing this.’”[1] She appeared at the Oslo Freedom Forum in May 2015[6] and spoke about "Arming Women for Peace".[7]

Dr. Alaa Murabit addresses the "United Nations Security Council" in October 2015

In May 2015 she also addressed an official TEDWomen audience, where she received a standing ovation for her talk, released in July 2015 as an official "Ted Talk of the Day".[8] The New York Times selected it as one of '4 moving TED Talks you should watch right now', "Alaa Murabit, founder of The Voice of Libyan Women, explores Islam and its impact on laws and cultural and societal structures involving gender. During her speech, Murabit asks: “Why if we are equal in the eyes of God are we not equal in the eyes of men?” It’s a question she pondered as a young 15-year-old Muslim girl, the middle child of 11, who moved from Libya to Canada in the early 1980s. As she explores her answer, Murabit highlights ways her childhood emphasized the importance of women’s leadership and participation and shares why a similar structure can challenge the “distorted religious messaging” plaguing so many religions when it comes their attitudes toward women."[9]

In October 2015 Murabit was selected as the Civil Society Speaker for the 15th Anniversary Open Debate of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325.[10] In 2014 and 2015 Murabit was an invited guest at the Halifax International Security Forum in Halfax, Nova Scotia, Canada.[11]

In January 2016 Dr. Alaa Murabit became the youngest appointee of 17 UN Global Sustainable Development Goal Advocates [12] and in March 2016 Dr. Murabit was named a UN High-Level Commissioner on Health Employment and Economic Growth. [13]

Honors and awards

President Jimmy Carter and Dr. Alaa Murabit

She was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2014.[14] and is a Trustee for the "Keeping Children Safe" Coalition.

In January 2016 she became the youngest appointee of 17 UN Global Sustainable Development Goal Advocates [12] and in March 2016 Dr. Murabit was named a UN High-Level Commissioner on Health Employment and Economic Growth. [13]

Safe Magazine named her a “Global Hero” and cover person in November 2014.[15] She was named a “TrustWomen Hero” in December 2013 by The International New York Times and the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “Alaa is a natural leader, and her organization has achieved tremendous tangible impact for women both in politics and society,” said HM Queen Noor, Founder and Chair of the Noor Al Hussein and the King Hussein Foundations and Trust Women Advisory Board Member, who presented her with the Trust Women Award. “Alaa’s bold thinking and fearless attitude are an inspiration for all women to be the architects of their own future.”

Her previous awards include Marisa Bellisario International Humanitarian Award from the President of the Italian Republic in 2013.[16] In April 2013, Newsweek selected her as “One of 25 women under 25 to watch in 2013.” She was a finalist for the “TrustWomen Hero Award” by Thomson Reuters and the International Herald Tribune in December 2012.

Publications

Murabit has written articles for The Carter Center,[17] NewAmerica,[18] Chime for Change,[19] Huffington Post,[20] and The Christian Science Monitor[21]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Dickson, Caitlin (Apr 5, 2013). "Alaa Murabit on Fighting for Women in Libya". The Daily Beast.
  2. 1 2 "Saskatchewan woman, Alaa Murabit, was one of Gadhafi's most wanted". CBC News. Nov 29, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 "Giving a Voice to Women in Libya: Five Minutes with Alaa Murabit". Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. Aug 6, 2014.
  4. ↑ Crawford, Alex (March 9, 2011). "Special Report: Rebel-Held Town Under Siege". SkyNews.
  5. 1 2 "Alaa Murabit". Oslo Freedom Forum.
  6. ↑ "Alaa Murabit". Arming Women For Peace.
  7. ↑ "Alaa Murabit". What My Religion Really Says.
  8. ↑ "New York Times". 4 Moving talks.
  9. ↑ "UN Live". Security Council Open Debate.
  10. ↑ "The Voice of Libyan Women: Alaa Murabit reclaiming identity, country and faith".
  11. 1 2 "Sustainable Development Goals Advocates".
  12. 1 2 "UN Secretary-General appoints High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth".
  13. ↑ "Ashoka Fellow". Ashoka. 2014.
  14. ↑ "Global Hero". SAFE Magazine – New Issue. November 19, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Libyan women’s rights activist wins second international award". Libya Herald. December 6, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Reclaiming Faith". Carter Center Forum on Women. Feb 5, 2015.
  17. ↑ "THE POWER OF LIBYA'S FEMALE ARMS DEALERS". NewAmerica. Dec 18, 2014.
  18. ↑ "FROM THE GROUND UP". Chime For Change. July 9, 2013.
  19. ↑ "The Key to Countering Violent Extremism". Huffington Post. November 10, 2014.
  20. ↑ "In Libya, Islam – and a purple hijab – help spurn domestic violence against women". Christian Science Monitor. March 14, 2013.

External links

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