Current Issues for Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North African Region

The progress and power and plight of women in the MENA Region have deservedly been front-page news for decades. As with the politics and economics and religious practices in the Region and Islamic world, it is not monolithic, despite Western tendencies to characterize it as such. This Program features renowned authorities on the rights and status of women in the Region.

The Program’s Panel is headlined by Tawakkol Karman, the only Arab woman Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; and features Rose Parris Richter, former Chief of Staff for the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief and Senior Advisor to the former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran; the Hon. Elizabeth S. Stong, U.S.B.C., E.D.N.Y., who has for many years been very active in instructing and developing women jurists in the Region (and is Co-Chair of the MENA Committee); Lauren Schmidt, who speaks about the challenges now facing women in Afghanistan and Pakistan, based in part on her work with refugees from those countries in Tanzania; Abed Awad, Esq., a Palestinian-American lawyer and Adjunct Professor at Rutgers School of Law, whose practice focuses on representing Muslim women in cross-border custody and matrimonial lawsuits; and Norah Altaweel (via Zoom from London), a Saudi Arabian lawyer and former Secretary of the Islamic Law Committee of the American Branch of the International Law Association.

Speakers:
Tawakkol Karman, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Founder and President, Women Journalists Without Chains
Rose Parris Richter,  Founder/Executive Director of Impact Iran
Norah Altaweel, Saudi Arabian lawyer and former Secretary of the Islamic Law Committee of the American Branch of the International Law Association
Lauren Schmidt, Chief Experience Officer & Founder, a tree that grows
Abed Awad, Awad & Khoury LLP; Adjunct Professor of Law at Rutgers Law School, Newark 
Hon. Elizabeth S. Stong, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge, Eastern District of New York, Co-Chair of the Committee on Middle Eastern and North African Affairs

Moderator:
Robert E. Michael, Chief Legal Officer of Standard Power, Founding Chair and Co-Chair of the Committee on Middle Eastern and North African Affairs

Sponsoring Association Committee:
Middle Eastern and North African Affairs,  Hon. Elizabeth Stong & Robert E. Michael, Co-chairs

Co-Sponsoring Committees:
Council on International Affairs
African Affairs
Asian Affairs
Foreign & Comparative Law
International Law
Sex and Law
United Nations Committee
Women in the Legal Profession

Co-Sponsoring Organization:
ABA International Law Section