On Wednesday, a group of women staged a protest in front of the Council of Ministers to express their opposition to the MoU signed with the UN on women, peace, and security in Libya, which stipulates that the Libyan government must comply with the Tthe Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Agreement.
One of the placards stated, “The problems of Libyan women cannot be restored by CEDAW, but by following Sharia law.” The rights were bestowed by Islam not offered to us by any other document in the world,” a demonstration participant remarked.
The demonstrators published a statement requesting that the government revoke Resolution 1325, which they believe is contradictory to Islamic law and offends Libyan culture and customs, as well as the results of the investigations conducted in this regard. The Libya Observer spoke with Safa Bin Abdulla, a member of the Educated Women Movement and one of the organizers, who confirmed that women in Libya face problems and obstacles, but that CEDAW is not the solution.
“We want solutions with an Islamic frame of reference, not resolutions imported from other societies and cultures,” Safa explains, adding that “the problem is that Islamic law is not applied in practice,” and that “documents issued in connection with women’s rights have not brought justice to women in other communities and will not bring justice to Libyan women.”
