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Women Living under Muslim Laws (WLUML) is a feminist international solidarity network organization. It’s their goal to share information, support and create common space for women whose life is influenced or dominated by laws and rules that derive from Islam.

Name
The plural of the word laws in the name of the organization is very important to emphasize that there is no homogeneous Muslim world. Because in this Muslim world laws are changing according to context and country. Furthermore, the women find themselves governed by a multitude of laws: not only religious, but also local, colonial and other influences matter. The term laws is also understood widely by the organization. Not only governmental but also informal laws like customs that are rooted in the cultural, social and political context can be considered Muslim laws.

Focus areas
The network is mostly aiming to support individual women but also collective movements in their ambition to achieve equality. This support includes the cross-linking of different movements to get them out of isolation and the transfer of knowledge which is needed to fight mystification. The organization has chosen three focus areas.

Fundamentalism
For the network a revival of fundamentalist tendencies is clearly visible and this causes a polarization within the society. After the terroristic attacks of 9/11 a war against terror was fought which according to the ideas of the organization also pushed Muslim groups in Western states to the verge (see WLUML 2006, p. 8).

Only this, according to the believes of the organization, created the aspect of the identification with their mutual religion among Muslims which gave fundamentalist tendencies the chance to push through against progressive and feminist ideas.

Militarization
The organization also tackles the ongoing militarization that can be seen in a lot of countries (like Sri Lanka, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq) these days (see WLUML 2006, p. 6). According to WLUML this is connected to fundamentalism and the organization is trying to early detect tendencies of increasing propensity towards violence to provide peace-building activities.

Bodily autonomy of women - sexuality
The organization calls attention to the control of female bodies by laws as well as cultural or religious practices and starts actions against it (see WLUML 2006, p. 9). In this context it is also important to spread information about HIV/AIDS and other sexually transferable diseases.

Nonetheless, the most important focus area of WLUML is violence against women.

History
The organization was founded in 1984 in response to three cases in Muslim countries and communities in which women were being denied rights by reference to laws said to be ‘Muslim’ requiring urgent action. Nine women from Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Iran, Mauritius, Tanzania, Bangladesh and Pakistan set up the Action Committee of Women Living Under Muslim Laws to support local activities. As a result, the until today equally organized network WLUML was founded in 1986.

Organization
The organization is openly organized, formal memberships do not exist and it is distinguished between networkers and active networkers. Direct employees are part of the Program Implementation Council (PIC) which holds from 20 up to 30 rotating networkers. Those networkers engage in interregional networking according to the organization’s plan of action.

This plan of action informs about goals, activities and strategies of the organization. It was started in 1986 and has been updated multiple times since then. The last renewal was made in 2006 during a conference in Dakar.

The International Coordination Office (ICO) in London serves the organization by simplifying the coordination of the individual networkers. In addition to that autonomic regional Coordination Offices in Pakistan und Senegal help to cover Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Members
According to the plan of action individuals and organizations can understand themselves as WLUML networkers if: (WLUML 2006, p. 14)

They agree and actively support the ideas and principles of WLUML,

They receive and consume information by WLUML,

They are part of a two-way communication with other WLUML members.

Partner organizations
The following list of partner organizations only shows selected members and does not claim to be complete.


 * Act Together
 * Arab Regional Resource Centre on Violence Against Women
 * BAOBAB for Women's Human Rights
 * Canadian Council of Muslim Women
 * Center for Egyptian Women's Legal Assistance
 * Lebanese Council to Resist Violence Against Women (LCRVAW)
 * Palestinian Working Women Society for Development (PWWSD)
 * Queer Jihad
 * Research Action and Information Network for the Bodily Integrity of Women (Rainbo)
 * Sisters in Islam (SIS)
 * Women Against Fundamentalisms (WAF)
 * Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights

Principles
The organization is focused on laws, costums as well as daily lifes of women. Part of this are also the (consequences of) Muslim laws and practices which very often differ from each other. It is not about Islam as a religion but about the interpretation of religious texts and the usage of the religion for political reasons. The network tries to build bridges, regional and international. Another focus area is also based on women in marginal groups: Non-Muslim women in Muslim countries as well as Muslim women in Western countries. Another principle is the international solidarity that the organization wants to support. The organization believes that even though the women are located in different national situations their wishes and attempts to fight for their rights are similar. Another important part are the plurality and autonomy which the organization wants to transfer. They focus on supporting their members (organizations as well as individuals) without intruding certain ideologies.

The daily work
The daily work of the organization includes calls to action, the support of the network, publications and specific projects.

Calls to action
Several organizations and members publish and spread calls to action. These include the newest information, f.e. regarding a current human rights abuse. In situations like these the organization helps out immediately by using its network, f.e. with legal advices, help during the asylum process or psychological support. The network also sets up connections with other charities to be able to help quick and efficiently.

Support of the network
The main focus of the work of WLUML is the support of the network. The organization wants to create a non-hierarchical cooperation, wants to provide diverse information and has regular contact with activists, media, academics, other NGOs and different governments.

Publications
Another service of the network are the publications that are constantly extended and can be downloaded online. Noteworthy are also the translations as all the publications are in English, French and Arabic. WLUML also holds a Youtube channel and a Facebook page.

Projects
Furthermore, there are initiatives for collective projects which are often managed by individual network groups but the ICO and the regional offices also support the organization of these projects. These projects can be trainings for networkers or workshops, like for example:


 * Gender and displacement in Muslim contexts
 * Feminism in the Muslim World Leadership Institutes
 * Women and Law in the Muslim world programm
 * Qur'anic interpretations meetings, for West African networkers and for Francophone West Africa
 * Exchange programs (since 1988)
 * The Feminist Dialogue (2006 - present)
 * The Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women! (2007 - present)
 * The International Coalition on Women Human Rights Defenders