Dear women, comrades, friends and sisters,

In my personal capacity, I extend my warmest solidarity to your
initiative of a March against provisions, laws and measures that so
terribly affect women in some of our countries. I wish you a great
success.

We witness a situation in which the most inhuman treatments for women
are being tolerated by the international community, in the name of
values that one did not expect to be manipulated in that way, such
as: tolerance, right to difference, religious rights,  respect for
cultures, etc...
The international community, which otherwise does not hesitate in
going to war and invading sovereign countries in the name of
democratic values, turn a blind eye to situations where women alone
are denied democracy and human rights.

Although some progress has been made in the past twenty years in the
fields of domestic violence, honor killings, and violence against
women in wars, we women still face total insensitivity, including
from main stream Left organisations, when it comes to forms of
violence, legal or customary, that pretend to emanate from a
religious interpretation or a cultural norm.

In wake of this political cowardness, our voices should come out
louder and louder. This March will certainly be a a decisive moment
in this struggle.

Wishing you all the very best, and a big success,
in solidarity,

marieme helie lucas
former international coordinator,
and founder of the international solidarity network "Women Living
Under Muslim Laws"