Global Campaign to Stop Stoning: Why Stoning Is Violence Against Women

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Film by Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh

In 2013, at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York City, WLUML was member of a panel titled  "Global Campaign to Stop Stoning: Why Stoning is a Violence Against Women."

As the theme that year was Violence Against Women, it gave WLUML an an excellent opportunity to raise awareness on stoning and how it is the most cruel form of punishment; and how it is justified by religious extremist forces as law under Shari'a. The panel used the event to talk about the Violence is Not Our Culture campaign, which was a WLUML-WELDD Outcome 3 project on Culturally Justified Violence Against Women (CVAW) where stoning and child marriage were the two focal themes. 

The panel structure was as follows:  

· Welcome Remarks and Overview on Human Rights Implications of Stoning - Zarizana Abdul Aziz, Chair,  Women  Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML)

· Stoning in Iran - Elahe Amani, Chair, Women’s Intercultural Network – Global Circles and Board Member, Global Advisory Stop Stoning Forever  

· Stoning in Afghanistan - Wazhma Frogh, Co-founder & Executive Director, Research Institute for Women Peace & Security – Afghanistan    

· Overview on Women’s Struggles Against Stoning - Leila Mouri , WLUML feminist-activist and currently doing research on gender and sexuality in post-revolutionary Iran at Columbia University    

· Call for a UN Resolution to Stop Stoning + Stoning Power Point -  Lois A. Herman, Coordinator, Women's UN Report Network

This hour-length video documents the event, detailing each speaker's points and drawing attention to WLUML's Violence Is Not Our Culture campaign. As part of this project, a global petition against stoning was launched, and it mobilised more than 11,000 signatories to the petition.