Democratisation & Human Rights

Ahwaris in Iraq have been through a series of tragedies over the decades. “We have lived a long history of displacement, oppression and racism. We have always opposed authoritarian governments and any form of authoritarianism. My family was active in opposition to Saddam Hussain. My uncle was killed resisting him in Hor Al-Huwaiza,” explains Ahwari activist and environmental and human rights defender Mustafa Hashim who is part of the “Ahwari Voice-The Ahwari Human Rights network”, one of several self-organized groups in the Marsh lands, the Ahwar (singular Hor), that spread through Southern Iraq and Iran. 

The Global Feminist Pitch is back to support feminists from Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, Middle East and (South) Eastern Europe. This year we are looking for six feminists who will tell stories of feminists, feminist moments, and movements from their region in the form of short graphic novels. Apply now!

Help knows no borders. There are many people who are willing to take in survivors of the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey. Medical support in the stricken areas is desperately needed. But this will require support at political level.

Anne Klein Women's Award 2023 to Joumana Seif, lawyer and co-founder of the Syrian Women's Network from Damascus, Syria

Syrian lawyer Joumana Seif is the 2023 Anne Klein Women's Laureate. She strives for the political participation of women and the recognition of gender-based violence as a crime against humanity as well as its punishment. Kristin Helberg describes her journey from Damascus to Berlin.

The Anne Klein Women’s Award 2023 goes to Joumana Seif, lawyer, a human and women‛s rights activist, born in 1970 in Damascus, Syria. She spent the past years living in forced exile in Berlin. Since 2001, she has been courageously active in her fight for and commitment to women’s rights. For her, women's rights are human rights. It is thanks to activists like her that sexualized violence has been classified as a systematically used weapon of war and that it can be legally prosecuted and sentenced in international proceedings as a crime against humanity.

Joumana Seif is a Syrian lawyer and a feminist. She is a legal advisor in International Crimes and Accountability program at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), with a particular focus on Syria and sexual and gender-based violence. She worked on the al-Khatib trial before the Higher Regional Court of Koblenz by closely supporting the survivors.