UPDATE: Appeal for ongoing support of WLUML's nomination of Zarizana Abdul Aziz for UN Working Group

We are pleased to announce that WLUML board member, Ms. Zarizana Abdul Aziz, has made it through the second round of Human Rights Council (HRC) consultations and is on the short-list for the Asian member of the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and Practice. WLUML would like to thank those of you who endorsed Ms. Abdul Aziz's nomination; WLUML is now appealing to you to contact your governments and urge your support for her candidature. Please do urge your governments regardless of whether they are members of the HRC. You can find embedded a list of the current member states of the HRC and the Report of the Consultative Group. For your country's Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office at Geneva click here.

In December 2010, Women Living Under Muslim Laws nominated Ms. Zarizana Abdul Aziz from Malaysia as the most knowledgeable and experienced candidate for the Asia representative of the UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and Practice (Endorse WLUML's nomination of Zarizana Abdul Aziz for new UN Working Group). The Human Rights Council has now submitted the report of the consultative group regarding the selection and nomination of mandate-holders, and stands ready for consultations with all concerned parties on the candidates proposed by the Consultative Group. There were about 250 persons nominated for this UN Working Group and three names were shortlisted from each of the five regions. For the Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and Practice, the recommendation of the consultative group for the member from the Asian States was for the following candidates: Ms. Kamala Chandrakirana (Indonesia) Ms. Zarizana Abdul Aziz (Malaysia) and Ms. Shanthi Diaram (Malaysia). 

Ms. Zarizana Abdul Aziz is a respected lawyer and advocate of human and women's rights and has been working on legislations, law and policy reform for the last 24 years. She has worked with governments, intergovernmental organisations, the court and the civil society on gender auditing laws, law and policy reform and domestication of international human rights norms. She has worked in different cultural, religious and legal contexts and is sensitive to these cultural and geographical contexts and specificities. Ms. Abdul Aziz has undertaken academic research, missions and trainings of and outreach to civil society advocates and government officials. She has excellent skills in bridging differences. She holds a degree in law from the University of Sydney, Australia and Master in Law focusing on Human Rights from Columbia University, USA, where she was also a human rights fellow. Zarizana is currently a visiting scholar at Columbia University, New York, where she is undertaking research on State obligation to eliminate violence against women.

Membership of the Human Rights Council 19 June 2010-18 June 2011 - By regional groups

President letter transmitting CG report on SPs