Kamala Chandrakirana speaks at Komnas Perempuan Strategic planning meeting

Kamala (or Nana) Chandrakirana is a feminist human rights activist for justice and democracy from

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. She has been a member of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Working Group on discrimination against women in law and practice since 2011. She spent over a decade founding and serving Indonesia's National Commission on Violence Against Women, the country's primary mechanism for women's human rights. She was first Secretary General from 1998 to 2003, then Chairperson from 2003 to 2009. In 2009, she co-founded

Musawah Musawah ('equality'; in Arabic: ) is a global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family and family laws, led by 'Islamic feminists' "seeking to reclaim Islam and the Koran for themselves", applying progressive interpretations of sac ...

, a "global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family", with other activists, academics and progressive religious scholars.

Work

Chandrakirana has worked on issues of women's human rights, social justice and democracy for over two decades. She has helped build networks and coalitions, strengthened formal human rights mechanisms both in Indonesia and the United Nations, and supported activist engagement across Indonesia, the Asia Pacific region and globally. During Indonesia's conflict-ridden period of 2003–2009, Chandrakirana chaired the National Commission on Violence Against Women, which documented critical violations of women's human rights, including in

Aceh Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...

, Papua, Poso (Central

Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Ar ...

), as well as the rapes of May 1998 and the killings of 1965. Apart from her time as member of the United Nations Working Group on Discrimination against women in law and practice, Chandrakirana has served in other positions in the United Nations system, as a women's human rights expert. She was a member of the

ESCAP The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) is one of the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It was established in order to increase economic ...

-UN Women's Asia Pacific Regional Working Group on Women, Peace and Security. Chandrakirana has been associated with a number of regional networks in the Asia Pacific, including the

Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Afr ...

(APWLD),

International Women's Rights Action Watch, Asia Pacific International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

(IWRAW AP), the Southeast Asian Women's Caucus on

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

, and

, the global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family.

References

External links

United Nations OHCHR Working Group on Discrimination
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandrakirana, Kamala Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Indonesian activists Indonesian women activists United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Indonesian women's rights activists Indonesian feminists Place of birth missing (living people)