The No to Oppression against Women Initiative (Arabic: مبادرة لا لقهر النساء ''Mubadarat La Liqahr al-Nisa' ''), also known as the No to Women's Oppression Initiative, is a Sudanese

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

group. The group was active during the Omar al-Bashir era and played a significant role during the 2018–2019 Sudanese Revolution.

Creation

The No to Oppression against Women Initiative was created in 2009 to defend women's rights in Sudan after Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, a female Sudanese journalist working with 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 ...

, was arrested for wearing trousers, which was considered by judicial authorities to be a violation of

Sharia Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...

-based public order law. Hussein was arrested with twelve other women who had also been wearing trousers at a Khartoum restaurant. At the 4 August 2009 trial, two hundred women and men activists demonstrated in protest against the trial and were dispersed by riot police using tear gas, shields and sticks. Ten women had already been flogged for wearing trousers. One of the protest banners at the 4 August protest showed the slogan adopted as the name of the Initiative: "No to oppression against women".

Members and co-founders

* Dr. Ihsan Fagiri * Amal Habani * Tahani Abass * Rashida Shamseldein * Najlaa Norin * Gomaria Omer

Aims

The Initiative aims to defend women's rights via monitoring rights violations, supporting victims during court hearings, making press releases, organising workshops, providing

pro bono ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...

lawyers for victims and visiting women in prisons.

Activities

The initiative implements number of activities across Sudan such as: * Monitoring violations * Advocacy and awareness raising campaign * Legal aid and specific need support * Finance and other resources

Al-Bashir era

In August 2014, the

National Intelligence and Security Service The National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) () is an intelligence agency of the Ethiopian federal government tasked with gathering information of national interests. It does counter-terrorism in the country by informing the federal p ...

(NISS) arrested 16 No to Oppression against Women Initiative members who were calling for the release of

Mariam al-Mahdi Mariam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi ( ar, مريم الصادق المهدي; born 1965) is a Sudanese politician, the leader of the National Umma Party, and the Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs since 11 February 2021. She is the daughter of Sadiq a ...

, vice-president of the

National Umma Party The National Umma Party ( ar, حزب الأمة القومي , translit=Hizb al-Umma al-qawmmy; en, Nation Party) is an Islamic political party in Sudan. It was formerly led by Sadiq al-Mahdi, who served twice as Prime Minister of Sudan, and ...

and daughter of former prime minister

Sadiq al-Mahdi Sadiq al-Mahdi ( ar, الصادق المهدي, aṣ-Ṣādiq al-Mahdī; 25 December 193526 November 2020), also known as Sadiq as-Siddiq, was a Sudanese political and religious figure who was Prime Minister of Sudan from 1966 to 1967 and again f ...

. In 2016, the No to Oppression against Women Initiative documented the sentencing of 15,000 women to flogging, out of a total of 45,000 prosecutions of women under the Public Order Act. The Initiative organised seminars and cultural resistance via festivals. In early 2018, during a crackdown against human rights activists, NISS summoned four Initiative members, Rashida Shamseldein, Ihsan Fagiri, Najlaa Norin and Gomaria Omer, for interrogation.

Sudanese Revolution

The No to Oppression against Women Initiative was one of the major feminist networks, along with Women of Sudanese Civic and Political Groups, that played a prominent role in the

Forces of Freedom and Change The Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC, also ''Alliance for Freedom and Change'', or AFC, and ''Declaration of Freedom and Change'', or DFC; ar, قوى إعلان الحرية والتغيير) is a wide political coalition of civilian and rebel ...

(FFC) alliance that coordinated protests and negotiated with the Transitional Military Council during the 2018–2019 Sudanese Revolution. During the 39-month transition phase to democracy, on behalf of the No to Oppression against Women Initiative, Ihsan Fagiri protested on 22 October 2019 against the men-only nature of the

Khartoum massacre investigation The Khartoum massacre investigation is an official investigation of the 3 June 2019 Khartoum massacre and other human rights violations of the Sudanese Revolution, mandated under Article 7.(16) of the Sudanese August 2019 Draft Constitutional D ...

commission. She stated that, as many women had been killed or thrown dead into the Nile, 70 women and men had been raped, and three women rape victims had committed suicide after the massacre, women should be represented as commission members.

References

{{Sudanese Revolution Feminist organisations in Sudan No to Oppression against Women Initiative Sudanese democracy movements Organizations established in 2009 2009 establishments in Sudan Sudanese women Sudanese women's rights activists