The European Forum of Muslim Women sends you its best wishes for 2012!

2011 will remain a busy year in international events, particularly in the Arab world, where popular

uprisings have led to democratic transitions more or less advanced. Unfortunately, other Arab

countries continue to pay high prices to access to freedom and dignity. The Arab Spring showcased

women and their role in the Arab societies. Far from the stereotypes and preconceived images,

women have shown, alongside men, mobilization and courage that compel admiration. They proved

to the world their central role in social transformation.

Moreover, the global economic crisis will have negative consequences on the poor. This is why

economic and political decision-makers have to be smart and they must be fair in order to save the

poorest in times of crisis.

The year 2011 saw a rise of the far right and a trivialisation of Islamophobia across Europe. In times

of crisis, it is always tempting a scapegoat, and it becomes easier to attack those who are without

means to defend themselves. This xenophobia can degenerate into hatred or senseless violence that

has already caused 77 innocent victims this summer at the tragedy that struck Norway. Our

politicians need to double their efforts to appease the spirits and bring a message of peace and

brotherhood among the various components of the same society. We regret that some politicians

play the game of the extreme right and use fear of the Other and in particular of the Muslims for

political purposes at the approach of each election.

Muslim women and Muslims in general must also take this matter into their own hands and do

something about this serious threat. They are primarily responsible to defend a more just, proud and

have a respect for diversity and work hard to live together peacefully.

We hope this year we will be strengthening our cooperation and our goals and projects to

materialize. The challenges are many but we know, to have your support and cooperation.

On September 9, 2011, the Commission on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe invited Ms. Noura Jaballah, President of the EFOMW for a hearing which was held in the preparation of a report on the topic "Muslim Women: For equal opportunity". This report should result in a recommendation.

This resolution being scandalous and intolerable is further more a discriminatory maneuver that equivocatly condemns, stigmatises a part of society, in this case mothers wearing veils and willing to accompany their children on school trips. It is the duty of French League of Muslim Women to react quickly, firmly, about this illegal decision and strongly wishes to speak out their deep indignation.

In concrete terms mothers in their capacity as educators are denied a basic right, to be fully involved in their child's education. The deliberate exclusion of mothers from the scholastic environment under the pretext that they do not reveal their hair, on the contrary will have a direct impact on the well being, psychological balance of their children.

In the beginning of this article I will refer to some incident that happened recently in Europe

 In France, the Collectif contre l’Islamophobie en France (the collective group against islamophia in France) has drawn attention to several Islamophobic assaults on veiled women, most recently “A 29-year old Muslim woman was attacked in the open street in Basel (Switzerland) by an unidentified woman with blows to the back of the neck and insulting remarks about her dress. The victim was wearing black and an Islamic veil”. there is another more tragic occurrence: in July 2009 in Dresden (Germany), Marwa el-Sherbini, an Egyptian (who was 3 months pregnant at the hearing time), wearing a veil, was verbally attacked in a kindergarten by an unemployed man from Russia, called a “terrorist” and “Islamist slut”, then, at the hearing to appeal the culprit’s conviction, was stabbed 18 times in the sight of her three year old son, this crime has actually received little media exposure.