Events

Chaz Akoshile, Joint Head of the UK's Forced Marriage Unit; Jasvinder Sanghera, founder of Karma Nirvana and Sabatina James, founder of Sabatina EV attend the AHA Foundation's International Women's Day and HONOUR Launch cocktail reception.

On Thursday, March 8, 2012, the AHA Foundation held a cocktail reception in New York City to celebrate International Women’s Day and launch our new HONOUR products.  To date, we have an HONOUR tote bag, tie, pink and white candles.

 
The cocktail reception was a major success, particularly in the caliber of guests who attended.  In addition to friends and supporters, we were thrilled to host Jasvinder Sanghera, founder of Karma Nirvana; Chaz Akoshile, Joint Head of the UK’s Forced Marriage Unit; Phyllis Chesler, honor violence scholar; and Sabatina James, forced marriage survivor and founder of Sabatina EV.

The U.S. State Department presents the AHA Foundation with a Certificate of Appreciation for assistance in combating the forced marriage of U.S. citizens.

We are pleased to announce that on November 17th, the AHA Foundation was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation from the U.S. State Department for our support and guidance in assisting victims of forced marriage.  The certificate was presented following a roundtable on forced marriage held by the State Department in Washington, DC.  In attendance from the AHA Foundation team were the Executive Director, the Research Director and the Legislative Counsel.

On October 13th, 2011, the Executive Director and Communications Director of the AHA Foundation attended Forced Marriage in the United States, a conference in Utica, NY on identifying cases of forced marriage, supporting victims and the collaborative community response necessary to address this abuse.  The conference was hosted by the Oneida County Domestic and Sexual Violence Coalition.

Featured speakers included:

• Vidya Sri, Founder of Gangashakti.org and forced marriage survivor
• Debjani Roy, Program & Development Manager/Advocate of Manavi
• Yasmeen Hamza, LMSW, Director or Preventative and Domestic Violence Services of The Arab-American Family Support Center
• Jeanne Smoot, ESQ., Director of Public Policy of Tahirih Justice Center
• Julia Alanen, ESQ., Director/Co-Founder of Global Justice Initiative, Inc.

On June 6th, 2011, the AHA Foundation held the first ever conference on honor violence and forced marriage in the United States. By all accounts, it was a huge success and a day we know will save lives!

Ayaan addressed an audience full of NYPD, FBI, criminal justice practitioners, domestic violence shelters and service providers on Honor Violence 101. She spoke about the unique circumstances facing Muslim women and girls in an honor-based culture, the challenges facing law enforcement when confronting these cases, and the differences between honor violence and traditional Western domestic violence. She reviewed six cases of honor violence from Queens to illustrate that these crimes are happening on a local scale.

Nazir Afzal OBE, Director of the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service

Our next keynote speaker was Nazir Afzal OBE, Director of the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service. He discussed the UK’s response to honor crime, forced marriage and female genital mutilation. During his lecture, he emphasized the need for everyone to believe victims who seek their help. When speaking of forced marriage, he pointed out that the forced marriage is often just the beginning of the abuse. In investigating and prosecuting honor killings, he said they should be handled like organized crime as often the entire family is involved. Finally, he spoke of the importance of educating everyone, starting with young children, on human rights, in order to stop the pattern of violence.

Laura Reckart, lead prosecutor in Arizona v. Almaleki

Following Nazir, we were extremely fortunate to be joined by Laura Reckart, lead prosecutor in Arizona v. Almaleki, the first case in the U.S. where an honor violence theory was successfully used to obtain a conviction of a father who murdered his daughter, along with Detective Chris Boughey, who led the investigation into the murder. They spoke in detail about the investigation, the challenges faced and the trial, including their disappointment with the verdict. Their belief is that Almaleki should have been convicted of first-degree murder rather than the lesser charge of second-degree murder as they clearly proved premeditation.

Sabatina James, founder of Sabatina EV

Sabatina James, founder of Sabatina EV, an award-winning German foundation set up to protect Muslim women from violence and oppression, and a victim of forced marriage, told her story, including problems she encountered when seeking help from shelters, police and government agencies. She discussed the fact that her father lied to social workers to ensure her return home and emphasized that people who immigrate to the U.S. do not leave their cultures at the airport.

Professor Ric Curtis of John Jay College of Criminal Justice

We were all gratified when, during a panel discussion led by Professor Ric Curtis of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, one attendee stood up to say that she would do her job at the DA’s office differently the next day, thanks to information and awareness she gained at the conference.

• Keynote Lecture: Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Video)
• Keynote Lecture: Nazir Afzal (Video)
• Keynote Lecture: Reckart, Boughey (Video)
• Keynote Lecture: Ayaan Hirsi Ali (PDF)
• Keynote Lecture: Nazir Afzal (PDF)
• Keynote Lecture: Reckart Boughey (PDF)
• AHA Conference Transcript (PDF)
• Dan Rather Reports “Blood in the Name of Honor”

The Executive Director of the AHA Foundation took a trip across the pond to attend “Hidden in Plain Sight,” a conference hosted by Basildon Women’s Aid on honor-based violence, forced marriage and female genital mutilation.  The conference focused the victims of these crimes as well as the UK’s response. The UK is a model for how the US should handle these cases.  At the conference, the head of the UK’s Forced Marriage Unit spoke about their Forced Marriage Hotline and how effective it has been in rescuing girls.  While there, she was able to personally meet with one of the keynote speakers for the AHA Foundation Honor Violence Symposium, Nazir Afzal OBE, Director of the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service.  She also came back with several great ideas for projects and programming the AHA Foundation will be able to implement to further the mission of protecting the rights of girls and women in the West.

During her visit to Occidental College, Ayaan had the pleasure of meeting the students of Phi Beta Kappa for lunch. In her lecture to undergraduates later that evening, Ayaan discussed her intellectual growth from “credulity” through “curiosity” to “critical thinking.” Her take on leadership pushed the audience to make a positive difference in their futures.

On April 5, 2011, Ayaan spoke to a full auditorium of Johns Hopkins students and Baltimore residents, on the topic “Islam and the West.” She told the stories of Nujood Ali, a 10 year-old Yemeni girl who recently wrote a memoir of her forced marriage and subsequent fight for divorce as well as Bibi Aisha, a Pakistani woman whose husband and brother-in-law cut off her nose and ears in punishment for soiling the family’s honor. These stories were used to exemplify the clash of civilizations and the need to let go of moral relativism.

The Chairman of the Board and the Communications Director joined Ayaan for her visit to Baltimore and discussed strategy for college outreach with the students of the Foreign Affairs Symposium.

Debate: Is Europe Stigmatizing the Veil

The women of the AHA Foundation were truly inspired by and honored to attend this year’s Women in the World Summit hosted by The Daily Beast. Ayaan was joined at the summit by both the Executive Director and Communications Director of the foundation.

Marc Bryan-Brown for The Daily Beast

In a timely and heated debate, Ayaan discussed with Isobel Coleman of the Council on Foreign Relations and Liesl Gerntholz of Human Rights Watch, the French law banning the burqa. Ayaan argued that a law’s job is to protect citizens, and that the result of the ban on veils is the protection of women from subjugation by their families. Additionally, she welcomed the controversy as a gateway to conversations about honor violence and other rights abuses suffered in the West in the name of religion.

In addition to Ayaan’s debate and many other engaging panels, the ladies of the AHA Foundation enjoyed listening to Hillary Clinton, who spoke about the full emancipation and equality of women, calling it history’s “unfinished business.”

The AHA Foundation had a large presence to raise awareness of honor violence and other core foundation issues at the Conservative Political Action Conference 2011. Ayaan got the chance to say hello to some of her fans at a meet and greet at the AHA Foundation booth, manned by AHA Foundation personnel. She also participated in a panel where she discussed the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood in the upcoming Egyptian government followed by a book signing event for her latest memoir, Nomad.

Meanwhile, the foundation’s Legislative Counsel and Executive Director took the opportunity to hold meetings on Capital Hill to discuss strengthening laws that protect the rights of women and children in the United States.

In January, Ayaan and the Executive Director of the foundation made the trip to Palm Springs to meet with Federal Judges of the 9th Circuit. Ayaan spoke about her journey from her tribal, nomadic life to the West and the related challenges. The Executive Director brought the judges up to speed on the legislative agenda of the foundation, highlighting pending bills that go further in protecting women and girls in the United States.