Lawyer Omaima Al-Fakhry has announced that they have prepared a new draft bill to protect women from male violence.

IPTİSAM AXFİR

Libya/Bingazî- Libya has struggled against conflicts, clashes, and violence since 2011. The political, social, economic, legal, and social structures in Libya have been badly affected. Women are the most affected segment by the war conditions in Libya, as in every country where conflicts take place. But women never give up struggling; they demand their usurped rights under war conditions.

Women have actively participated in the political, economic and social restructures of the country and they have aimed to be the pioneer power of change. Libyan women believe that the guarantee of democracy, equality and freedom passes through women’s rights in the country’s constitution and keep struggling to achieve their rights to be written in the constitution.

“Women should learn their constitutional rights”

Libyan lawyer Omaima Al-Fakhry talked about the rights granted to women in the Libyan constitution before 2011 and she said the situation was changed after the civil war took place in the country in 2011. “The discrimination between women and men has intensified,” said Omaima Al-Fakhry, one of those who believe that Libyan women should learn their constitutional rights.

“There are some laws for women but women don’t seek their rights because they don’t know these laws. For instance, when a woman divorces, she has certain rights for her children. Women don’t know these rights so they cannot defend themselves even if they have problems with their husbands and they keep silent.”

Omaima Al-Fakhry also talked about women’s right to inherit in Libya, “In Libyan society, women have no right to inherit. The Libyan society thinks women don’t deserve any property, this is its mindset. Women somehow believe that and do not seek their right to inherit. Women also accept what society has imposed on them.  However, there is no statement in the Libyan constitution that deprives women of their right to inherit.”

There is an attempt to usurp women’s rights

Omaima Al-Fakhry reminded that the National Transitional Council of Libya has tried to intervene in some women’s rights determined by the constitution and she said, “These laws are the achievements of women through their struggles. These rights should be developed more instead of intervening in them. Women's rights should be guaranteed in the constitution. They try to usurp women’s rights but we will never accept this.”

“Women’s struggle can change many things”

Omaima Al-Fakhry also stated that women need stronger laws to guarantee their rights, “There is a quota allocated to us in order to have a say in politics and decision-making mechanisms. Only women can change many things through their own struggles.”

Omaima Al-Fakhry told us that they have worked on a new draft bill to protect women from violence, “I hope we will receive positive support when we submit this bill to the parliament because male violence now targets not only women but also children and men.”