Sri Lankan rights activist Juwairiya wins ‘Ginetta Sagan Award’

Juwairiya Mohideen (Image courtesy Amnesty international website)

• Juwairiya is vocal about the injustice that has happened to Muslim women in this society
• This annual award is presented by Amnesty International USA

Juwairiya can be defined as one of the most prominent woman rights activists largely because she is vocal about the injustice that has happened to Muslim women in this society

Juwairiya Mohideen, a Sri Lankan Muslim Woman Rights Activist based in Puttalam, has won the ‘Ginetta Sagan Award’. Amnesty International USA announced Juwairiya as the recipient of the award on November 7.   
This annual award is presented by Amnesty International USA which takes into consideration women who are “working to protect the liberty and lives of women and children in areas where human rights violations are widespread. The annual award grant is worth $20,000. Juwairiya is the first Sri Lankan to win this award. 

 Juwairiya has her roots in the Northern province and comes from a village in the Mannar district called Erukkalampiddy. In October 1990 the LTTE forcibly eliminated the Tamil speaking community from the Northern province. As a result, during that time, Juwairiya too had to leave her home. Later she moved to Puttalam in the North-west of Sri Lanka. Despite the difficulties she had faced she came forward to speak against the violated rights of Muslim women in the community and as a result she founded ‘Muslim Women’s Development Trust’ (MWDT) in 2010. Now she serves as the Director of MWDT. Juwairiya can be defined as one of the most prominent woman rights activists largely because she is vocal about the injustice that has happened to Muslim women in this society. The official website of Frontline Defenders has this to say about her, “In over 25 years of work, Juwariya has been a vocal advocate against discrimination and violence against women and girls.” Rights activists see Juwairiya as a determined activist who is in the front to stand against the injustice happening to females in the Muslim community.   

“Juwairiya is at the front line of calls for reform in Muslim personal laws which deny Muslim women and girls the basic rights enjoyed by their non-Muslim sisters in Sri Lanka,” the website further states about her.   
The Los Angeles Times had this to say about her, “Ginetta Sagan was intensely interested in human rights and helped establish the fledgling organization Amnesty International”.   

As an honour to the work done by Sagan on behalf of the rights of children, women and imprisoned people the Amnesty International established the Ginetta Sagan Fund.   
One of Ginetta Sagan’s famous catchphrases is, “Silence in the face of injustice is complicity with the oppressor”.   
“I feel very happy and I dedicate this award to all the women who have worked with me; particularly the women who have suffered discrimination and violence and who have come forward to demand justice. I will continue to fight with more courage with those women to address the structural discrimination that is part of our society,” an elated Juwairiya told the Daily Mirror while expressing her feelings about winning the award.