Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-12-14-Speech-3-082"
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"Mr President, political group chairmen, honourable Members of this beautiful Parliament, my friends from Lawyers Without Borders in France, staff of the Parliament – especially the Protocol Service, who have provided me with guidance since I arrived; I would like to mention Ursula Bausch and my guide; members of the press, ladies and gentlemen: ever since our arrival on Monday we have been warmly welcomed by all of you.
It was a huge mosque, bigger than this hall, though not as beautiful. There were eight mullahs. They were sitting at the end of the hall and in the middle of the hall was a chair. When I went in, they beckoned me to sit on the chair. I did not sit on the chair. I walked towards them. On approaching them, I decided to kneel down and to sit on the floor and they said to me as I went to sit, ‘You cannot sit on the floor. Sit on that chair’. And I said to them, ‘How can I, your daughter, sit on a chair when you, my fathers, are sitting on a chair?’
They asked me, ‘Are you Hauwa Ibrahim?’ And I said, ‘I am’, never looking at their faces because that culture forbids me to do that. And they said to me: ‘Are you the lawyer?’ And I said: ‘I am. But I am a foolish lawyer. I am a stupid lawyer. I did not know what I was doing. I came to you, because I want your wisdom. I came to you because I want some knowledge. I want to do what is right for society, but I do not know how to do it and I want you to guide me’.
It is important to understand that this was my strategy. I caught their attention. They listened to what I was saying, but they did more than that. They said, ‘We will not publicly support you, but neither will we publicly oppose you’.
And that was all I needed. Nothing more. We needed safety. We needed them to listen to us. We needed to carry them along with us. We needed to engage them.
This is part of the strategy. In all the 90 cases in which I have been involved, the strategies have not been the same. As you know, I do not take money for the cases. This is because I have enjoyed a huge privilege – that of education. And that is my passion. Whatever my share of this prize, all of it is going towards education. As a result of this Sakharov Prize, I have started a trust fund to invest in education, because I think that is the way forward.
Now I shall read my three-minute speech!
I am humbled to receive this prestigious 2005 Sakharov Prize alongside this distinguished group of people. I am saddened that the Ladies in White are not here. I share Parliament’s sentiment, and agree with what the President said.
I am proud to be associated with the Reporters Without Borders. This is a gift and an empowering message to the voiceless, to the powerless, to the illiterate and to women. It acknowledges not just the women and children of northern Nigeria, for whom I have worked, but everyone who remains unrepresented in society.
We started with the Committee on Foreign Affairs, which afforded us the opportunity of being heard by all the political groups. We are very grateful for this opportunity. We were able to explain our work and answer questions about what the European Union and European Parliament can do for us. We want to assure you that, following this ceremony, we will be willing to discuss any specific issues you wish to bring up with us, at any time, regarding the projects or programmes in our regions or constituencies with the appropriate committees and think-tanks.
This award tells those millions that the European Parliament does not just hear them but that it supports, encourages and celebrates them. It is humbling to realise that most of us strive for the common good, for universal respect for human dignity, for basic human rights and civil rights. Unfortunately, some of the provisions of the new Sharia legal system in my country, Nigeria, violate some basic human rights, especially equal treatment under the law. In spite of scientific progress, a woman in 2005 can be stoned to death for having a child out of wedlock.
It raises the issue of respect for the certainty and supremacy of law, respect for fundamental rights, the separation of state and religion and strict standards for evidence. This law has resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives. The 90 victims of the Sharia legal system, in whose defence I have been involved, are powerless and voiceless. They are illiterate and poor. The new Sharia legal system in Nigeria needs to be reformed. We need you to help us with your voice. It has to be reformed.
Our goal for the reform is a bottom-top approach. We have a long-term plan, a medium-term plan and a short-term plan. Our methodology will be flexible. It will be responsive to a cultural system of values. It demands organisational and analytical skills, as well as creative intelligence. We must think strategically, coordinating and cooperating with donors, working with political leaders, building coalitions and encouraging alternative ways of resolving disputes. We will give people the tools to ask questions and encourage greater measures of political freedom and activism.
We will let people realise the essence of the rule of law, not the essence of being ruled by the law or by man. To encourage this idea and vision we will build, without letting up, on the struggle and labours of our women heroes, such as the one this building is named after: Louise Weiss. We cannot afford to be infatuated by the progress we have made. We must continue to build on this modern approach, through advocacy and beyond.
I will walk out of this beautiful and magnificent building feeling a greater sense of self esteem, having a greater voice. The European Parliament, one of the world’s most important bodies, is behind me. Most importantly, the plight of the poor and the voiceless, with whom I have walked free today, is gaining attention and their cause is known and supported. Today, you have made the voice for humanity louder. I will return to Nigeria with a deep sense of mission and will help redefine the future of the vulnerable and powerless.
I will return to share skills within my country, and across the globe, with humility and passion for freedom and justice, irrespective of race, colour, sex, political beliefs and privileges.
My ultimate hope is that, through the effective application of the rule of law, those who argue for truth and justice and those who work effectively to achieve a better community will change people’s hearts and the attitude that governs society and bring about the type of world envisaged by all of us.
I have chosen a path, a path of equal protection under the law, a path to pursue justice, encourage and engage, a path to do good. I have found in all of you in the European Parliament, and all lovers of humanity, the passion to go on.
What a great day, what a great honour and what great people!
In some of the committees and groups, I mentioned the strategies we used in the defence of the woman sentenced to death under the Islamic religious law of Sharia in Nigeria, and I will continue on that subject now. I shall then try to read my three-minute speech, as I have been advised.
Thank you so much.
Let me turn now to our strategy. Our strategy was to understand the dynamics of the Islamic law of Sharia. We tried to understand the dynamics of the mullahs, the religious leaders. We tried to understand the dynamics of the culture and the values of our people and, above all, we tried to understand the dynamics of the society in which we operate. We were focused and we stayed focused. The press asked us questions such as, ‘Is it Islam versus the West, or perhaps a clash of civilisations?’. We do not know. We knew, however, that a woman had been sentenced to death by stoning and that we were using the instrument of the law to ensure her freedom. That is what we knew.
We paid attention to the detail around us, but were flexible with regard to society’s perception of what we were doing. We acted locally, but we thought globally.
Lawyers Without Borders from Canada and France gave us support, and every time we went to court we had a plan. We also had a back-up plan, just in case. We did not tell the media, which had given us huge coverage, what they wanted to hear. We told them what we wanted them to know. We were aware of the views around us and the accusations, verbal attacks and threats, but we stayed focused.
I will share with you today our safety strategy. Of course we had many threats and we had to take care of ourselves so that we did not get killed. We did not travel to court in the same car. At times, we would take our public car then switch to our personal car and we sometimes took public transport. We never travelled in the same car twice, because we knew we were being monitored. We never dress the same way twice. We never take the same route twice, if we can avoid it. More importantly, however, it was necessary to engage with the fundamentalists. We engaged with the extremists, and I will try to illustrate that with a brief story.
I was interviewed by a BBC reporter, who came from London but interviewed me in the local language, Hausa. He asked me whether stoning to death was in the Koran. My response was simply that I did not think so. It was played repeatedly over the radio, and the mullahs decided to answer me via the radio. They said I was anti-Sharia and anti-Islam. That meant that I had committed blasphemy and could be stoned to death. I was afraid, of course. I then called the reporter and told him I wanted to meet the mullahs. He said, ‘That is a very dangerous thing to do. You heard what they said on the radio’. The radio programme was not only broadcast to the more than 70 million people in Nigeria who understand Hausa, but also across the western coast of Africa, where Hausa is spoken in several countries. Hausa is the second largest language in Africa, after Swahili. He said that it was really dangerous to do that, but I told him I wanted to go. He said that he would not be responsible for me, but would introduce me. He was kind enough to do so and the mullahs decided to see me in the mosque."@en1
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