MANAMA, 10 January 2005 — Former Saudi TV personality Rania Al-Baz called on women victims of violence in the region “to speak up and join hands to fight for their rights.”
Rania, who grabbed headlines last year in a domestic violence case, was among the delegates at the Amnesty International workshop being held here.
“We need to come out and encourage each other. Times are achanging. Women and the governments have to do something,” Rania told Arab News. “We need programs to support equality among sexes. But most important we need an awareness program on the issues that women face in the Gulf,” she said. “We can only make a good start by admitting first that we have problems,” she said.
Rania said with the help of the people who supported her, she is now managing to recover from the trauma of a brutal assault she suffered from her husband in April. The scars hardly show on her face, but she had undergone eight operations in Saudi Arabia and abroad. She suffered 13 fractures in her face after being beaten up by her husband. “I will need to go through two more operations very soon,” she said. “I am better now but I still find difficulties with my left eye and the left part of my face.”
Rania said she was happy to have been granted a divorce from her husband. She said she is now willing to devote more time to work for the cause of women’s rights. “I didn’t have the chance of having a husband who would love me and share life with me the way I wished it to be. But a lot of people are giving me encouragement. Now I can achieve something,” she said. “I have the freedom now.”
Speaking to delegates at the conference, Rania said amid reforms in the region, there is still a need for a new and improved legislation to protect women. “We are not a perfect society. We need legislation that is suitable for women. There are reforms coming our way, but it is not enough. We still need more changes in protecting women and giving them greater freedom,” she said. “In the region, we have social theories and practices that foster violence against women. We need to change all of that. Violence against women occurs to all classes, the rich and the poor, everyone is affected.”
She called for the protection of journalists who play an important role in effecting social reforms in the region. The Amnesty International seminar workshop is being held in coordination with the Supreme Council for Women. It is being attended by some 100 women’s rights advocacy delegates from the GCC countries.
