Centre for Applied Human Rights
Azza Soliman
Egypt, CAHR, Autumn 2015
My name is Azza Soliman, a 49-year-old lawyer from Egypt. My role model and most influential person in my life is my father. He was very supportive and very progressive and supported my work despite that he did not graduate from school. We are 5 sisters, yet he never told us to wear hijab; he raised us up on principles not on looks. He believed in human rights by nature and I inherited that from him. I became a human by nature.
There are some milestones in my life that changed it completely. In 1995, I established the Center for Egyptian Women's Legal Assistance (CEWLA) with other friends and colleagues who believe in women’s rights. In 1997, we, at CEWLA, conducted the first research on honor crimes with SOAS where the figures and findings were very shocking to all of us. In 2001, CEWLA conducted research on khul' law when we found out that we need a revolution on Personal Status Laws (Family laws) in Egypt; moreover, we need to work on new interpretations of Islamic Shariah’ law that are based on justice. In 2003, we worked on Christian Personal Status Law in order to achieve justice within Christian family. After 2011 and the revolution, we put more focus onto public sphere, like other Egyptians, I dreamt of political freedom and transitional justice. However, in 2014, there was a huge backlash on the principles of the revolution and on the revolutionaries themselves.
In 2015, I witnessed the killing of another human rights defender while commemorating the martyrs of the Egyptian revolution; she was not the first I saw getting shot at but I had a link with her and I suffered from a trauma. I was later enlisted as a defendant when I insisted on testifying against the police who shot her; I was acquitted 10 months later. The international, national, and regional support I received during this difficult time was the main motive why I kept going till now. As a result of this traumatizing experience, I established Protecting Witnesses and Whistleblowers Coalition that aims at enforcing and enhancing the role of law. Later the same year, I travelled to York where I extended my studies on human rights; however, it was a great chance to be able to take a break to re-gain power and energy and breathe in order to continue when I go back to Egypt.
More information:
- Fellow at Ashoka, Innovators for the Public, focusing on new interpretations of Islamic Law
- As a PILnet International Fellow, Azza is developing a project to expand access to legal services for marginalized communities in Egypt.
- Member of the Executive Committee of the Regional Alliance for Women human rights defenders in the Middle East And North Africa