Her quest to do what’s right
Like her favourite 100m race, Shreen Abdul Saroor who recently won international recognition for her work with Muslim and Tamil women is determined to keep going
Shreen Abdul Saroor comes from a ‘sporty’ family. Growing up in Mannar, the daughter of a teacher-father, she was exposed to as many sports as possible from martial arts to weight lifting (admitting to being muscular despite her petite frame). But it was in the 100m race that she found her main event.
Her descriptive picture of an active young girl who was anything but quiet fits neatly with the passionate activist she is today. On December 11, Shreen received the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law as one of 15 winners from around the world. Shreen’s work in women’s rights in the Muslim and Tamil communities has been globally recognised with accolades such as the Voices of Courage award by the International Rescue Committee’s Women and Refugees’ Commission and in 2011 the 5th International Bremen Peace Award under the category of public engagement for peace and justice in Germany. But for Shreen, her work in women’s rights and empowerment is a reflection of the experiences and challenges faced by her and her community which sparked a passion for justice and empowerment within her from a young age.
Although Shreen had a privileged upbringing while growing up in Mannar, violence was part of their daily lives; watching the LTTE insurrection, the university uprisings or the tensions that arrived with the Indian Peace Keeping Force in the 1980s. She recalls a childhood spent stepping over dead bodies to get to school or being dressed up as a boy for her own protection, in addition to studying at a convent- her mother’s futile attempt at moulding her only daughter into a one day ‘suitable’ wife, she laughs.
She obtained entrance to the University of Colombo- a move that her father had hoped for, for her own protection. Her nervousness in a new city without friends or family was escalated by the growing tensions in Colombo with the increasing suicide bomb attacks. Shreen would always be late for lectures due to the security checks and scrutiny she faced wherever she went.
In 1990, the bombing of the Mannar Bridge and the mass expulsion of the Muslim community in the North, left her mother and three brothers stranded back home. Her father’s attempts to get help to evacuate the Muslim people allowed them to find out that the now refugees would be led to Kalpitiya. Her family arrived in boats with the exception of one brother who returned months later after being kept hidden for his protection by a Tamil colleague of her father’s.
Despite living in their father’s quarters which he was given as a school Principal, the time following the events of 1990 saw hundreds of people living with them and ignited Shreen’s passion for activism. “We came from a very political family.” Young Shreen would listen and ask questions during conversations her father had with politicians. “He used to collect and take money to Mannar and Puttalam to help the people,” an act she continued after his death. During her visits to Puttalam, Shreen was drawn to the plight of women. “We were pushed to study in Mannar,” but she didn’t see the same in Puttalam where girls were dropping out of school and women were struggling to keep their families and communities together.
While working for a comfortable two years as a marketing manager of a blue chip company and ensuring that her family was cared for, Shreen still made trips to Puttalam. The memory of seeing refugee women at a protest on one of her trips triggered her- “I wanted a shift.” Following her studies in chartered accountancy she worked as an accountant for the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in Colombo and for their gender equality project. Her return to the North after 10 years was while working for CIDA.
On a visit to Mannar, Shreen met with two figures who would shape her activism work; an old schoolfriend from her convent days- Ranganayagi and Rev. Fr. Xavier Croos who was leading an NGO. Upon her return to Colombo, Rev. Fr. Croos asked her to come to Mannar. “I was nervous to go back,” but she met with several of her old schoolmatesnow government officers. Together with five other women, and with the support of Rev. Fr. Croos, they founded the Manner Women’s Development Federation (MWDF).
Established in 1999 with Rs. 20,000 in the MWDF bank account the federation began a micro credit fund which encompasses 112 villages. The MWDF acts as an umbrella organisation for Women’s Rural Development Societies in Mannar which assist women with a revolving loan system.
As of 2017, they have assisted 10,000 women and also facilitated women’s rights projects and battled domestic violence in the region.
Their journey hasn’t been without challenges. Shreen remembers their first general meeting which was interrupted by men from other NGOs who were against their work. Through a low key network –Mannar Women for Human Rights and Democracy (MWHRD) Shreen and others have also worked toward justice in several land- mark sexual violence cases in the early stages of her human rights activism. The MWDF’s biggest obstacle came in the form of the area commander of the LTTE who ordered the shutdown of MWDF. But one and a half months later, they were allowed to go back into operation- as a result of the pressure put on the commander by the women in the area. MWDF and MWHRD also came under government surveillance often and the darkest period was 2001 when MWHRD handled a custodial rape of two mothers by Mannar Police’s Counter Subversive Unit.
MWDF has also since established a centre for abused women- handling the processes beginning from providing the victim with shelter to ensuring children’s education, legal aid, counselling and teaching the victim vocational skills that would help her following her divorce. They also work together with police stations with two Model Women’s Desks created in Mannar town and Talaimannar
But for Shreen and MWDF, empowering women is not enough. “If you want societal change, everybody must change.” While she is an adamant believer in justice and legal punishment she also advocates the need for a viable environment. “At the community level, a large number of men are left out in the journey for justice for all.” It’s why she believes that everyone should be a feminist. “It means standing up to abuse or misuse of power, of authority. Of standing up for equality.”
The founding principle of MWDF is to bring the Tamil and Muslim communities of women together. “Violence against women is a common thread,” she says. This is why she and her comrades’ current fight against oppressive Muslim personal laws have turned into an open discussion together with groups like Women’s Action Network (founded by MWFD to tackle women’s rights issues in a post war context). Their fight for constitutional reform has brought together women from Mannar to Mullaitivu to Batticaloa and Ampara, testifying for reforms of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA).
Shreen owes her continuing drive to her inability to sit in one place. “I always kept moving,” laughing that her journey is much like her beloved 100m race. It’s what has kept her from thinking of the obvious doubts that could cloud her path would. The temporary shutdown of MWDF was the only time she felt that their cause had been defeated. But inspired by the local women who fought for their continuation “nobody can stop us,” she says. Defeat seems to be a word she can’t understand, “because if you’re doing the right thing, there will be no defeat.”