About the Hurra Coalition
The Hurra Coalition is a diverse group of women's rights organisations calling for family law reform in various countries across the MENA region. Hurra means “Free (woman)”. As the name denotes, the coalition aims to free women and girls from all discriminatory family laws, it is designed to support and develop a robust, diverse, and inclusive women’s rights movement.
Our vision
Every woman and girl in the MENA region should enjoy their human rights to achieve their full potential.
Our mission
We are the Hurra Coalition, a group of feminist civil organisations and institutions that seek to fully achieve equal rights for all women and girls in the Arab region. We believe that equality and justice between women and men at all social, economic, and cultural levels is the path towards building a society based on human rights principles.
We created the Hurra Coalition because we believe in the importance of joint action and networking in maximising impact and resources, particularly because Arab communities have common causes and cultural roots. We seek to achieve our goal in the spirit of excellence, mastery, and courage and hope to be seen as guardians of the dignity of women in the Arab region.
About Hurra
The coalition comprises women’s rights organisations (WROs) interested in joining forces to advocate for reform in family law in their respective countries in the region.
[Our members - link to subpage]
The Hurra Coalition has six main objectives:
- Make equality in family law, its policies, and practices a regional and national priority in compliance with international human rights standards.
- Encourage and support partner women’s rights organisations to campaign for family law reform.
- Build the capacities of the national WROs/CSOs that are members of the coalition.
- Consolidate regional solidarity among Hurra Coalition members to share commonalities, challenges, and best practices, as well as provide ongoing support to each other in their family law reform campaigns.
- Ensure the engagement and inclusion of young activists/young women in national campaigns and build their capacities in the field of legal and media advocacy.
- Create and build synergies with other regional networks that share similar values and goals with the Hurra Coalition, all within the framework of the goals and in conformity with the Global Campaign for Family Law Reform mandate.
Learn more about membership, including how you can get involved. [link to membership page]
The evolution of the Hurra Coalition
The seeds of the coalition were sown in 2019 when Equality Now organised a convening in Lebanon, bringing together a diverse group of women’s rights organisations interested in joining forces to lobby for change in their respective countries in the MENA.
From that initial convening, the Hurra Coalition was formally launched in 2023 as a feminist, intersectional force dedicated to reforming the laws that govern the family. In September 2023, Equality Now was voted in as the Secretariat of the coalition. It has supported and reinforced members’ capacities in various aspects, including campaign strategy, legal and media advocacy, engagement with policy and decision-makers, and the development of active participation amongst young activists from marginalized communities.
Since then, the coalition has grown, with the support of our partner Gucci (CHIME FOR CHANGE), into a dynamic group fostering a robust, diverse, inclusive, and collaborative women’s rights movement.