Date: Thursday, 9th December
Time: 4pm – 6pm
Location: Online, registration essential
As part of the Orange the World 2021 campaign, Savera UK and Zonta London (a member of Zonta International) will be holding a panel event titled ‘Culture is Beautiful: No Excuse for Abuse’. Panelists will discuss tackling the harmful ways that culture is wrongly conflated with human rights abuses against women and girls.
Speakers will include; Nazir Afzal OBE, former Chief Prosecutor for the North West (UK) and Savera UK patron, Dr Leyla Hussein OBE, a psychotherapist specialising in supporting survivors of sexual abuse, Dr Elham Manea from Zurich University, a political scientist specialised on the Arab Middle East and Mansi Mehta, Deputy Director, Global Cause Partnerships from UNICEF USA.
Also speaking will be Afrah Qassim, Savera UK CEO and founder and Britt Gustawsson of Zonta International.
The event will also share the voices of survivors and there will be an open Q&A session where attendees can put their questions to the panellists.
Meet the speakers
Ngunan Adamu, BBC Radio Merseyside presenter/producer
Ngunan Adamu is a BBC Radio Merseyside presenter/producer for the Upfront Show. She is the founder and CEO of iWoman, a programme which helps unemployed women in the region develop the skills and confidence to get into media, and has also been involved in training other journalists for the BBC World Service and worked on the BBC Young Reporter programme.
Find out more about iWoman here: https://www.iwoman.co.uk/
Mansi Mehta, Deputy Director of Global Cause Partnerships at UNICEF USA
Mansi is the Deputy Director of Global Cause Partnerships at UNICEF USA, she is a partnership development and public health professional. In her current role, she works to build partnerships with organisations whose mission and vision align with that of UNICEF and UNICEF USA. One of these organisations is Zonta International who since 2014 is supporting the UNFPA-UNICEF Global
Program to End Child Marriage.
Previously, Mansi worked at the Earth Institute of Columbia University on various health and education-related programs with a focus on empowering girls in sub-Saharan Africa through information, communication and technology. She has her Masters in Public Health and her undergraduate degrees are in Biology and Policy Studies
Dr. Elham Manea, Associate Professor at the Political Science Institute, University of Zurich
PD Dr. Elham Manea is a Privatdozentin (equivalent to Associate Professor) at the Political Science Institute, University of Zurich, a writer and human rights advocate. Her research focuses on
countries of the Arabian Peninsula, especially Yemen, Gender and Women under Muslim Laws; and Islamism. In 2010 she was appointed by the Swiss Federal Council as a Member of the Federal
Commission for Women Affairs and in 2020 at the Federal Commission for Migration, where she serves as a vice president. She has published academic and non-fiction books in English, German, and Arabic in addition to two novels in Arabic.
Nazir Afzal OBE, Savera UK Patron and Former Chief Prosecutor for North West England
Nazir Afzal OBE is the Patron of Savera UK and the Former Chief Prosecutor for North West England. He is an expert in de-radicalisation and a senior British lawyer who campaigns on issues
around child sexual exploitation and violence against women. He is also the author of The Prosecutor, a “searing insight into the justice system and a powerful story of one man’s pursuit of the truth”.
Afrah Qassim, CEO and Founder of Savera UK
Afrah is the Founder and CEO of Savera UK, a leading national organisation tackling the causes and effects of harmful practices including ‘honour’-based abuse, female genital mutilation and
forced/child marriage. Afrah is also the Chair of Liverpool Arab Arts Festival (LAAF).
Britt Gustawsson, Treasurer of Zonta Club London
Britt Gustawsson is a long-standing member of Zonta International, presently Treasurer of the Zonta Club
London and member of the Zonta International Nominating Committee. She is active in the UK CSW Alliance, which organizes civil society in the UK before and during the Commission
on the Status of Women (CSW). She has had a long career in senior management in privately owned multinational companies both in Sweden and the UK, and has worked globally in risk management, compliance and dispute resolution in multiple jurisdictions.
Savera UK aims to make events as accessible as possible. If you require reasonable adjustments to access this online event, then please contact us one week before the event so that actions can be taken to support you.