Nebila Abdulmelik
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Nebila Abdulmelik | |
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Born | 1987 |
Nationality | Ethiopian |
Alma mater | African Studies, UCLA |
Occupation | women's rights activist |
Nebila Abdulmelik is an Ethiopian feminist activist and prominent women's rights activist. She was well known for spearheading the campaign #JusticeforLiz which was launched in order to seek justice for a 16 year old Kenyan girl called Liz who was brutally raped in 2013.[1] Nebila has previously served as manager of media relations at FEMNET, an institution that advocates for women's growth in Africa.[2]
Early life
[edit]Nebila was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Her father died when she was 13. As a young Muslim woman of Harari origin, she says she suffered from discrimination, which influenced her in becoming an activist.[3] She obtained a scholarship for higher studies in the United States, and graduated with an MA at the University of California, Los Angeles in African Studies.[4]
Career
[edit]Nebila pursued her career as an activist advocating for women's rights. She has travelled to over 40 countries and has worked with several human rights organisations. She worked with Pan-African women's rights organisations including FEMNET as well as the African Union through the African Governance Architecture Secretariat.[5]
In 2013, she launched an online petition titled #JusticeforLiz following the gang rape of Liz[who?] and the petition garnered more than 2 million signatures demanding death sentence for the rapists.[6]
Two years later, in 2015, she specifically advocated for the creation of Sustainable Development Goal 5,[7] during the development of the Global Goals.
In August 2021, she was listed as one of the seven African women activists who deserve a Wikipedia article by the Global Citizen, an international organisation and advocacy organisation.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ "Trending: #JusticeforLiz and the rape that's shocked Kenya". BBC News. 2013-10-28. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
- ^ Ali, Nada (29 July 2015). Gender, Race, and Sudan's Exile Politics Do We All Belong to This Country?. Lexington Books. p. 177. ISBN 978-1-4985-0050-0.
- ^ MARMIER, Anne-Marie. "Nebila ABDULMELIK". Le Dictionnaire universel des Créatrices.
- ^ Moffett, Helen (15 October 2018). ID Identity: New Short Fiction From Africa. New Internationalist. p. 280. ISBN 978-1-78026-460-8.
- ^ "Nebila Abdulmelik | Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance". www.mandelaschool.uct.ac.za. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
- ^ "Kenya teen gang rape case sparks outrage, protests". america.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
- ^ Global Goal 5: Gender Equality
- ^ "7 Notable African Women Activists Who Deserve Wikipedia Pages". Global Citizen. 9 August 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-10.