Inspired by her selfless dedication to justice and human rights in Sri Lanka, we were privileged to meet with Shreen Abdul Saroor on 10/28/13.
from Joan B Croc Institute for Peace and Justice:
“Shreen Abdul Saroor is one of the founders of Mannar Women’s Development Federation (MWDF) and Mannar Women for Human Rights and Democracy (MWfHRD) in Sri Lanka. Saroor’s work grew out of her experience of being forcibly displaced, along with all of her family, in 1990 by the militant group fighting for a separate Tamil state. Saroor helped establish MWDF on the understanding that through microcredit and educational programs, Tamil and Muslim women could find common ground to resurrect the past peace in their communities. She assisted in the implementation of the Shakti gender equality program sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency, which aimed to engage both government and nonprofit organizations in development and influence gender-sensitive economic, political and legal policies.
With the descent into deeper violent conflict in Sri Lanka, disappearances and the loss of civilian lives increase on a daily basis. As a result, Saroor has focused most of her recent work on highlighting human rights violations of the Tamil and Muslim minority communities at the regional and international levels. Organization of protests and petitions has become an integral part of her work.
As an Echoing Green Fellow, Saroor has been working for the establishment of a Model Resettlement Village, which brings together Hindu, Catholic and Muslim women who have become heads of households due to the conflict. With support from MWDF, these women have come together in the building of a new settlement where they can live and demonstrate reconciliation and peaceful coexistence. As children witness their mothers working and living together, they are ingrained with practices which allow for formerly divided communities to live in harmony with one another. The project has also focused on efforts to create community and social cohesion through the collection of stories that express individual and common experiences of living amidst violent conflict and imbue the element of truth-telling into the process. As the war escalates, Saroor and the community are still working toward the creation of the village, although progress has been drastically slowed.
Saroor was a Woman PeaceMaker in 2004.”