History

In the absence of democracy in the Arab world, especially the absence of freedom speech and organization, and in light of the authorities' continuing policy of discriminating against women and violating their rights, and in the absence of true and effective representation for woman and their rights at the decision-making levels, all of which contributes to the deepening of women's suffering in various areas, as well as the spread of religious movements, conservative liberalism and fundamentalist movements which increase and exacerbate the marginalization of women, the region is witnessing, especially in recent years, a  clear weakening of the presence and impact of legal discourse in general and feminist discourse in particular.

We are aware that the obvious lack of solidarity among women's and feminists' organizations in the Arab World can dissipate our strengths and weaken our potential progress; therefore, a group of active secular, legal, feminist NGOs has gathered to fight violence against women in the Arab world,  by forming a network called Salma, that aims to end all kinds of violence against women in the Arab world, based on the decades long experience of the organization members working to deal with the issue of violence against women.