Ilwad Elman Quotes

Somali activist

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Ilwad Elman is a Somali-Canadian social activist. She works at the Elman Peace and Human Rights Center in Mogadishu alongside her mother Fartuun Adan, the NGO's founder.

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Alternative Names: Ilwaad Elman

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A society that holds governments to account, and preaches and advocates for its own peace, is what gives me the most hope, and we're starting to see that.

Traditional practices that go hand in hand with gender-based violence is an issue that women human rights defenders have met with unified opposition.

There are a lot of young women now occupying spaces and challenging stereotypes every single day, from sport to technology to business to leadership, and all of this is necessary.

Peacebuilding is a long-term investment, and we’re just at the beginning

Human rights, now more than ever, are very much on the political agenda in Somalia. However moving beyond the proverbial international commitments and declarations has not yet been realized.

The concept of mental health and wellbeing are not ones that are mainstreamed, and that's what we are trying to make a culture around – not just for beneficiaries of the different services and programmes that we offer but also for frontline workers

Peace is Possible when women have a Power

[In Somalia] it’s considered weak or even ungrateful to ‘complain’ or speak of the trauma that one has encountered.

It's encouraging to see that women are fighting against so many different barriers to participate because they know what their participation means for other girls that are marginalised.

I’m a fighter. I’m the kind of person that for better or worse runs towards a problem and tries to solve it even if it’s in a burning house.

When considering how to engage and empower women for countering violent extremism, policy makers must understand the varied roles women play in this space.

Women human rights defenders in Somalia are reprised against, threatened, unlawfully arrested, privy to sexual and gender-based violence, kidnapped and even killed as a result of their work.

And with more and more women present in these spaces, it is creating an atmosphere and acceptance for more to join as well.

Over the years it has become very clear to me that a range of actors in Somali society want to sweep sexual and gender-based violence issues under the rug.

They walked so I could run, and I will run so that the next generation of Somalis can soar.