Since a very young age, my mother made sure to tell me about the plight of women... As she raised my awareness about women's issues, she also made sure to ingrain in me the importance of being strong and independent and not to let anybody define me by their images of what women should be.

Women in the Arab world have a rich history in their active participation in political change from the Algeria revolution against the French occupation to the most recent revolution in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya among other countries. The question is not their participation. Their question is the incorporation of women's voices fully in the new definitions of the countries where change has happened.

Every woman must own her story; otherwise we are all part of the silence.

Living in war is a co- existence with death.

I dont want to be someone in my sixties holding on to a group that I created when I was in my twenties.

Only 1 in 13 participants in peace negotiations since 1992 has been a woman.

I firmly believe today that the only way to stop violence against women is to speak out and refused to be silenced.