AHA Foundation
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| Founded | 2007 |
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| Founder | Ayaan Hirsi Ali |
| Type | 501(c)(3) charitable organization |
| Focus | Women's Rights, Freedom Of Speech |
| Location |
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| Method | Investigate, Inform, Influence and Intervene |
| Slogan | Women everywhere, of all cultures, merit access to education and basic human rights. |
| Mission | To help protect and defend the rights of women in the West from oppression justified by religion and culture. |
| Website | http://www.theahafoundation.org/ |
The AHA Foundation is a nonprofit organization for the defense of women's rights. It was founded by Ayaan Hirsi Ali in 2007 and is based in New York, New York, United States. Originally formed to support Muslim dissidents who had suffered for their religious or political beliefs, the organization's scope was broadened September 2008 to focus on women's rights. The goal of the AHA Foundation is to combat crimes against women and girls such as forced marriages, female genital mutilation and honor killings. Its key activities include education, outreach and legislative advocacy.
According to its mission statement, "The AHA Foundation works to protect and reinforce the basic rights and freedoms of women and girls, including security and control of their own bodies, access to an education, the ability to work outside the home and control their own income, freedom of expression and association, and the myriad other basic civil rights defined under the laws of Western democracies and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Foundation is opposed to the adoption of dual legal systems to adjudicate family disputes in religious families and supports the separation of all religions and the State.
The AHA Foundation engages in four primary activities to protect and defend the rights of women and girls in the West from oppression justified by religion and culture: investigate, inform, influence, and intervene."
"A forced marriage occurs when an individual is forced, coerced, threatened, or tricked to marry without her informed consent. A forced marriage is different from an arranged marriage. In many cultures, it is customary for families to arrange meetings between their children in the hopes of fostering a voluntary relationship that will lead to a marriage. In such situations, while the initial meetings are arranged by the families and a marriage is encouraged, the ultimate decision regarding whether to marry remains with the couple and the choice to marry is strictly voluntary. In contrast, in a forced marriage, an individual is threatened and/or coerced by her family to enter into the marriage against her will and may suffer honor violence or if she resists or refuses the marriage."
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